Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-09-19
Subject of Mayor Jones' Address at
Syracuse, N. Y.
PLEA FOR THE GOLDEN RULE
Annual Convention Of League of
American Municipalities.
BLACKS ADDRESS

SYRACUSE, n. Y, September 19.-The
third annual convention of the League of
American municipalities opened here to-
day with 400 delegates in attendance As
many more are expected to arrive during
the day. Mayor Mcclure of Syracuse made
the address of welcome to the city Gov
Roosevelt, who was to have delivered the
address of welcome to the state telegraph-
ed that he could not be present. Former
Mayor Samuel L. Black of Columbus. Ohio
president of the league, responded to the
address of welcome.
In mis- annual address President Black
said:
I'VE are not here to lose ourselves in
abStruse and abstract specuatious Our
purpose is steInly practical one We
deal with human life; We seek to prolong
ito suffer it to run its natural course
unchecked and unllampered by disease. We
dm to work this out by disposing such Sc
Verely practical questions, as garbage dis
poSai. water supply, civil service reform
saloon regulations and similar measures
Neither the physician nor the minister
OF the gospel go before us in the humans
tarlan character of their work. If we and 9TH
efs who are working along this line can
increase the general average Of health and
happiness Of the millions who dwell in
cities we have gained a victory COMPARED
with which the destruction of a fleet or an
army Is as nothing. Since the last meeting
OF this league our people have been ca lied
upon to undertake at least to regulate
the government of cities in new countries
and In Havana. Santiago. Manila and other
cites OF the east and West Indies our Wig
orouS soldiers and administrators are on
forcing the first PRINCIPLES of orr mljnici-
pal Observation-Disclosures and ORDER
Atlanta Wants Next Meeting,
Atlanta, Ga, is represented by "A large
delegation, which is making great efforts
to nave the convention held there next
year st. Paul and Milwaukee are also bid
ding for the convention
Mayor Jones of Toledo delivered an adj
dress, entitled The New Patriotism: a
Golden Rule Government" He said in
part ''
AS it stands today it is simple candor
70 say tndt the word patriotism is to most
people a meaningless jingle. the one con-
ception they have of the thing being asso-
GATED WIKI red fire, bunting flags fire
crackers and Fourth of July. The new pa
Iriotism, however, is the old patriotism
The flag. the stars and stripes still renre-
sent the love of millions. but we have. been
so busy in the chase after wealth that anv
5ust conception of patriotism is well-nigh
lost IN the hurly-burly of the scramble
We have reached the point where we
are discovering that wild beast ethics are
not good enough upon which to base a
permanent and enduring republic. The
ethics of the wild beast, the survival of
the strongest. shreWdeSt and the meanest
nave been the inspra ton of our material
lstic lives during the last quarter of q
century. This fact in our national history
mas brought US today face to face with the
inevitable result. We have a nation in
which few are wealthy, a few are in
what may be called comfortable circum-
stances, vast numbers are propertyless and
millions are in pauperism and crime.
Not the Idea of the Fathers.
Certainly no reasonable person will con-
tend that this is the goal that we have
been struggling for; that the inequalities
that characterize our rich and poor repre-
sent the ideas that the founders of this re-
public saw when they wrote that All men
are created equal and the new patriotism
is the love of the millions that is already
planning for and opening the way to bet
ter things, to condition of life under this
government when everything child-born in
1t will have equal opportunity with every
other child to live the best possible kind of
life that he she can live.
Tine steps most likely to contribute to
bringing about the better days and better
times. for which we all long. are to nv
mind those things that will unity the peo-
pie, that will serve to weld them toget her
INTO one common mass. those things that
VIII help them to understand the oneness
or solidarity of society; and the things that
are the greatest hindrance to this sort of
development are all those agencies that
serve to separate the people into fragments
that keep alive the fires of hatred within
their bosomS and tend to make them hate
rather than to love each other. All these
agencies are the enemies of progress and
liberty, and stand directly athwart the
path of freedom. Chief among them and
the one agency above all others that the
patriot should seek to overcome in the
municipality, the state and the nation, are
partisan politics.