The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1898-01-01

King, Jesse neluys OF the bhlNtiHAtyf
spoke on the subject, "Ihe lcono
clsst He displayed considerable or
atorical talentland won the hrst prize
of $40 The winning Grafton is rs
follows.
"fconociasi."
From the fret, two forces have been
at work in the world; one creative, the
other destructive. One seeks 10 build
up the other to tear down. One
brings together, the other scatters
abroad. These forces are directly an
tRgonistic, each endeavors TO thwart
the undertaking Of the other; yet mel
ther succeed, aud the work Of both
goes on. Al v.o4y 7tep the world in
its progress has felt the influence OF
both these forces
IL should be 70. IL was wisdom In
providence that made this provision.
Creative energy working alone would
long since have exhausted its field of
labor; while destructive agencies with
out counter force would long ago
have reduced the universe TO its print
tive state, without form and void.
But working together, these forces
have worked increasingly, and still
work increasingly, aud still work.
The deeaying past is the fertile soil in
which the better future takes its root.
The older images crum bling away be-
meath times wasting caresses become
the building stones In the rising tenn
plies.
The iconoclast stands for the desiruc.
tive force that makes development,
progress, and reform possible. IL the
narrow sense, he was the man, who in
the earlier centuries, entered the
churches, tore down the beautiful
pictures, and trampled them in the
dust, and with ruthless battle AK smote
the marble figures into shapeless fcag
ments. He looked with no liberation
mon any image that might turn the
AK intellects of men from the true
purpose Of worship lie disregarded
all custom; he refused TO obey law; he
did not reverence even the sublimity
Of art ia his fanatical ambition to in
AugurRte re form But was this des-
truction wanton2 Let results speak.
Above the broken images and torn pic
lures there arose in the church the
truer altar Of the great unseen. The
minister OF God became more truly the
preacher Of righteousness. Spirit took
the place Of form in religious services
and the church moved forward to her
conquest of the world
But iconoclasm has touched vastly
more than the religious side OF history.
Political society has, ia the past, ere
Rtel.~9anf idols at whose shrines
Liberty has been sacrificed, Justice
slaughtered and Humanity destroyed.
The divine right of kings was a gigan-
tic Moloch that for centuries received
and consumed in his sitting embrace
every tender offspring OF democratic
thought; but at last there came an
iconoclRst who with the puritan &
prayers and the sword OF the new
model threw down the image of this
monster. ground IL to powder and
washed away the pollution with blood.
They were iconoclaRts, who in 1876, IN
the very face of threatened destruc
tion, dared TO proclaim to the world
that "all men were created equal" for
by that proclamation they struck down
the idols OF cast to which men had
bowed for countless ages, He was an
IconQ<Aast who IN 1868, In the capital
Of nation, with a heart Bhime
with loSe for humanity and a pen wet
with tho ink OF righteousness wrote
the deathlASs words that struck the
fetters from the wrists Of 900 OO-
bondsmen; for by that act be over.
turned the devouring, destroying, de-
moralizlng lido. OF slavery worshipped
for centuries by deluded mortals.
Thus has the iconoclast been ever
and anon passing over the stage Of the
worlds activity. Destroyer though ht
is, he still has been the foreTunuer oil
every advance in civilization The
golden wand OF progress has been
waved only above the heaps OF ruins
he has made, Tho fuller glow OF
social, political and religious hight ia
which the world today rejoices shines
IN because the dark images set up by
superstition ia the past have been
thrown down. We're il not for this
work Of destruction we today would
be groveling in the intellectual dark
ness of the Middle Ages We today
would be plundered and devoured by
the greed Of kings. We today would
be burning heretics, hanging witches
and guillotining free thought.
But with all our deliverAnce from
such things we are yet idolAtors
Every age sets up its images and we
have set up ours. Even in the halls OF
mirth and iollitY we pass them and
uncover our heads, in the political
arena we stand reverently before
them in the church, on bended knee,
we worship them. And what are
luegf our SOCIAL customs tnhl nave
no claim TO our respect except that
they are old; political principles,
which, venerable only because OF age,
control mems thought; religious dog.
mas which men believe and reverence
all because the fathers held them
sacred These are Images as corrupt
ing TO society as destructive 10 ma.
-tions, as demoralizipg to the church,
as ever stood in palace, court or sacred
temple. These are images that turn
mems hearts aud minds from the true
purpose OF living, and thwart the de.
signs Of divine intelligence itself
These are forms that the waning
light Of the nineteenth century must
reveal and the iconoclast OF today
must shatter
Yet when ! speak thus conservatism
! know Is shocked and alarmed The
Conscript Fathers, many OF them,
withdraw with agitation In their
faces Men are ready to cry out; "A
TrSsin babbler, a councillor Of evil, gc
not after him -
Society today, with al it's rage for
new ftyles and fashions is yet largely
domineered by customs handed down
from bsrbarism and ignorance. Edu
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Awarded
Highest HOnOrs-World's Fair,