The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-02-23
Indiana's Eloquent Junior Senator
Given an Ovation ut the Chicago
Union League Club Exercises.
CONSERVATISM" HIS TOPIC
An ANALYSIS OF AMERICAN CHAR
ACTER AND POLICY.
All the Great Questions Now Before
the Country ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
and Development.
;psclal 70 tns 1ndlananolis Journal.

CHICAGO. Feb. 22-WashingtOn's birth
day was celebrated by the Union League
Club at the Auditorium this afternoon
Senator Albert ]. Beveridge, of Indiana,
was the orator. The senator is a favorite
with Chicago audiences and his address to-
day was literally appiauded His topic was
CONSERVATISM: The Essential in American
Character and Policy" and many persons
said it was the best address the senator
has ever delivered. All his sentences were
clear cut. and his eloquent delivery aroused
the audience TO great enthusiasm. After
several selections of patriotic music and
an invocation by DR.. Frank Gunsaulus,
President Robert Mather introduced Sena-
tor Beverage, who spoke as follows:
Ladies and conference.-the meaning of
Washington in American history is dsci-
pline. The message of WashingtOn's life to
the American people is discipline The
need OF American character is the cultiva-
tion of discipline
Washington did not give patriotism TO
the American colonies. The people had that
rs abundantly as he. He did not give them
courage. That quality and is in the
American blood. lie did not even give them
resource There were intellects more pro-
ductive than his But Washington gave
balance and direction TO elemental forces.
lie was the genius Of order. He was pOise
personifed- lie was the spirit of discipline
He was the great conservative. 1t was this
that made all other elements of the revO-
luton effective. Ii this that organized
nebulous independence into nation or
liberty. The parts of a machine are useless
until assembled and ftted each to its ap-
propriate place. Washington did that. And
90 IL Is that We are people.
NOT YET PERFECT.
But we are not yet a perfect people any
more than youth is yet a perfect man We
are yet in the making. 1t is a glorious cir
cumstance. Youth is the noblest of Gods
rrLo ~,
life of man. Read the history of people
who have done things in their day. Read
the life of a man who has done things in
his day They are as similar as sea and
ocean. 1t is only a question OF magnitude
The American people are young? Yes.
Vital? Yes POWERFUL Yes! Masterful?
Yes Disciplined2 Not entirely. Reserved?
Not yet, but will be. Moderate? Not yet
but growing In that grace. And therefore
this. his day. / bear you the message Of
WaShingtOn-he, whose sanity, Orderliness
and calm have reached through the CEN
fury. steadying us when untamed passions
OF riotous youth had all but reached the
climax of chaos.
THE American people have finally over
come every convulsion? True. The element
OF sObriety has never failed 10 master the
uaddest agitations? True again. But the
80 o. +lac -.s.rgsSlc in every instance has
been measured by the strength of the in
etinct of discipline at the time. To-day we
are calm, and are conscious of no need for
deliriOus. and the rumble OF cannon on
your streets and the rattle of musketry at
your doors was hailed with feelings of Sc
curlty and rener. And many crises may be
recalled by men not yet old. The political
1cOnvulSiOn OF five years ago is peaceful
example of popular hysteria, overcome by
strenuous work that tested the powers of
conservatism to the ultimate limit Popular
reserve, the self-restraint of the people.
the fireside conference, would have lessened
every excited circumstance in our history.
and prevented many or most of them. Rea-
son Is better than bayonets Sober second
thought Is better than the destroying viO-
lence or campaign over passion-bOTn
propositions.
LABOR AND CAPITAL.
I'm the daily press we read of co-opera-
tive council Of capitalists. clergy workers
and publicists 10 settle the conflicts be-
tween labor and productive wealth. We ap-
plaud it. and we should. But not because it
will be effective-for it may not be effective.
But we hail 1t an evidence that the spirit
OF forbearance is spreading among the peo-
pie II is an expression of the instinct of
order which must become the ruling eie-
ment in American civilization. And this il
Is which. more and more, Will settle strikes.
and. in the end, prevent them. This it is
which, more and more Will take wilduess
out of our politics. until reasonable issues
only remain. The remedy for friction be-
tween employer and employed is in the
breasts OF the men themselves and their
employers. The saving of the people is in
the hands of the people themselves, and
nowhere else. Better than councils. and
commissions. and congresses is the self
discipline, the reasoning reserve. the regu-
lated conscience of free people. And
& congresses and councils are effective only
as they are expressions of this
Indeed. We have awakened to the funda-
mental fact that written laws are not eV-
erything and that the people are every
thing. Back of our statutes stands our
Constitution, and back OF our Constitution
stands our institutions, and back of our in
situations stands our race. Let us remem-
Der that the people are the real foundation;
not laws, not even constitutions. 1t is the
people from which statutes constitutions
and even institutions spring that give these
forms of civil method their meaning. The
Constitution OF this Republic would be a
law OF Latin nation. even though that ma
ton copied il word for word liz would be
interpreted by their racial spirit expounded
In the light Of their racial institutions. Ev-
cry day since our Constitution was adopted
we have been acting beyond the limits of
its written word. but within the limits of
its Institutional meaning. III we had not
done so would not now be "A Nation.
ITS WORDS INADEQUATE.
more and more this will be so. The
growth OF modern industry. the gradual
change of competition into cooperation.
the manifold and infinitely interviewer ac-
tivities Of modern business. the steady
knitting ,ogether OF all the agencies of
production. distribution and exchange until
the whole Nation is well nigh an industrial
unit as II is a political unit the extension
OF this process until international relations
are so interlaced that no nation. even by
war can entirely cut the golden cords Of
commerce and culture that bind her 10 her
eisters--the processes OF civilization I'm
SHORTENING into play national necessities
and national powers as much greater and
more complex than those exercised by the
fathers the Nation and its activities to-
day greater and more complex than
they were a century ago We cannot adopt
new constitutions 10 meet those new con-
ditionS. They would be inadequate II we did
adopt them; and each decade would make
the constitution OF the preceding decade
obsolete II its letter alone were read. And
more yital-the Institutional law with its
roots springing from the very soul OF our
race. by whose living meaning our written
laws and constitutions are Interpreted. our
hope Is In ourselves. Our safety Is In our
racial customs and tendencies. Our saliva
ton and supremacy is In the character OF
our people.
II do not mean that we should bind our
selves 20 custom / am only "A limited be-
lever IN the philosophy OF precedent Prec-
edenf becomes paralysis. n observed when
customs no longer Mt conditions COnserva-
tfsm does not mean adherence 20 existing
Conservatism means the adaptation OF
means 10 ends naturally and without vio-
lence. Reason Is the touchstOne OF con-
servatism- And so IA - that must foster
the element OF conservatism In American