The herald., 1897-07-06

and. let me add, clothed with a respon-
sibihty SO great, that we may well pause
and ask ourselves how we will admin
lister that trust and how we will face
that responsibility.
The highest privilege which, as free
and enlightened people, we enjoyl-the
one that our fathers fought for most
bitterly, guarded most jealousy, rever-
enced most highly and exercised most
wisely, the one that is pre- eminently our
birthright as Americans. and the one
that we would be the first to defend and
the last to relinquish-is the right to an
equal voice In the government. There
is not man worthy of the name Amer
lean who would not resist to the bitter
end any attempt to curtail in the slight
est degree this inalienable right of ev-
cry American citizen. Yet, strange as
it may seem, 1t is a right that we often
exercise most carelessly voting thought
lessly at the dictates of others or of some
passing whim, often not for men of our
own choosing, taking little or no interest
in the selection Of those who manage
the affairs of state, avoiding, generally
with conscious sense of self-righteous-
ness (if we give the matter any thought
at alD what we are pleased to term poll
itics, and leaving, except in rare in,
stances, to the manipulation of few
men, who make the matter a profession
for their own personal ends, those func-
tions Of self-government the proper ex-l
ercise of which is absolutely essential to
the integrity of our free institutions.
Another menace to good government
is commercialism, for honor sinks
where commerce long prevails'-not the
development of the great commercial re-
sources Of our country, an accomplish
ment of which is one of the prime du-
ties of every citizen, nor the legitimate
pursuit of honest business avocations,
which is not only honorable in every
sense of the word but absolutely essen
tial. I refer to the insiduous develop.
ment of that petty commercial spirit in
which greed for the almighty dollar
dries up the fountains of honor, ard
manhood is sunk in the pursuit of per-
sonal gain--the desecrating spirit of the
money changers in the temple. History
has furnished more than one example
of national degradation, dishonor and
failure from this cause; for men cannot
serve two masters. No better can be
found than Carthage, one of the great
est cities of the ancient world, whose
citizens, forgetful of everything but
their selfish greed for gain, neglected her
interests and wrought her downfall.
To check the growing evil of fortune
building is one of the serious problems
for those who have their countrys fu-
ture at heart; and it is problem that
must be met and dealt with-can, in
| fact be met and dealt with-in a spirit
of the loftiest patriotism only-patriot-
| ism in it's truest sense of the greatest
| good for the greatest number-patriot-
ism that hews to the line, let the chipe
| fall where they may.
The duty, though which. as patriotic
Americans, we owe to the future, is no
light one. l think we can safely say,
without boasting, that our nation, If not
in fact, is in its possibilities, the greatest
nation of the earth-and I believe it to
be such in fact. Terrtorially we can
boast, with Great Britain that the sun
never sets upon our possessions, for
when it sinks into the peaceful bosom
of the Pacific off the western coast of
far Alaska, it's morning beams are tint
| ing with rainbow hues the restless At
lantic's spray upon the bay-lined coast
of Maine Our area lacks but a fraction
of equaling that of all Europe. Our
domestic trade is six-fold greater than
all of England's foreign commerce, and
leads the world. Our manufacturing
| interestS are enormous, far exceeding
and excelling those of any other nation;
our farms constitute one-fifth of our
national wealth, and we have rendered
unequaled service to progress and to
humanity by our mechanical discoveries
and inventions.
Our resources are boundless and of
infinite variety. Rivers and lakes that
could float the combined navies of the
world a hundred times over form great
natural highways for our commerce
Railways whose mileage would twice
girdle the globe bind city to city and
state to state with bands of Steel and
set time and distance at defiance. 1t is
said that one of our great railway sys-
TENS alone transfers annually more
tonnage than that carried by all of Great
Britain's merchant shipe." Our stately
forests, clothing our rock-ribbed noun
tains, and our rich bottom lands. cover
| ing the enormous acreage of 500,00O000,
form a source of untold wealth, and
stand without rival. We are the wheat
nation of the world more than doubling
our closest competitor, and our cotton
forms four-fifths of the worlds product.
Our mountains abound in minerals, and
the very sands of our rivers are golden.
AS a consequence of these vast re-
sources, which I could enumerate in
definitely and yet the half would not
be told, we excel all nations in material
prosperity, both national and individual.
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