The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1900-06-07
!. There is not an institution that
noes NOT taka roof, In tho most

4. Inere is not an institution that
poes not take root in the past.
Back In the New England county
meeting we find the germ Of the
American Congress. Our common
schoof system of today system Of
which we are SO justly proud goes
back to the town-schools established
by the Puritans. In Massachusetts,
every town containing fifty household
ers was required by law to appoint a
teacher; every town containing a hun
dred householders to set up a gram
mar school which might prepare
youths for the university. $50 COM
plete and universal were the means of
instruction, it is said, ''that in the
times preceding the Revolution there
was not to be found in all New Eng
land an adult born in the country who
could not read and write" We can
forgive the Puritan much of his in
tolerance and much of his sour the
ology and his somewhat surly devo-
tions, when we think of this splendid
achievement. With him is the origin
of our present magnificent system.
The common school is the great
agent for reducing all our elements,
from whatever countries, to one no.
mogeneous nationality. The wheat
that passes through our great mills is
gathered from Thousand fields. 1t
reaches the city by various routes.
Here it is thrown into a common hop
per and the shells and coarser parts
are torn off and flung aside; and when
! the flour passes through the final pro
cess it is clean and white. The gross
er elements have all disappeared.
The public school is the great hopper
of the mill. Into it the children of
various lands and parentage are
thrown. That which was distinctive
ly Irish, French or German, the pc
culiar ideas received by inheritance
and tradition, are ground off and dis
appear, while the final and finished
product is an American citizen! The
public school is the. mill; then let us see
to it that neither Catholic nor Pro-
testant NEEDLES with the water-wheel!
2. There is hardly name today that
does not, stand connected with the
past.
Let us take one or two instances of
names. Our word 'Indian" contains
the whole history of that period of
voyage and discovery which includes
the voyages of Columbus. 1t tells of
the time when the whole world was
seeking a new route to the Indies.
Columbus thought he had reached his
destination, and the word "Indian,"
which he applied to the people whom
he found, forever reminds us of the
object of his search. Then, too, take
our word "Pittsburg." 1t contains
the history of our own French and In
dian war. 1t was originally Fort
DuQuesne, and commemOrated the
dominion of the French. But the rise
of the great premier Pitt changed the
face of this western world. The
French were defeated, and the name
of Pitt took the place of Duquesne,
and the old fort and village were
thenceforth known as "Pittsburg."
In that word we have a memorial of
of the treaty of 1853, by which the
French king lost his possessions and
the institutions of the Middle Ages
were prevented from establishing
themselves on our part of this cOnti-
nent. The difference between the
words Fort Duquesne and and Pitts
burg is the difference between two
civilizations. r
3. There is not a question before us
today that must not be considered in
the light of history.
Tariff and financial problems are no
new things. They have been dis
cuSsed from the beginning. One
policy after another has been actually
tried. Experience might wisely guide.
For example: I do not now speak of
the question of national Expansion as
a political issue. I simply say that
the history of our country has been
continuous expansion from the fringe
Of settlements on the edge of the At
lantic, across the continent, and far
out among the islands of the distant
seas. While we need all the light of
the present, and while constantly
changing circumstances must also
be considered, the past has it's lessons
which must not be ignored. 1t is not
my purpose today to discuss a single
question now before us from that
1t is not my business SO
to do. I simply say that all the is
sues of today are the result and out
come of antecedent issues, and need to
be studied in the light of their gene
alogy.
Thus are we bound up, in a thousand
ways, with the past. The better we
understand it, the more intelligently
can we act today. We have more con-