The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-10-10
And How the Greatest Commercial
Power I'm the World Grew Ont of
n Once Savage wilderness.
WARNS AGAINST SOCIALISM
AND DANGER OF COMBINATIONS
DESTROYING COMPETITION.
Suppression of IndividuaIism Would
Destroy the Spirit that Has Made
America What 1t Is, He Says.


brated tonight with banquets by the Mar
quette and Lakeside clubs. at which prom
inent speakers from various parts of the
country were present. At the Marquette
Club the principal speakers were Frank S.
Black. former Governor of New York; Gov
ernor Winfield r. Durbin. of Indiana; Gov
ernor Samuel r. Van SAINT. of Minnesota.
and Judge Peter S. Grosscup of the United
States Circuit Court. Many topics were
discussed. all of which met the hearty ap-
proval Of the 25O banqueters present. George
r. Peck, of Chicago. was toastmaster. Ex-
Governor Black, responded to the toast
"Partisanship.'
The American Spirit was the subject
discussed by Governor Durbn. He spoke
as follows:
The American spirit is the spirit of in
divfdual initiatives; it's political expression
Is Individual liberty; ITS economic aim is in
ress-progress. individual and national
progress so swift. irresistible. so tri-
umphant. that the worlds history affords
no parallel for the marvellous transforma-
tion effected by the American people within
their vast and ever widening national do
main during the century which has sue
ceeded the settlement of this splendid city
~ favoring Providence il was that flung
an ocean between the continent we occupy
and the original sources OF American civili-
neut of people strong and brave enough
TO be worthy of free institutions preserved
Tor our forefathers until the soointed time
the dangers and difficulties OF primeval
nature in its most savage aspects. a
hazardous journey OF weeks across a sea
vast and unfamiliar, landt beyond IL of
rude and harsh environment. its forests
peopfes By sayages it's climate productive
OF diseaee, It's development demanding the
most erduous toll and unusual hardship
ifs life devoid of the comfort and repose OF
settled ciyilization-this was no prospect
10 attract any but bold and adventurous
spirits afiame with the ambition TO be free
from the restraints of hampering circrm-
stances and willing to risk all for the at
tainment of individual oportunity.
AN INEVITABLE STEP.
by such process of natural selection
the American colonies were peopled. while
The peculiar exactions and perils of pio-
neer life placed in complementary opera
tion the law of the survival OF the httest.
For people so trained to self-reliance the
attainment OF separate political existence
was the certain issue of affairs: the Dec
laration of Independence was not the re-
suit of an accidental series OF events. but
en- inevitable step in the evolution of a
civilization destined by circumstances 10 be
distinctive i'm its nature
..Yet the spirit of Americanism was not
90 typscally exemplified in the struggle for
Independence. heroic though that was. as
on the ruins OF the anomalous structure of
government the revolution swept away
Here was afforded the unexampled spec
tacle OF civilized people starting from the
very beginning OF things in the determina-
tion of their form of government. The
founders Of this Republic were restrained by
precedent only In so far as precedent ap-
pealed TO reason. They were freed from the
embarrassment OF International influence
by geographical isolation. They were obl-
gated 10 surrender to- centralized authority
only such powers as might not be retained
with safety to individual rights. AT liberty.
then. to choose. our fathers ordained con-
Etitution guaranteeing to the individual the
widest possible range of free action con-
eistent with the rights of others. Against
Individual opportunity they imposed the
be prescribed in keeping with the COM
mon right TO equal opportunity.
The character of the institutions es-
tablished by our forefathers Is evidence
OF their complete emancipation from the
illusions originating in an exaggerated esti-
mate Of the powers of government which
have inspired the dreamers of all time i'm
the erection OF fantastic political structures
founded upon an impossible conception of
the omnipotence OF human law and the
subservience of human nature The foun-
ders OF this government fully understood
I'm the eighteenth century what thousands
upon thousands of Americans in the twen-
tieth century seem to have forgotten: that
governments are made by men. not men
by governments. and that the limitations
Of human institutions are fixed by human
nature
FREED FROM ALL RESTRAINT.
.The founders OF this Republic not only
foreswore allegiance to the monarch from
whom they had wrested their independence
but decreed their emancipation from every
form Of prevention and restraint unueces-
sarily imposed by governmental precedent
upon the energy. the ambition. the oppor-
tunity OF the citizen. And surely, with these
bonds unloosed. our people have gone for
ward with rapidity unprecedented into
the triumphant procession OF promised
land. Thirteen undeveloped impoverished
and d.scordant colonies with three million
inhabitants clustered along the Atlantic sea
board. have become cohesive Nation of
eighty million citizens, dominant in a hemi-
sphere and welding potent influence in the
worlds affairs. The American people have
moved onward with such resistless energy
and determination that every natural OBJ
stacle 70 the settlement and DEVELOPMENT
Of American territory has been swept away.
sverv International boundary which ba =
come 10 be a barrier against America n
growth has disappeared from the geogra-
phIes and even the western coast has
opened a pathway for American progress
10 the very gateway OF the worlds oldest
civilization. American ingenuity blazing the
pathway for modern Industrial develop
fnent American commerce contendng for
rasferv in every foreign market: inmate
american initiative succeeding at home
and abroad I'm the accomplishment OF enter
prtsss OF unprecedented scope and daring.
sbove and beyond all this the steady rise
in popular intelligence and the agencies
making for IT'S further increase with con-
seuuenf diffusion OF the eager spirit of
aspiration and emulation-these are the un-
answerable arguments which American
civilization offers in yindication Of indi-
vfduaI Independence. the elemental princi-
ple OF American government.
yet II is n careless observer of political
and industrial tendencies Ina the United
CONTINUED ON PAGE 8, COL. IL