The Saint Paul globe., 1898-07-03

some people spend all their lives IN
glass houses. they would perhaps feel
more at home under glass monument
1t is feared the soldier boys at the
front are getting no encouragement to
take baths. Private Otto Hoffman, Of
a Michigan regiment, went in bathing
at Tampa, slipped. fell, dislooated his
right shoulder knocked out five teeth
and splintered his upper jaw.
'Lest We Forget; Lest We Forget"
One hundred and twenty-five years
ago tomorrow the fathers wrote for
the world and posterity declaration
of the rights of Man. Heretofore
there had been mainly writings Of the
rights of Government, written by kings
and mobiles and setting forth their
privileges and the duties of servent
Man. Now a new era had come, be-
gun by men who believed that "be-
fore man made us citizens great ma
ture made us men," that men made
| government, not that government
| made men; that the creator is greater
than the created.
Into that declaration, that new gos-
pei Of liberty. they wrote truths which
they held to be self-evident. They
| needed no explanation, no defense;
only bare statement. All men are ere
ated equal; no distinction of color; no
| difference of race; no division by
| boundary lines of countries Wherever
| man exists, there, by virtue of that
existence alone. is equality. Not of
capabilty; not of social station; not of
wealth, but of rights. And chief among
these equal rights the fathers said
were life. liberty and the pursuit Of
happiness. And for the purpose of
| securing to each these rights, and for
no other purpose, governments were
! instituted. Men made them; not they
which made men. And they went log
ically, relentlessly on and decreed that
all Just powers-they can have no un-
! just powers-of these governments
came from and were exercised with
the consent of the governed. Further
more, they said that, when govern
ments became perverted, deprived
people of those unalienable rights, the
people had a right to change them
for those that would effect their prop
er ends. And then they went out and
| fought seven years to maintain their
declaration.
For century and a quarter that
declaration has been our political
creed. Children have been taught it
in the schools; foreigners have read it,
and, accepting it. came and made
their homes under it, and on the ma
tion's annual natal day the people
have assembled to hear it read. How
fares that declaration today? What
measure of observance are $4,000 900
people giving to principles to which
100000 pledged their lives, their for
tunes and their sacred honors, and
made sacrifice of lives and fortune?
The nations anniversary cannot be
better spent by any citizen than in
taking account Of stock to see if we
have held untarnished the national
faith. Has government preserved to
men from : men their equality Of
rights? Has nowhere the old struggle
of men to gain control of government
to secure for themselves privileges
not enjoyed by their fellows been sue
cessful? Is every man free to pursue
pered by restrictions upon his liberty :?
Has the state secured to men the right
| to engage their activities in useful
! work free from restrictions by state
or their fellows? And, if government
has not done this, and who will as
sert 1T has, have we not yet sufficient
work to do at home before embarking
in schemes to extend misgovernment
to others?
We see congress on the brink of vio-
lating the basic principles of our ma
| tional life. One branch has passed
and another is on the verge of pass
| ing resolution, which the president
is certain to approve, if passed, i'm
posing our government upon 100000
persons inhabiting islands in the Pa
/ cific, without their consent, without
asking them if they will or no. Be
! yCnd, our army has gone to make
! conquest, as a measure of war; Of
| islands held by our enemy Already
| it is plain that there is a strong cur
rent of opinion that what we take
| there we will keep; the people there,
| equal in rights with ourselves, we will
| govern as we will without their as
sent, just as they have been governed
! by our enemy. We are preparing an
eXpeditionary force to occupy another
! island and annex it to our territory
and impose upon its people, whether
! they wish it or not, our government.
| Our troops are today fighting at
Santiago to expel the forces of a ma
ton which governs that island without
! the consent of the governed, and, in
I spite of denials, it is apparent that the
| intention is to substitute ours for
! Spanish government without asking
i the assent of the governed In all
these cases we deny the equality of
man and assert our superiority; we
deprive them of unalienable rights
and we deny to the world the faith
of the fathers that governments are
instituted among men, by men, with
powers derived from the governed
and exercised by their consent Should
we not, tomorrow, when the reader
/ finishes reading the Declaration of In
! dependence, once held immortal bow
our heads and say:
Lord God OF hosts, be with US vet
Lest we forget; lest we forget?"
lndicts the Wrong Party.
When there is nothing else to de-
nounce. no one else to thump, it is al
| WavS safe tO nO11nl corDOratjopc 20