Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1899-07-04

making government the engine rather than
the lash and terror of the people, was
nourished in those dim Teutonic forests
where ur ancestors hurled defiance at the
Roman legons, and died for the preserva-
ton of their ancient privileges. In its fee
Bile childhood it needed isolation for its de-
velopment, and was transplanted by the
hand that guides history 10 that mist girdled
island, where institutional government had
an unbroken growth until the rights OF the
people al last came into conflict with an
alien kngly authority, and upon the field OF
Runnymede the rindication OF the claim of
the common man to life. liberty and the pur
suit Of happiness was maintained by sturdy
blows and doughty deeds.
In this crucial year Of our nations his
tory, year that marks the departure from
the policy that for century has guided our
lawmakers and statesmen, our thoughts re-
cur more and more to the history Of liberty,
and we draw lessons from the progress of
free government in the civilization of the
world. Our banner has been planted upon
the far-away islands of the Pacific and upon
the beautiful tropic lands of the southern
seas, as a message to the world that the
rights of man shall triumph over the wrongs
of tyranny, and that liberty's circle is not
complete until the world is girdled
Those who stand in the way Of civilization
must go down before the forces of progress.
This is the dictum of the ages, and cruel
though it may sound to those whose view of
history Is blinded by the white light of our
own day, the survival of the fttest is ma,
lures law.
In reviewing Americas share in the
worlds civilization, the coolest heart must
be thrilled with the glory of her deeds and
the grandeur of the position achieved by
adherence to exalted ideals. While carving
out for themselves homes in the wilderness
the American colonists laid deep and broat
the foundations of nation whose princi
pies of individual right are almost identica
with those of our Teutonic ancestors, anc
may thus justly claim to be the fruit o.
Anglo-Saxon ideas.
1t was this spirit of individualism that
brought forth the soldiers and statesmen Of
the war of independence. The democracy
that strove for the recognition of the righ
of the common man at Runnymede founc
worthy successors in men who fought a
Bunker Hill to preserve liberty. Transplant
ed to American soil, the seed of freedom
sent out hopes that took root in the world:
alism, as well as American liberty, was tht
fruition.
In its infancy, democracy was content t.
maintain the integrity of the territory of The
western continent, and TO assert that Eu
ropean monarchy should be denied the
privilege of aggression thereon. In its
manhood this same democracy recognizes its
duty and responsibility in the moral uplift
of mankind and the dissemination of that
Christian civilization, in which its own
strength rests.
The brain of democracy evolved the
myriad devices that have enfranchised labor
by procuring for it leisure for self-cultiva-
ton. 1t brought forth the telegraph and
the applications OF steam, and has made all
men brothers by thus bringing them into
close communion. 1t has swept the cob
webs OF tradition from church and state, and
has made itself the recognized power in
commerce and science IN little moro than
hundred years it has become the leader Of
the worlds wealth, but conscious OF it's great
destiny 1t is not content to rest upon its
laurels nor pause in It's endeavor.
Sensible of its solemn obligation 10 its
own people and to those new peoples whose
fate is within its keeping, conscious of the
loyalty OF its great thinking effective masses
America faces the future fearlessly and with
an unfaltering trust in the Most High Coo
who holds the nations in His hand and ha
allotted each. since time began, their worl
in perfecting man and making him worth
of an immortal soul. LOU CHAPLIN