Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1903-05-29

"a nation great in its past, but in its
future not only great but the great
est among the nations of all time.
lCheers and applause
would preach to no man the doc
trine of the easy life. Iwould preach
to every man the life OF work, for a
worthy end, the life of decency, of
square dealing, OF honest behavior in
the family, among ones neighbor,, to
The State; and so would preach to
the nation not the course that is cas-
lest, but the course that is the great
est. Applause. In 81 the easy
thing to do was to say that the Union
was dissolved and could not be put to-
gether again. That was the easy
thing to say and many people said it
but you did the other thing. You
can all remember the days immed-
lately after '6l when any number of
excellent people said that the battle
Of Bull Run showed that the war had
come to an end but it hadn't; it
lasted three years and a half longer
and then it ended the other way. Our
nation rose and we walk with our
heads high because we are Americans
to-day, because of the spirit that drove
you and your fellows onward through
trial to triumph in '65.
We in our turn must have in us
that spirit. We have plenty of prob
lens, plenty OF difficulties to face at
home and abroad; we have problems
within our own borders and problems
outside. Each generation has its
difficulties. In each generation those
difficulties, those problems, take new
shape, but the spirit necessary to over
come the difficulties, the spirit neces-
sary for the solution of the problems,
does not change from generation to
generation. In '61 the men who wore
the blue had different weapons and
different tactics from the Continental
soldiery in blue and buff who followed
Washington from Valley Forge to
Yorktown, and now your sons, the
men whom this State and the other
States sent over to the Philippines,
there to win fresh honor for the Stars
and Stripes, those men have other
weapons than those with which you
fought; they have to fight in open
| order without the elbow-touch of old
tactics. but the spirit that drives them
forward is the spirit Of Gettysburg and
Appomattox. The war of '9S was
only skirmish. In it we hope that
we showed that we had the spirit to
try to do as big job as yours if it had
been necessary.
In our new complex industrial CIV
ilization, great problems have arisen.
With all the benefits that have accrued
there has come a certain amount of
evil. We are not to be excused if we
fail to do all that in us lies to cut out
or at least to minimize that evil. New
devices must be imagined and applied
to work out the solution for the new
problems; but we must approach
them in the same old spirit, the spirit
of the colleagues of Washington who
founded the government; of the fol.
lowers OF Abraham Lincoln, who pre-
served it; [applausel spirit CON-
pounded Of many elements but espec-
tally of three or four. In the first
place, the spirit of decency, of honesty.
OF fair dealing between man and man.
II we have not, that then it is idle to
hope for success for the State, for the
nation. There must be the founda-
ton OF morality and decency.
One OF the least admirable qualities
of any people is the quality some-
times shown by men whom we know
quite we'll who tend to deify mere
smartness as they call it, unaccom-
panied by any sense of moral response
bility. Too often you will hear man
say of some scoundrel: 81" Well, he is
smart" You say, ayes, he is a
crook" and the answer is: "Well.
maybe he is, but he is dre'ful smart;
and it is meant as praise. That kind
OF praise is disgrace to the man Civ.
ing it and to the man receiving it. In
the Civil war the braver and stronger
man was, if he was traitor, his
courage and strength only made him
more dangerous; if he did not have
| in him the root of loyalty to the flag,
to the country, to his companions, all
his ability simply rendered him more
able to do harm.
1t is just the same way in civil life.
The acuteness of mind like great bod
lily strength merely serves to render
the possessor a great menace to the
State if it is not guided by principle,
morality, decency. The able man
who preys on his fellows is curse to
the entire community.
More and more we must strive to
bring about the day when the success
full rascal will be bounded down as the
unsuccessful rascal is [applauseJ. The
man who for personal motive seeks
to get his fellows to adopt course
dangerous to the commonwealth, is
an enemy to all, including especially
those to whom he makes his appeal.
The appeal can be made in two ways
lConcluded Oh Third Pagel