Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1897-04-29

and it is safe to say that DR.. Stafford
never lectured before more intent and
appreciative audience.
When Chairman Bernard Boyle, presi-
dent of the club, appeared on the stage
at the conclusion of the musical portion
of the entertainment, he was closely fol-
lowed by the lecturer In few well
chosen words the orator was introduced.
and the audience, instinctivcly feeling
that a rich treat was in store for them.
gave him hearty greeting DR.. Stat
ford spoke in part as follows:
"'Civis Sum Americanus' ! am ar
American citizen. That is the proudest
title of the modern world. Prouder and
greater and better than that of anti
| quity-'I am Roman citizen. II
means the rights of man: it means prog
ress and civilization; it means the solu
tion forever, upon "A basis of justice and
equity, of the most momentous social
problem, and the establishment, upon a
basis of natural justice, of the ideal
| form Of government. 1t is then, a thing
| incomparably more glorious to say than
i am Roman. That signilied power
might and force; this signifies justice
and right.
Every nation in this world is in some
sense chosen people, and has some
mission assigned to it by Providence.
The American people are a chosen
peoplc-chosen for the purpose of solv-
ing for all time, the most difficult prob
lens of government, of establishing.
upon basis of natural justice anG
equity, an ideal state; of showing the
dialectical unity between authority and
liberty, and thus giving the world, not
only the highest conception, but the
realization of the ideal state.
EXTREMES TO BE AVOIDED.
mankind has always been divided
into two-parties, the conservative and
the radical. The conservative stands
for the old the radical stands for the
new. One is the party of memory, the
other of hope. One maintains the old
order, willing to put up with the evil fol
the good that is in it, and which he
imagines will be avoided in revolution
and reconstruction. One, by dwelling
too much on the good of the old order.
may become blind to the evil; the other.
by thinking too constantly upon the evil,
may forget the good Both are liable to
extremes, and evidently the real posi-
tion is neither that of extreme conser-
vatism nor of extreme radicalism, but a
just medium which adheres to the good
of the old without being blind to the
evil, and seeks to do away with the evil
without sacrificing the good.
But in nearly every phase and tran
ston of history, one or the other party
has carried the day. A change of mas
ters has often been called liberty, and
mankind has vibrated between the con-
dition of abject slavery and extreme
lawlessness. Passion, not reason, has
governed men in times of great up
heaval.
THIS NATION BUILT UPON MAN.
And so came change and counter
change, revolution and counterrevolu-
ton. destruction and re-establishment,
downward through the ages, strewing
the road of time with the ruins of sys-
tens and governments, But in none OF
these moments was liberty born, except
in one case, and grateful let man be for
it-one solemn moment which touched
the souls of men with awe one transi-
tion, when both extremes were avoided
and the happy medium struck.
I'm the providential birth Of this ma
tion neither extreme carried the day.
The fathers, guided and directed by
Providence, founded this nation upon
basis of natural justice and equity.
Building better than they knew, they
laid the foundation for an ideal state,
and ignorant, certainly, of the full i'm
port of their position, they realized the
highest conception of government.
"What was this principle? What was
the foundation upon which was erected
this great ediliee? 1t was this; This
nation was built upon man, man in his
racial unity and individual dignity; not
upon any tradition or any theory handed
down from the past not upon any feeble
imitation of oldworld government; from
all these the fathers were singularly free.
Placed here in a new country, commun-
ing with nature in her very heart, they
passed by all sophisms and entangle-
ments, and returning to the very source
of things, they founded this nation upon
man.
NEEDS ONLY TO BE TRUE.
1.-The Declaration of Independence is
the most momentons document in the
history of the world. 1t not only founds
government, but starts a new civiliza-
tion, opens new era, begins new
epoch, reaches the acme, the highest
conception of government, beyond which
| man never has gone and never can go,
and thus understood and made the basis
of government, 1t is distinctly Ameri-
can principle and at once the founda-
tion and the greatness of our country
Il, hn Inti