Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1898-12-29

"fi j NJ GtOF SO = E1Odt.
who responded to Forefathers' Day;
Senator McLaurin of South Carolina,
who responded to Our Country; and
Joseph B. Cummings of Georgia, who
responded to The Mayfiower. Senator
Hoar said in part:
eff there be a single lesson which
the people of this country have learned
from their wonderful and crowded his
tory, it is that the north and south are
indispensable to each other. They
are the blades of mighty shears, worth
less apart, but, when bound by an in
disso1uble union, powerful, irresistible,
and terrible as the shears Of Fate; like
the shears of Atropos, seyering every
thread and tangled web of evil, cutting
out for humanity it's beautiful garment
of liberty and light from the cloth her
sisters spin and weave. | always de-
light to think of these states Of ours,
not as mere aggregations of individ-
uals, but as beautiful personalities,
moral beings, endowed with moral
characters, capable Of faith, Of hope, of
memory, of pride, of sorrow and of joy,
of courage, of heroism, of honor and of
shame. Certainly this is true of them.
Their power and glory, their rightful
place in history depends on these
things, and not on their numbers and
extent of territory. The separate en-
tity and the absolute freedom, except
- Il int IF tho
stitution of our different states is the
cause alike of the greatness and the Sc
curity of the country. Whatever es-
arrangements may have existed in the
past, or may linger among us now, are
born of ignorance and will be dispelled
by knowledge. I believe that of our
45 states there are no two who, if they
could meet in the familiarities of per
sonal intercourse, in the fullness OF
personal knowledge, would not only
cease to entertain any bitterness, or
alienation, or distrust, but each would
utter to the other the words of the
Jewish daughter in that most exquisite
of idols which has come down to us
from the beginning of time: 'Entreat
me not to leave thee, or to return from
following after thee; for whittier thou
goest, I will go; and where thou lodg-
est, l will lodge; thy people shall be
my people, and thy God my God. Where
thou diest, will I die, and there will |
be buried; the Lord do SO to me, and
more also, if aught but death part thee
and me- In the great and magnificent
future which is before our country, you
are to contribute large share both of
strength and beauty. The best evil
dence of our complete reconciliation is
that there is no subject that we need
to hurry by with our fingers on our
lips. The time has come when
Americans, north, south, east
and west, may discuss any question Of
public interest in a friendly and quiet
spirit, without recrisnination and with
out heat, each understanding the other,
each striving to help the other, as men
who are bearing a common burden
and looking forward with common
hope. | know that this is the feeling
Of the people of the north. / think L
know that it is the feeling Of the people
of the south. In our part OF the coun-
try we have to deal with the great
problems of the strife between labor
and capital, and of the government of
cities where vast masses OF men born
on foreign soil, of different national
tiles and of different races, strangers
to American principles, to American
ideas, to American history, are gath
cred together to exercise the unaccus--
toned function of self-government in
an almost unrestricted liberty. You
have to deal with a race problem rem
dered more difficult still by a still qarg-
er difference in the physical and intel
lectual qualities of the two races whom
providence has brought together.
should be false to my own manhood
if failed to express my profound regret
and sorrow for some occurrences which
have taken place recently, both in the
north and in the south. / am bound
to say that considering all the circum
stances, the north has been the worst
offender.
1T is well known Tor If it be not well
known | am willing to make it known
that | look with ineXpressible alarm
and dread upon the prospect Of adding
to our population millions Of persons
dwelling in tropical climes, aliens in
race and in religion, either to share in
our self-government, or, what is worse
still, to set an example to mankind of
the subsection of one people TO an
other. We have not yet solved the
problem how men Of different races
can dwell together in the same land
in accordance with our principles Of
republican rule and republican liberty.
I am not one of those who despair of
the solution Of that problem in justice
and in freedom. | do not look upon
the dark side when | think of the flu
ture OF our beloved land. l count it
the one chief good fortune of my own
life that, as grow older, look out on
the world with hope and not despair
We have made wonderful advances