Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1903-07-04

1908 with our hands upon lnlS NeneId-
BILE and sacred scroll, we may learn the
mighty lesson that the really true, the
great the omnipOtent and enduring
government is not that which rules by
force of arms, but by the all conquer
ing power of justice, and of justice
alone. This is the historical teaching
of England's mistake in 1776. we
have now n great nation, stretching
from the Atlantic % the Pacific and
from the gulf of Mexico to the great
lakes-a nation of over 70,000,00O souls.
But our people will remain great ma
ton only so long as they are an honor
able and an hOnored people. Beware
Of the legislation that would make one
law for the rich man and another Tor
the poor man. Beware of the law
that would send an ignorant criminal
to prison and yet permit brutaly
selfish coal baron to traffic In child
labor. Beware of social condition
which makes it possible for capital to
starve and grind down labor while Ia
Dor. with an honest heart, is ready to
give capital a full days work for a
fair days wage. Our laws should toll
crate neither tyranny of capital nor
tyranny of labor, but should afford
equal protection to both and facilitate
mutually Of interests and friendly re-
lations between them. 1t is only when a
government honestly tries to admins
ter equal justice and afford equal pro
lection to all its subjects that it gathers
the robes of Immortality about its
loins. When government by unWlse
laws and administrative neglect makes
possible the enslavement or oppression
of its seemingly helpless ones such a
government is paving the way for Its
own diSintegratiOn. Had King George
III. been a wise ruler and had Britain
tried to be as just to the thirteen colo
MES in 1776 as she is honestly trying
to be to her colonies at the present
time our country might have remained
the brightest jewel in the British
crown. Would that our own land,
profiting by this great lesson, so closely
interviewer with our national birth and
childhood, might always be just to the
HELPLESS. the weak and the poor as well
as to the rich, the influential and the
strong.
Strength In the Right.
The strength of our present govern
ment is due to the fact. that it tries to
be just to all lis people, irrespective of
class. "Ours is a government" said
Theodore Roosevelt in recent speech,
"of liberty through and under the law.
No man is above it, and no man is be-
low it. The crime of the cunning, the
crime of greed, the crime of violence
all are equally crimes, and against
them all alike the law must set its face.
This is not and never shall be 4 gov
eminent of the plutocracy or of the
mob. 1t is, as it has been and as IT
will be, a government of the people,
including alike the people OF great
wealth, of moderate wealth, the people
who employ others, the people who are
Notwithstanding them all, protect
ing each and every one if he acts de-
Gently and sQuarely and discriminating
against auy one if he does not act
squarely and fairly, if he does not
obey the law. While all people are
foolish if they violate the law or rebel
against it-wicked as well as foolish,
but all foolish yet the most foolish
man in this republic is the man Of
wealth who complains because the law
Is administered with impartial justice"
May God always continue to give TO
US for the office of chief executive men
who are presidents of the whole peO-
Ole, who will see that the government
is not a Wall street hireling or gigan-
tic mOnOpolizing trusts employee; who
will protect the rich as well as poor
black as we'll as white Jew as well as
gentle. wOmans virtue as well az
mans honor; who will not cringe TO a
class, but who will protect and guide
all honest people alike!
The Declaration Of Independence
proves the power Of inherited character.
l am not nearly so much impressed
with the surnames which have been
placed at the foot of this important
document as l am by the family names
themselves. When l mention certain
names there seem to cluster aDOu,
them many other names. John Adams.
Who was he? HE was our colossus in
debate" wrote Jefferson. But as |
speak the name of John Adams l speak
also Of Samuel Adams, John Quincy
Adams, Charles Francis Adams. senior
and Junior. and other Adamses who
have added luster to the Adams name.
When l speak the name IT Richard
Henry Lee, who prepared the famous
resolution the outcome of which was
this Declaration of Independence, | see
a great number of Virginia Lees pass
ing before macarthur and Francis
LightfoOt and Robert Edward and
Fitz-Hugh and, greatest of all, Robert
e. Lee, the pride of the south" and the
loved and hOnored of the north. When
speak the name of Benjamin Harri-
son, another signer, we find him the
father of William II. Harrison, the
ninth president of the United States,
and the great-grandfather Of Benjamin
Harrison, the twenty-third president Of
the United States. The name Of Philip
Livingston among the signers suggests
~. . II. =. sn1sl md
William. Roger Sherman, who was
one of the great speakers at this con-
vention, was a member of the distin-
guished Connecticut family of that
name, among whose descendants Is the
present able senator from Massa-
chusetts, George Frisbie Hoar Ell
bridge Gerrys name suggests not one
Elbridge Gerry but many Elbridges.
Morris not only means Lewis Morris,