Marshall County independent. (Plymouth, Marshall County, Ind.) 1897-1902, 1899-07-07

Mr.. f. H. Wurzer, the private secre
tary to Congressman Brick, and who
spoke here July 4th, following Con
gressmsn Lands, has favored the press
with copy of his manuscript which
we print in full for the benefit of II ose
who wanted to hear but could not
because of the rampant fire crackers.
We are unable to reproduce the speech
of Mr.. Lands as his talk had not been
committed to manuscript
WI. WurZer said:
81 see the impersonation of my
subject il the young soldier standing
before me, in his buoyant carriage, his
ruddy face, his keen eye. his intelligent
manner, his courage, his valor, his ad
mirable individuality, and not least his
spirit of self-sacrifice and charity that
noblest man. He is the type of young
America. He is the heir of new and
complex conditions, and the grave re-
sponsibilities that they carry with them.
He has been tried in the harness of war,
and his character has been tested in the
crucible of time and l am proud to de-
clare that he has proven true metal, and
that however grave and important n ay
be the trust with which he is charged
he will ever be equal to that trust.
"We have entered upon new era in
our national career, an era of unprece-
dented progress and development, a
period of new and stronger and better
growth, but it comes attended with It's
full measure of complexities and bur
dens; for development and growth are
the parents of responsibility 1t is but
the evolution of history that unlimited
development and untold possibilities
follow as the aftermath to victory in
arms Look back to the close OF each
great war. See how with the fall of the
shades of night upon each great strife
the skies are aglow with brighter red
to fOrebode more glorious tomorrow
Think of the revolutionary hero who, In
the infancy of our country, gave up all
and gladly fought the battle of freedom
against the greatest odds, and, after he
was crowned with victory, returned dill
igently to his labors, leaving his sons
the heritage of a full grown nation, re-
spected in the east, and, withal, rich
and powerful. The soldiers of the re
bellion shouldered their guns to defend
the freedom that their fathers had won
and to preserve the nation that they had
made, and when they had triumped
in their Righteousness after having been
the victims of the most abject misery
and wretchedness only less protracted
than that of the revolution they too re-
turned to their homes and began the
work of reconstruction, and they have
left US a government and a country
that is the pride of the world, the
guardian of liberty, the arbiter of ma
tions and Godsend to humanity.
"But development brings RESPONSE
bility, and the marvellous growth that
followed the revolution was charged
with the trust OF shaping and handing
down to posterlty the great and living
principles of freedom and selfgovern-
ment The rebellion had torn deep fur
rows in the avenues Of commerce and
cast distractions in the onward march
of progress and advancement, but the
prolific development that came with the
gigantic work of reconstruction was
| freighted with the trust of preserving
and confirming those great principles
not by establishing but by emphasizing
the fact of equality in the rights of all
| men.
"Our forefathers have completed their
| task nobly, and we must bow down in
reverence and say, well Gonep They
came here and found tyranny, and to-
day that despOtlsm is transformed into
a government that is the envy of all
who stand outside of its beneticent in
fuence. They came here and found a
wilderness and today our whole country
to its remotest corner, is threaded with
the veins of commerce, and the netted
heavens reverberate the gladdening din
of great and industrious people bask-
ing in the sunshine of prosperity.
"But the roar of confederate cannon
had barely died away and the next gen
Grafton was preparing to take hold of
the reins when there was another war
that hurried young America on TO her
new growth. We had won liberty al
home and we enjoyed it; we had offered
holocaust upon holocaust in the conse-
Grafton of self-gOvernment. and we kept
the altar of liberty undefiled, and when
we saw that tyranny and oppression still
found asylum on this great continent 1t
shocked the moral sense of our people
and we resolved to take up arms against
| it. To young America was assigned the
task of determination. They FURNISHED
their swords. tested their field pieces
mantled their invincible leviathans In
the gsrb of war and hurried to face the
offender, and before the enemy could
we'll make up their mind to capitulate
or defend, our monstrous and deadly
guns were staring into their rampsrts al
both ends of the world, and like great