The Portland daily press., 1899-04-28

every man Is a sovereign and the peer OF
every 9TH man In rights AMI response
piiities, the strength of the government
depends not upon the superior education
OF the lew but upon the high average In.
teiiieencetof all the people. The strength
OF oiu New England was not In the supe-
rior culture Of = few great men. but In
the wide intslligsncs Of her common
farmers and mechanics. They were men
who thought and talked and discussed
the questions Of the day. Their stores
and shops and Ufesides were debating
places, where the last speech In Congress
and the last sermon were reconsidereu.
Three books were in their houses. Inc
Bible, the dictionary and the .revissn
statutes
Our information may be broader but
the fathers thought deeper. There was
more making Of Intelligent citizenship
| In one little red school house Win its
weekly Debating society than In all the
theatres on the gloSe.
The newspaper gives more gossip but
noqmoreino ependent thinking huucation
| Is not In kilograms but In thought. The
| educators Of our land are, our common
schoois,th newspaper, the public r,, i nn,,.
the public library the peoples universe.
ty. Massachusetts, has free public libra
| ~ In all but seven Of her towns. Our
strength Ia not In the higher character OF
| our colleges and uni'ersities, important
asIthe are, but in the higher character
OF our common. schools. but lew farmers
or mechanics or merchants or bankers or
selectmen or members Of our city govern
ments can have liberal education,
hence the higher intelligence OF the many
10 more important than the superior odu-
| cation of the few. Oroecs and Rome
bad high education and culture Tor the
| few, but not for the masses. Their re-
publios went down.
BOSSISM Is DEFIANT.
| Bossism is defiant because IL can con-
i troll ignorsnt voters. A man should be
required to live long enough in our coun-
| try to read its language understand the
meaning OF Its institutions and be Amer
icanized In his intelligence and character
before he can vote. Our native citizens
| live In the atmosphere Of our institutions
twenty one years. attend our schools more
or less for sixteen years before they can
vote. Foreigners should he here long
enough to fill their lungs with the air OF
an Intelligent democracy and read the
alphabet OF Rspublicanism. In order for
| citizenship.
Universal suffrage without universal
| In telligence is fearful risk, peril to
our land. We must ever keep uppermost
the old New England motto of plain liv-
ing and high thinking.
last CONDITION OF DEMOCRAT
&c STRENGTH.
| TIE last condition Of democratic
strength is ett ical righteousness. There
should not be the least official connection
between the state and the church. The
state is to protect the church and the
church is TO permeate the state with the
leaven of ethical righteousness. AS the
Kingdom Of Christ advances Christian
democracy will be ethical In Its character.
| Its leg islatures cannot be confined 70
questions about roads ind bridges and tel
egraphs and tariff and schools, or merely
| pny steal questions, but a Christian dem
ocracymust grasp all questions which per-
| tain to the social aud moral welfare of
the community. You cannot Danish NOR
al questions from politics any more than
| you can Danish them FROM the home. The
evolution of nations, like the evolution
| of nature Is from the lower to the higher,
| from the purely animal to the moral and
| spiritual. Not to recognize this Is to fall
| behind the march of God and history.
The politician must see this.
The family Is the social unit but 1t IL
l ~
union of families, the state union Of
towns, and the nation union Of states
| Whatever Is a peril to the family Is peril
| to the town, the state and the nation.
| The father is recreant to his home who
does not protect IL from immoral In
| fuences. The town Is recreant to itself
which does not guard Its young men
from unneeded temptations. A Christian
democracy cannot be silent upon moral
questions. They are coming more and
| more to the front. Political parties must
represent moral ideas Such the meaning
of Christian civilization. Character Is to
| be the standard. Gladstone's character
WAS his great strength. Dingley's char
acter was his power. The lack of ethical
| Righteousness ruined Greece and Rome
| aud France and spain. Here Is our great
est peril, social and political corruption.
| Extent of territory will not save us, II
Is peril. Vast wealth will not save us.
1t Is u peril. Our schools alone will not
save us for education 10 not Righteousness.
len commandment men and ton com
mandment principles are lall that. can
say, US,
WHAT THE POLITICIANS SAY.
! Politicians tell us that parties cannot
be lun on Sunday school principles. Then
let the parties perish. What Is dishones
/ IN u Iuhu Is uiououcht q phIty. 4Ar
man and the politician are one in CHAR
! acter.
| When Thomas Jefferson was secretary
of state, a friend called and In the course
of their con versation, remarked that be
would write letter and rising went to
the desk for sheet OF paper. Mr.. Jeffer'
son at once remarked; That paper ID
not mine" 1t belongs to tae govern
ment. On the other aesk is mine, help
yourself. F"
Think of that in the light of modern
political speculation and gambling and
thieving and spoils taking not only done,
| but defended without Ia blush and sus'
tanned by parties In power. When
| parties repudiate dishonest men and char
acter is put above success then we are
strong. kthical righteousness touches
also our social tastes. Ons.half OF our
theatres are schools of impurtiy.
| OUR RING FIGHTS.
| We talk about heathenish spanish bull
fights as relic of barbarous age but
tho S,srish buil fiphts and Maxicau cocl