The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1900-07-04

At THE OPERA HOUSE.
1t was exactly 11:O5 when the Anna
teur Orchestra, under the leadership Of
! Wray Taylor, struck up the strains of
| Red, White and Blue" in the Opera
House this morning. At the time the
big theater was packed TO it's doors with
| people, very large number of whom
were native Hawaiians the newer Am
erican citizens. on the platform were
Chairman George W. Smith, who sub
sequently opened the meeting, and the
participants in the days program
Rev. Alex. Macintosh read a prayer
! from the Episcopal ritual and then
prayed for the United States, including
Hawaii; for the Territory Of Hawaii;
for peace among all men.
The Declaration of Independence was
admirably read by George b. McClel-
J Ian Miss Della Griswold sang exquis-
! itely Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean"
Then came the address of the day by
| Rev. William Morris Kincaid.
The Rev. w. NJ. Kincaids address
! was strong in the spirit of expansion.
| The speaker boldly asserted that it was
Americas God-given duty to carry her
! principles of freedom all over the
world: He said:
! I'VE meet in this place this morning
/ to celebrate the anniversary of the ma
| tional birthday of the American repuD-
| lie, for the first time, as an integral
! part of the American nation, and it is
! eminently fitting that we should avail
/ ourselves of the opportunity which such
/ a memorable occasion affords to consid-
er in calm and dispassionate manner
some of the lessons which the America
OF the past teaches us, and the bearing
! of those lessons on the new America:
/ the America of the present and of the
! future. What are the great ideas which
| the American nation has stood for? Not
! extent of territory, Russia is larger;
not population, China and Japan have
greater numbers; not wealth Great
| Britain is richer. What is it that our
| fathers demanded. when 124 years ago.
| they took up arms against the mother
! country? They looked forward to some
thing entirely new in the history of the
world-a country based on manhood
and manhood only. They believed In
| God, these wonderful founders of the
American republic, and they believed
also in man. They proposed that men
should govern themselves, not because
they are able to govern themselves well,
! but because they are able to govern
themselves better than somebody else
is to govern them.
I'VE have applied the principle of
| government to an extent never
| dreamed of before We have shown
that the reason and the conscience of
the common people can be trusted, not
only to maintain their own rights, but
to respect the rights of their neighbors
| We have built up a civilization where
! there is at least a deep-seated purpose
! that every man shall have an equal
! chance in life. | do not say that we
have wrought out this purpose with
anything like fullness, but do say that
it enters into the organic life of the
American nation. Where the American
flag floats a man is born an American
! lie is not born porter, nor a black
| smith, nor a merchant nor a lawyer
nor great landed proprietor. He is
born an American. He may start a
| backwoods rail-splitter and become
president of the United States. We
| have not made opportunity perfectly
equal, but we have done more for it
than any other people. There are fewer
obstacles in the way of the rise OF
man, and more opportunities under the
! Stars and Stripes than under any other
flag on the globe.
I'VE have done more. We have pro-
| posed that every man shall have all
the education he can absorb. England
and other nations have begun to do this
some, but America was the first, and it
| is an American characteristic. We
| have no schools for the poor as such
no charity schoOls-but common schools
where a great democracy is educating
itself.
"And then, wherever the American
flag floats man has the right to think as
he pleases; he has the right to speak
out his thoughts. unafraid and unhin-
dered, and he has "A right to print them
as he Will. A free press is another
characteristic of American civilization.
Into all this we have admitted the
people of the wOrld-wisely or unwisely
to share with us our free institutions.
No other nation has thrown open it's
gates so widely. 1t has been said that
America represents every nation on the
face of the globe better than that ma
ton represents itself We have almost
stripped Ireland bare. We have the
canny Scotchman among us in great
numbers, though not enough for our
good and too much for Scotlands good
We have the English among us and, in
spite Of all that may be said to the con-
trary, the events of the past two years
have shown us that blood Is thicker
than water We have all races among
us in such numbers that we hardly
know whether we are an Anglo Saxon
people or not. More than inviting them
to come, we have invited them to share
i'm all that we haVe-Our schools, our
churches, our liberties; the privilege OF
the ballot, 1t has been a distinguishing
feature of American civilization that we
have done this, Faith in humanity un-
paralleled i'm the worlds history; faith
in righteousness; faith in conscience as
a power TO enforce righteous laws; faith
in manhood that declares that every
man. be he white, black or yellow, shall