The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1899-05-31

| welfare of the commonwealth.
We must above al things in this
patriotism. Our government Is found
cd on the good will Of the peo-
rle, and its greatest glory and the
love entertained for 1t in the u~npurchas7
able affections of the great masses of the
common people. 1t was their sons you saw
on the transports to Cuba, Porto Rico and
Manila. 1t was their sons you saw behind
the guns at Manila and Santiago.
1t was their sons that strewed
the slopes of Gettysburg. 1t is their
land, for better or for worse. How abso-
lutely essential 10 the general welfare
that these young men shall be hrst, and
above all things else, endowed with the
highest form of unselfish devotion to the
country and the flag which represents it.
The best teacher will be a high and lofty
a soldier who could lead a forlorn hope,
or in public office could Withstand the
threats of power or the seductionss or pelf.
To all foreign observers of our institutions
and our history, the two most remarkable
things are the excellence, the high in
telligence and supreme bravery, of our
pidity with which the citizen becomes a
soldier, and then quickly becomes a
citizen again.
AT the close Of our great Civil Wan
these vast legions who but yesterday
haV led in battle. today become a
great army of industry. and the very
horses bearing the government marks of
the ~contending armies that yesterday
went plunging with the batteries into
place, We're today turning the soil in the
secluded valleys of the land. The good
cltlzen, when the lines are drawn between
order and disorder. between this nation
and another, has but one position to
occupy He must stand by the United
States Government and the American flag
without question and without hesitancy.
1t would be idle in this presence to say
that our country. unlike other lands, was
| Qnfirp1y- frnp from nnccihIo. a - .aoI
we would be unworthy of the brave men
whose achievements this monument COM
memorates if we did not face them with
courage as well as hope. There are two
or three of these possible dangers so
prominent as to deserve a passing notice.
The first is the abuse of wealth in its
to recognize its moral and equitable obli-
cations to- the individual of the
state In its aggregate form, when in
the hands of INSCRIPTIONS and greedy
men, at times it seems to threaten, to
usurp the foundations and sovereignty of
the State itself. There SHOULD be no COM
! greater than the State and to threaten to
poison the very sources of popular goy-
eminent.
When you consider the vast resources
OF combined wealth and its power To
tnWart the execution of just laws
and remember that Shakespeare has.
said, How oft in the corrupted currents
of this world Offense's gilded hand doth
shove by Justice" you must then reflect
on the temptations and opportunities
which an unconseionable aggregation and
popular government For my own part,
l feel quite sure that nothing can cor
rect such abuses but a strong, healthy
and entirely honest public opinion. 1t is
abuses will not be the excuse for the
adoption of remedies as unjust as the
disease itself. This country has just
given a splendid example of how it can
rise above material interests and sordid
considerations, and how untrue was the
assertion that we were sunk in the
sloughs OF selfiShness, with our eyes
glued on our ledgers, our hands grasping
after unworthy gains and our hearts In
our safes. Surely those most interested
must be blind if they cannot see that the
TALLY right hearted, so determined on JUS
tice, not alone for themselves. but for
others, are not to be tri1ed with by the
followers of Mammon.
We are compelled also to notice as
amorg the national dangers the abuse
Of wealth in the individual case
tunes seem, with the consent and
approval of large ana ultra fashion
able portions of society to set at naught
those conventional rules and proprieties
ed. The State depends entirely upon the
virtue, intelligence and moral character
Of the individual and the sanctity of the
home. You cannot destroy the one nor
invade the sacred precincts of the other
without sapping and undermining the
whole social and political su~perstructure.
An ostentatious and vulgar display OF
wealth has a most degenerating effect
and evil example, and recklessness in the
luxuries which wealth makes possible is
very apt to destroy in the people at large
those habits of industry, frugalityi and
simplicity which mark the best traits OF
the American people. We have startling
modern examples of great nations degen-
Grating and losing their power through
loss of moral tone begetting spiritual and
physical degeneracy with a long train of
evils which follow in the wake of such
weaknesses.
While it is quite true tina the late war
did more than anything else to destroy
the evil spirit of s~ectionalisrn. still there
will always be SO many temptations on
the part of designing men to revive it,
that we cannot be too careful to see to
its repression. 1t has been one of the
greatest curses that ever afflicted this
great country, and the worst of it is that
it Is always a ready weapon in the hands
of designing politicians seeking to get or
keep office, and therefore a certain class
of them may be depended upon to fan
the smouldering flames at every oppor-
tunity. Not long ago. after it had been
killed in the South, we saw an attempt
PLY, at this time the country never seem
ed freer from it, but eternal vigilance
Is the price of its destruction. 1t is the
tare among our wheat, and as careful
h~usbandmen we must repress it at it's
first outcropping.
| trust the time will come in this
country when the sectional idea will
be wholly obliterated. Why, for in
stance, should not a first rate man from
Rhode Island. without regard to sectional
or geographical considerations, be selected
for President, instead of a second-rate
man from Illinois or any one of the larger
States? Why should the present contest
for the Speakership, of the House of Rep
resentatives be conducted on sectional
grounds? That we shall get the very best
men for the office is the thing that com
Germs you and me. What advantage is it
to you or to me whether he comes from
east of the Allegheny Mountains or west
of them, or south of the Potomac or
north of it? If the best man for the office
is in California, why should not he have
Are not the interests of his nation one?
Are we to pursue our Heaven destined
course guided only by a judicious distri-
button in river and harbor bills and
measures for public buildings? What
have the great and universal interests of
this nation to do with Jones or Smith
getting the craftsmanship of a committee
as against other men who are better
fitted for the place, and all because they
live in Milwaukee instead of Hoboken?
or Painted Horse, Dakota, instead of
You can readily see that these cries
are raised by the men who van
Office and by which they rally their
~neighbors on purely local, personal
and narrow grounds and tie the in
terests of the whole people to them on
locality, bounding our patriotism by
rivers and mountain chains, instead of on
the broad and open ground of common in
terest, common aspirations and a common