The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-10-30

impressive as an advance agent OF the mil
lennium- The self-constituted guardian OF
the courts and bewailing the lack of rigOr
in the law. joins in assault upon law
and order which, if properly punished,
would bring him swiftly to the hangmans
moose. is hardly the instrument which Prov
idence has selected for the correction of
evils concerning which he utters COM
plant. have heard of a man coming in at
the official dishonesty alleged to be respon-
sible for the tax rate and going out of an
other chuckling over a favorable error on
his tax receipt Yet most of the frenzied
assaults upon the existing order-l speak
of course in a broad and not n partisan
sense-most of the cancellations reject
ing upon official rectftude-cOme from per-
sons such as these: men crying from their
own dirty doorsteps for the cleansing of the
highway. We might be careless concerning
all this but for the fact that Ii cannot go
on Unfortunately. and in the absence of
agencies tending to the counteraction of
such agitation, without affecting that popu-
lar respect for and attachment to our in
stitutions and our laws which are essential
to the perpetuity OF our government.
To-day we lay the cornerstone OF a
public structure destined TO be one of the
most imposing in the commonwealth. To-
morrow the walls of this great building
will begin 10 rise. stone upon stone, brick
upon brick, until the structure has full
filed the vision of the architect who PLAN
ned its outlines. A century and a third
ago our forefathers laid the cornerstone
of 4 governmental structure more wisely
planned than any that had before risen
upon earth; they reared the foundations
they left the erection of the superstructure
TO posterity. 10 our fathers, to you and to
me and to all those uncounted millions yet
TO be born or to be adopted into the privi-
leges and the responsibilities of American
citizenship. Slowly these walls have risen
toward realization of the Ideals or the
founders. While changed conditions have
compelled deviations in detail from the
original plan, these have not been out Of
harmony with the purpose which gave this
building being. The winds and the Hoods
have beaten against these walls and
though at times they have trem bled before
the violence of the assault, the strain OF
to-day than ever before in the history
OF the Nation. We ought 10 be something
more than occupants or this inherited
structure; we ought to do something more
than accept the shelter it affords: we
ought, and we all may. join in rearing to
proportions more majestic, strength more
Greatest stronghoid of free government.
The character of the structure 10 be
reared upon the spot where we now stand
Will depend. in the last analysis, upon the
faithfuiness and the skill of the individual
workmen who will toll Eere day after
day, dressing each stone TO the proper
nicely, rejecting inferior material, IL Of
fered, adjusting each brick and each bit OF
timber To its proper position. The essen
tal character OF our governmental strue-
ture will depend. not so much upon the
plans OF its great architects, as upon the
loyalty with which millions of citizens
unite to carry out these purposes. AS
sauits upon this government from with
out will never endanger il. Only n con-
seriousness OF the character OF the attack
will be necessary to render futile efforts
consciously or unconsciously directed to-
ward the opening Of breaches from within
but the thing most essential of al is the
realization the part Of every citizen
that his Il the obligation and the oppor-
tunity to contribute. out Of sphere Of