The St. Louis Republic., 1901-11-25

he wishes the policies of the nation to be.
II Is the mercy seat where every Christian
voter leaves his prayer for the blessing of
COD on the NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. princi-
ples-which he deposits in the ballot-boX.
IL was intended by the trainers of our Con-
sttution that the ballot-bOX should be the
caesar OF the United States Russia has
her Car, Turkey her Sultan, China and
! Germany their Emperors, England and
Prussia their Kings and Queens, France
her revolutions, but the United States has
her balloI-bON. What patriot does not love
10 thlnk that the ruler of his country is The
| Voice u its own free and great and wise
people?
We should thank God for our American
schools Tie crown OF our civilization is
our cumhoh-sehJol system. The school mas
always played an important part III The
progress OF The race. III ancient nations
children were educated in The profession
q their fathers, and this idea brought dis
a3ter 10 tne nations, but in our land all
branches ARE taUght-the physical, the nat
ural, the sclentlnc and the spiritual. our
cltlZeHs axe practically unanimous IN theF
support of Zee schools, and the only quvs-
| tion Is as 10 how far this principle should
| be carried Our public schools are teach
! ing supreme allegiance to the United States
and all her institutions. They are teach
ing Independence and seit-rellance:
/ they are inspiring young men and
4 women with high ami LOFTY ambitions;
/ lncN are encouraging research in every de-
lartmeHt OF science, art and hteIature'
more and more do they stimulate thought
anu encourage industry.
II We would judge of the tree by its
| fruits We would point to such men as Sum
ner, Seward, Lincoln, CulfaX, Grant Hayes.
GARFIELD. Mckinley and a host OF others
VINO stand as the product and eNpunen:s
or The public school. II Is u cause for
J1lclnS 10 know that about l5,000,oO0 pupils
nearly une-iOurth of our pOpulatiOn-aTe
enrolled in the schools of this nation; and
While England has fiVe-eighthS of her stu
dents in private Institutions, we have only
onc-eishth All our States and Territories
seem 10 vie with one another in their ed
ThINr1~a
| b,vlputt acres Of land for public school pur-
| poses; the DakOtaS ana Montana more than
StVov9 Thirty Of our states and Terri
tories have set aside about 75,GOJ,VoO acres
OF Iand Tor public school purposes, a terri
tory sufficient 10 make a State nearly as
large as Illinois, Indiana and Ohio put to-
gethcr. These large donations and the mil
! mons expended annually for educational pur-
poses speak volumes in favor of the gen.
eral intelligence Of our country. Nor should
We forget 10 be thankful for the generous
hearted founders of private institutions OF
4earnlng-men who realize the potency of
Hell-trained minds More than $4,000, 600 is
given annually by private individuals TO ed
ucattOnal work. Professional and training
schools have 50 increased in number and
| Is no longer necessary for the American
youth seeking higher education TO go
abroad. And be it said in favor of the edu-
eaton OF to-day that its aim and object
Is not merely learning, but the power of
learning; not what the pupil knows but his
capacity to find out: not how much he re-
10 transmute into power; not so much TO
think the thoughts Of other men, but 10
develop the power to think for himself
I'VE therefore as a people have every rea-
son TO thank God for the progress that is
being made In education, and especially
should our hearts beat in harmony with the
tributes Of praise ascending to God for Cur
pubic schools and their teachers, by which
our chillren may be educated, out from
whose midst shall come best men. our
strongest patriots, cur purest daughters our
sweetest wives and our most devoted moth
ers. We should think God for our religious
hperty and the progress Of Christianity. Our
people may worship according to the die
tates OF their own conscience. for our Con-
stitution declares that no law shall be en-
acted that shall Illustrate the free exercise
or religious convictions. All congregations
lirse ana small. assembled for worship. are
protected by law against disturbance Every
ll.uiNlduat Is permitted to worship God or
not 10 worship him, as he chooses.
. Ihis country stands first among the ma
tons of the world in Christian activities 1t
IS quite impossible to measure spiritual con-
diuons by cold statistics. yet they may
prove suggestive. The United States leads
the world with 10000 church organizations
10000 ministers, 100000 church members,
lO9,gO houses of worship, valued at 500
600 and with seating capacity sufficient to
acC9mmodate our entire population. One
half the Sunday-school scholars in all the
world are in the United States, the number
beng about 1-0e0.OUO. Men are coming to a
higher conception of what it is to be a
Christian. to a better understanding Of what
it is to live the life of Christ. that gift that
came down from above. More and more are
men coming 10 a better conception of Gods
word. More and more is the Bible and the
Bible alone coming to be the Christians rule
OF faith and practice. Yes. the Bible is be-
coming divorced from tradition and is ey-
cry where being accepted as the word OF
God, bearing the message of salvation TO
man. II is one Of our foundation stones it
is the anchor of our hopes; it is the instru-
ment OF { ur salvation; it is the great lu-
minary that is blessing our land CONNER
cially. socially, intellectually and spiritually
me principles of its teaching are entering
ing our civilization. lifting il nearer and
nearer to the conception of life and liberty
which Jesus gave TO the world. For this
our hearts should rejoice and from their in
ner depths there should ascend to the great
Jehovah hymns of continuous praise.
Thanks for every blessing and let there be
a universal Petition that the will of God be
done and his kingdom perfected until every
knee shall bow before Christ the Savior. and
every tongue confess him Lord Of AL"