Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905, 1900-06-22
and can as surely be trusted to advance human
rights; and Bryan is possibility; Barker is
not in sight at the coming race.
The Letter Kills.

Inc Letter Kills.
"The letter kieth, but the spirit maketh
alive"
This is Bible doctrine, and it is just as sound
in politics as religion To be truly religious
a man must have that intangible something
that we sometimes call feeling. 1t is a blend.
ing, in the soul, of impulse, emotion, desire
love and hope.
man might be religious and never be in a
church building, never hear the peas of grand
organs or listen to the voice of the eloquent
preacher A mau may be true patriot and
never cheer himself hoarse at the sight OF
Dewey or 1.-THE president, nor yawp about Old
Glory Patriotism is something to be felt. 1t
is deep down in the heart. 1t is the intangible
that longs for grand citizenship; that recog'
nizes that the glory and grandeur of nations
lies in the intelligence, courage and virtue Of
their men and women.
Viewed from this standpoint, our people are
getting away from the right track, and so fast
as to augur i'll for the future of our nation.
Our couits, big and little, render decisions
more in accord with the letter of the law than
the spirit.
From the very nature OF things, our constitu-
ton must breathe the sentiments of the Declar,
alton of independence, but it is not so inter,
preted. Our judges base their decisions on the
letter, and entirely lose sight of the spirit.
The spirit is entirely lost sight of in larger
armies and more batte-ships; and foreign con-
quests, accomplished through extermnating
wars, is as foreign to the spirit of our nsttu-
tions as He'll to Heaven.
We yawp about Old Glory, and forget that it
is only an emblem of what great nation
should be, and is, if living up to the great
principles that inspired its existence.
When the church builds great cathedrals and
neelects men, it is not moved by the spiri! of
religion.
When congress taxes the people to create
armies and build navies, except in defence, it
cannot do so in the name of patriotism.
A church that does not upbuild fallen man is
not of God.
When, in the exercise OF Office, our states
men fail to consider the best interests of the
masses, such statesmen are no more followers
of Washington and Lincoln than Satan is fol-
lower of Jesus.
The spirit of our institutions demands the
liberty and happiness of every citizen. In the
letter and under the form our laws enacted
and our government administered. There is
much pomp and parade, but taxes steadily in
crease There are tremendous efforts in the
direction of the expansion OF trade, but the
wealth producer is steadily thrust down to lower
levels of poverty and misery. We boast of the
deeds of orr fathers, but initiate old-word
rulers. We point with pride to our schools
and churches, and throw wide the avenues oi
intemperance, and we laud the law of Moses
and Jesus with our tongues, but we accept
bribes, plumber the public treasury and defraud
our ueighbors.
Some one has said it was one great speech
that made it possible to nominate Lincoln fo
president in 1860 1t is known as the Cooper
Institute speech. In that speech, Lincoln ar
pued that it was impossible for the trainers o
the constitution to sanction chattel slavery
since majority of that body had expressed
sentiments hostile to slavery. Lincoln hat
caught the spirit of our fathers, and, through
that inspiration, rightly interpreted the consti
tuition. He and his cotemporaries challenged
the Dred Scott decision of the United State
supreme coult, and denied the right of congres