The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1902-09-17

Bad ltigs can do no harm. Gooa laws
can do 4 measure Of good, but it is the
man behind the law who will uItl-
mately By the way in which he per-
forms his duties determine whether
this country is to go up Or Gown.
(Applause.) Character is what counts.
The men here who fought in the
Union army. the men who fought II
the Confederate army, let them looh
back. What did they care for most
in the men who were their comrades.
who fought on their right hand ana
their left hand in time Of action. 1t
was not as to the mans antecedentS.
it was not as to whether he was rich
or Door, or what his social position
had been, it was to know whether
when the time of crisis came he would
stay. Laughter and applause.) II
the need came to go forward you
wanted to be sure when he moved
that he would move in the right dlrec'
tion.
You wanted to know that you
could count on his being there as a
good friend, and as foe to look out
for. You wanted to have him de-
voted to his country, devoted to his
flag, loyal to his regiment, but don't
care how fine his feelings were, if he
ran away he was no good. Uaugh-
ter.) It is so in civil life, for if a
citizen is to be worth his salt he needs
character, and into character many
elements enter. II a man IS not de-
cent, then the abier he IS the more
DANGEROUS he is to the community.
In the revolutionary war one Of the
bravest and most brilliant soldiers
during the carly years OF the contest
was the man who has left his name as
byword Of infamy to the nations
for all time: the man who fought with
distinguished gallantry in Canada,
the man who led all the American
forces in the great battle at Saratoga
and left his leg on the Held of victory.
That man with all his courage, all his
daring, all his superb military gen.
iuS, turned because the root Of right
eousnesS was not in him, sought to be-
tray his comrades for money, and left
the name of Benedict Arnold as a hiss
ing forevermore.
HONESTY AND COURAGE.
I'm civil life the danger is not SC
patent; but it is just as great, If abili-
ty is not accompanied by a rightful
sense Of accountability to the moral
law. In addition to honesty and de-
cency, you must have courage. !
want to see every one a good man,
and in addition to that I want to see
him a man. We must have the man
ly virtues deeply imbedded as part OF
our national characteristics if we are
to DO our work Alright in peace or in
war. But honest and courage TO-
gether are not enough. 1 care not
how brave and how honest man IS,
if be was born foolish you can do but
little with him. daughter and ap-
plauSe. We need honesty, we need
courage. we need in addition the say
ing grace of common sense. There
is no patent device by which
we can make the average citizen
a credit to the country; make
him hold higher the standard Of good
government. The average citizen
must make himself a worthy citizen
Of the republic. The average citizen
must realize that it IS upon his shoul-
ders that the entire government struc-
ture rests. We get in the habit OF
speaking of the government as II 1t
were something apart from US. Now
the government is US, we are the gov
ernment, you and l. (Applause.)
And the government is going to do
we'll or i'll accordingly as we, with
sanity, with resolution, with broad
charity and sound common sense,
make up our minds how the affairs OF
the government shall be managed.
No man can take the burden of gov
ernment off the shoulders Of a people
fitted for self-government. No man
can make it easy for any people
to govern themselves. They have
got to determine for themselves
what the government shall be,
and in the long run the government
will represent their wishes, their
wishes for good or their wishes for
evil, or else they are Indifferent to
good orevil. (Applause.) And 50 my
plea to you, my fellow Americans. as
to every citizen in every section OF the
country is, remember that in this
country nothing, no law, no leadership,
can possibly take the place of the e1-
ercise BY the average citizen of the
fundamental viitueS Of good citizen.
ship, the exercise of the fundamental
qualities of honesty, courage and COM
mon sense
The president was given three
hearty cheers as he finished his