The record-union., 1897-10-17
SOME RAMBLING THOUGHTS.
BY Memo"
copyrighted by Dave & Tabor

copyrighted by Dave & Tabor)
TO Voters: We believe in pride of coun-
try, and l write to a nation not lacking
IN H. we believe in the possibility of
real devotion to an adopted country by
those who come from other shores. and
L write to nation largely made up of
emigrants. We believe there are more
healthy people than sick. more sane
than insane, more honest than crimi-
nal, ana Write TO nation whose un-
selfish citizens outnumber by five to one
all who find their pleasure and their
profit in perverting the peoples will
| So you and I are filled with a healthy
| sort of hopefulness. Like those dear,
loyable people who insist on seeing al
ways the bright side of trouble, or those
logical sufferers who insist on the exist
ence or the sun no matter how black the
! cloud, we believe in our country. we
dare to imagine for it greater destiny
than has yet been attained; for pride
soeth before a fall unless it be care
fully selected and well-grounded pride,
that has no stiffneckedness about it.
to make US proud?
Territory! Yes, that is something
extraordinarily vast and compact, but
the Roman Empire had that and yet
went to pieces. The character of a
| people has something to do with the
retention of territory.
Population! That indeed increases by
leaps and bounds. Each census piles
up further millions, but the Chinese
Empire has that fact to meet in even
! greater measure, and as a nation it is
| tottering to disruption: In population,
quality is more important than guam
tity.
Wealth. The total wealth of the ma
ton climbs up into figures that is be-
yond comprehension. But Spain and
India were, during their prime, richer
than your most golden dream; the
| former is now narrowed down to mere
rothingness among the powers, and the
latter has for generati tons been trodden
! by the foot of the conqueror. The true
wealth of nation is manhood, and the
lack of that ruined the two mentioned.
Productsl I grant the remarkable
range from tropical fruits to arctic pines,
and from pottery clays to virgin gold.
| but these things are hereby the gift of
/ Nature. We may be wise and take or
eat or we may dispense of our plenty
| to others need but the sun shines on
! other nations beside ours, and if we
may be proud much more such a ma
ton as England who makes up for
insular lack by getting quotas from
| Qx-a hah fol 10 of oInI Ia
Political institutional Then the pride
must be largely ascribed to those broad
plans of our fathers, rather than to
any certainty in relation to the future
unless we come to realize that institu-
/ tions and rights are not perpetual mo-
ton machines. They do not run them
selves. For example, if progressive
plans and broad culture could go on
without great men to carry them for
ward, We should have been spared the
sight of Greece, so decadent from grand
| historical traditions as to be an easy
conquest by the polygamous Turk.
No country stretching far
| No pomp of civic state,
Can make you truly great
| Americai
! No gain from cruel war
/ No cannon echoing loud
Can make you really proud
| America
No golden stone or bar
! Filched from it's darksome ditch,
! Can make you truly rich
| America
Only the guiding stag
| OF honesty and truth
| Can keep your glorious youth
America
4
| MOI Territory, population, wealth.
| products, formed declarations, are not
| the things that fill US most with pride.
This nation, thrown together hap-haz
ard, is, nevertheless, so permeated by
| ideas OF the eternal right and justice of
| things, that in moments of grave ma
| tional testing the pulsations of the
mighty heart Of the great common peo-
pie have always beaten steadily. That
| is our pride After all moral idea
| is greater and longer lived than ma
| terial things or forms of words; the
| church in your neighborhood will point
my meaning as it's spire finger is raised
| upward to the sky. 1t stands for an
| idea that goes on after its apostles
have perished, after its builders have