The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-02-23
VETERAN EDITOR SPEAKS HIS
MIND AT COMMERCIAL CLUB
BANQUET
WHAT PATRIOTISM REALLY IS
Party Ties So Strong That Honesty
of Speech Is stihed-POliticaI In
dependence Is Political
Ostracism
DUTY OF AMERICAN CITIZENS

| In a speech scarce half an hour in length
H. P. Hall furnished a sensation at the
annual dinner of the Minnesota society,
Sons of the American Revolution, held at
| the Commercial club last night, that was
only equaled by the surprise which it
created
washington and His Memory was
the theme, and Mr.. Hall was among
those called upon to pay tribute to the
immortal commander His address was
short, yet so pregnant with surprises,
that 1t found the little band Of patriots
so convulsed with undisguised astonish-
ment that the witty remarks of a speak
er who followed were unequal to the
task of relieving the painful tension that
existed.
In plain words Mr.. Hall told his hear
ers that patriotism lay not in recounting
the deeds of those that had gone before,
but in their application to the material
things of today. His address, which was
the sensation of the evening, was as fol-
lows:
Mr.. HaIps Address.
1 shall say very little about George
Washington. His name and fame are so
indelibly written upon the pages OF tho
history of our country that every AmeTi-
can school child knows it before it has
reached sufficient years to distinctly pro-
nounce his name. 1 prefer to leave that
to others and to speak to the living,
rather than of the dead.
The history Of this country has been
one of progress. To my mind it has no
better illustration than the lives of George
! Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Slav-
| cry in Washington's day was not, at
| least popularity regarded a moral crime,
and George Washington, great as he was,
! was a. STAKEHOLDER. He WreSted our free
! dom from a foreign tyrant and we honor
! him. Lincoln preserved, and emancipated
! the slaves as well.
/ do not know that there can be a bet
| ter Illustration of the fact of the progress
Of events than the lives Of these two men.
! Such men as Wendell Phillips and VIII
| liam Lloyd Garrison raised the standard
of political independence when it was a
| disgrace and social ostracism to stand
i up and denounce the crime of slavery
| The work grew until 1T finally won; but
! a little handful of men, SO small that
! they were less in numbers than those
| seated around this board were the real
men who abolished slavery in the United
i States. Other circumstances led up, and,
as has already been stated, the man for
the time appeared in the person Of Abra-
| ham Lincoln.
/ But we are not through with progress
! The Democratic party lives largely upon
the traditions of the past, and mistakes,
party. They have had a better opportu~
nifty than the Republicans of following
| the teachings of Washington's Farewell
letter, when he announced at the early
| age of sixty-four that he never would
| hold Office again, and 1 wish there were
more in the Republican party who did
! not feel that they must, of necessity.
| be so imbued with patriotism that they
should overlook that portion of Washing
| tons letter.
The Race Question.
There is one tremendous question in
the South at this very moment The
South today than they were before they
| We're emancipated. The white population
has been elevated and advanced by the
obliterating of the political crime OF
slavery. But to all practical intents and
! purposes the negro in the South is still
a slave He is disfranchised in many
rise, and there is problem that it will
| take some man, wiser than myself, to
attempt to elucidate.
The difficulty about political independ-
| ence is the binding character of party
ties, and the feeling that If man dares
to speak what he thinks and differs with
| cised
One Of the speakers at this table to-
night dared to differ, short time ago.
with his party. and he Is today lashed,
scourged and politically ostracised and
held up as shining light and warning
to others in his party as sample Of
independence. We want to cultivate such
sentiment that men will dare to be In
dependent of the political party to which
they belong. and say. this not as poli+
tician. but IN the spirit of patriotism.
AS I said, the Republican party is more
progressive than the Democratic party.
i This is, perhaps. because so many Of the
progressive Democrats left their party
and joined the Republican ranks during
the Civil war and have dominated that
party ever Since.t
The Mckinley bill of 1890 was a coura-
geous thing. and very few political par
ties would have taken the chance of en-
: acting 1t at that time, but it was passed
by the Republican party, and it caused
4 its. defeat, Cleveland being elected In
Now look at McKinley's last speech I'm
i Buffalo. That speech would have an
swered for the Democratic platform I'M
1892 upon which Cleveland was elected
! president But it has been accerted by
| his party, and all Republicans now say
Amen. If four or five years ago any Othy
er prominent Republican had raised the
| standard of political Independence wIsichi
! Mckinley raised at Buffalo ne would nave
been ostracised and turned out Of hia
party.
Take the case of the Spanish war. Why
Continued ON Sixth Page.