The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1897-11-17
THE PEOPLES STRENGTH.

"a
Was once but rough uneven stones,
Quarried by common hands for gain?
Yet rude and worthless though each be
With them is raised this temple fair.
A fault weakness anywhere
May mar the perfect symmetry.
o, can 1t be, this mighty force,
That nations makes or rends apart,
Is nothing but the peoples heart
Made up OF units fine or coarse9
Yet, lowly as may be their state,
This lesson doth the building teach =
That N thing but true life from each
Can make a nation wholly great.
#.s
If you are so wrapped up In your own
business, which you are able To
quietly pursue under the protection
Of quiet government - that you
do not take even time to register and
to vote, you are not to be trusted,
since you take all you can OF personal
gain from our national conditions,
and do not repay anything. You are
selfish, yet there is one worse than
you--the difference between negative
selflshness and positiye-the one who
holds office and administers 1t selfish
ly. OF him we will say something,
because he is made possible by lazy
voters.
If you delude yourself into the be.
lief that every man has an equal
voice In the destinies of the country,
and then give actual denial to 1t by
surrendering your independence OF
judgment to boss who thinks fc-
you, dominates for you-because you
will not attend caucuses and primar-
les-and vote for you, then as voter
you are not TO be trusted. You are
the right, plastic material out of
which he shapes his selfish ends. AS
Stunning you to be good man, he
<reckons good man INDECENT, as oil
less weight than fly on q chariot
wheel; and so you unit In our nat
ional life become mere cipher.
The precious staff of life to our nation
is that you and all like you should
have choice of candidates, but only
loaf Of husks. is given you when you
are offered choice between candi-
dates, after you have by your absence
from your primary left others to
think for you.
If you get the idea of party so firm
ly ground 10 your heart, perhaps be-
cause you were born this or that
that you will vote for a bad man
in your party rather than for good
man in another, then as voter you
are not to be trusted. You have not
in any sense riser to a comprehension
of the fact that you are first, last,
and all the time custodian Of ma
tional rather than party health. In
brief, the line of voting cleavage is
well, IL it be between man and man;
and often liable to be wrong. II it be
between party and party whose actual
differences partisans would sometimes
! find it hard to explain. ] would
sooner trust an honest man who diff
fered from me, than the sly and SNUG
politician who agrees to anything to
get Office and then recks not though
the county Ego hang"
AS man you know that a building
covered with ornaments Is not rem
dered thereby one particle flrmer In
its foundation; you know that the
color of a sail in stormy weather il
of less Importance than its qualities
of strength. AS man therefore
look to you to believe that neither
money nor miles are the things tC
make us as nation endure forever
If you are relying on the mere outel
circumstances of national life as your
pride and your confidence, you are q
voter who cannot be trusted, since
your view is too narrow and your re-
lance too unreliable, The national
cohesive force is the character Of the
individual. In the place of boastings
OF wealth, lean upon men, men OF
morals and men OF mind, and be ono
of them yourself, on the principle
that national charity begins at home
~
SOME VOTERS DoNT's.
Don't make loud declarations and
neglect deeds.
Don't boast of freedom and indie.
pendence unless you really possess it
Don't divide on dead issues, whose
carcasses ought long ago to have beer
buried.
Don't forget to think Of your child.
ren's children, for whom by your
watchfulness, = please God!--thert
shall still stand government worthy
Of pride.