The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-04-24

2 disposition is to boast. He has but to
| look around him and in every direction
! the lavish bounty of open-handed ma
! ture has blessed his sight with infinite
| loneliness.
The Opportunity of Every Man.
America" said Mr.. Charlton. has
been the opportunity of every man. The
pauper of to-day is the plutocrat of
| tomorrow, and the patient hireling
who is watering plants in the morning
| finds himself in the more complacent
| pursuit of watering stocks at night.
We are in freshet, and having risen to
the hight of the banks are now slop-
ping over. We have the Midas touch
and everything upon which we lay our
hands turns to gold. Like Mr.. Weller,
as we have grown in wisdom, we have
grown in width, and there is no hap
less island of the sea altogether safe
from our coVetouSnesS and philan-
thropy. We have made of our land
the granary of the world, which it is
our privilege and profit to light and
warm as well as feed and clOthe. If
the earth does not yield it's increase
in the time we ordain, we make it; and
we care no more for seasons than we
care for souls. We cry our wares in
the quietest thoroughfares of life, and
we change money in the porches of all
the temples and stamp our advertise
ment on the face of nature and the
folds of the flag we profess to respect.
In the philosophy of the day all OF this
constitutes greatness, and by such
standards we are great people. But
the colors are too fashy for art and
our civilization suggests the chrome
rather than the picture in oils. We are
going the way of all peoples who have
set money above personal and public
honor. We have lost our reverence for
the truer and better things of life, and
stand gazing with open mouthed Won
der at every vulgar creature who can
plaster himself over with gold and
brass, and proclaim his own greatness
with loud-voiced insistency.
The Greed For Wealth.
"Our test of success being the pos
session of wealth." said Mr.. Charlton,
I'VE are as Indifferent to the means hy
which 1T is obtained as if they con-
cerned the beings of another sphere.
Having destroyed the only civilization
which tended to uplift our kinda civ
ilization which for all its faults IN
sisted upon truthfulness and personal
honor-we have delivered ourselves,
heart and soul and thought, to the
manners of the market and the Ambi-
lions of the miser. If we were not
periodically bled by pensions and hys-
terlcal wars and stealage we could be
gorged to repletion with a wealth which
has so poisoned all the finer instincts
OF our nature that we can no longer
rely upon them as guides to our daily
conduct. We started upon our career
with the highest ideals ever formulat-
ed in governmental experiment. based
upon the dignity of individual life and
holding before the fainting spirits of
the weary and oppressed of mankind
the rewards of integrity and labor
and liberty and hope-at the end of
our century we are at the mercy of
the lobbyist and vote buyer-the trusts
and the demagogue-the ignorant and
the vicious. 1t is not that other peo-
pies in other days have gone to ruin
along these paths, but the shame and
pity and horror are that we who lifted
the spotless banner above our hosts
as We passed through the wondering
masses of men to give battle for the
nobler ideals of government and life,
have let our colors trail in the mud
and the dust whilst we pause to loot
in the face of the enemy
What thoughtful man." asked Mr..
Charlton, "can tell under what form
of government we are living The writ
ten form is here, but who reads or
cares for its glorious truths? Next to
the American himself you, my friends,
have most interest in the future of this
country. We speak your tongue. We
administer the laws under which your
ancestors lived and attained their
greatness. Your race traditions are
ours, and the stirring pages of your
history thrill us in every line. Your
literature and your craftsmanship;
your deeds on sea and on land-are all
part and parcel of our past. Together
we must push forward in the great
race destiny which is before us.
Americas Fight For Liberty.
"A little over a century ago and a
handful of men stood guard over the
sea-line of a continent. Against them
were arrayed the prestige and power
of the greatest nation on earth. From
the dark night of their travail they
finally came into the fulness of light
not only free themselves, but with
the fires of liberty burning upon their
affairs so that every wayfarer might
find his way to happiness and peace.
From their craftsmanship sprang the
greatest contribution to statescraft
and governmental science which ever
found expression in the annals of the
ages. What had been the dream of
Plato and the fancy of More became,
in purified form, the daily guide for
the practical affairs of life. For the
second time in it's history the great
English race had given to the world
a Magma Charta of eternal rights,
and what the mailed hands of the bar
ons wrung from the covering King at
Runnymede was passed on to human
ity by the statesmen who deliberated
in peace at Philadelphia. Even as the
sword has dropped from the hand of
Cincinnatus it had seized the pen, and
every comrade who had suffered or
died upon the field of battle was made
to live forever in the triumph of the
principles for which he had fought.
Step by step we have pursued our way
with increasing strength until there
has come time when the shadow of
our power darkens the deliberations
of many lands.
America n Land of Heroes.
Mr.. Charlton paid an eloquent tribute
to the war heroes of America, the men
who have fought its battles on land
and on sea. He pictured the fight be-
tween the Kearsarge and the Alabama
when on a Sabbath morning a genera
ton ago the Alabama, her powder
damaged and her destruction certain,
steamed out of the quiet harbor of
Cherbourg, the beautiful flag of the
Confederacy cleaning in the sunny air
of France, to give battle for the honor
of her people, the brave Semmes said
to his men, Remember, you are in the
English channel, the theater of so much
of the naval glory of our race" When
at length she went down to her death.
Englishmen and Americans knew that
they had remembered to keep the faith
and to hold sacred the traditions of the
race.
1T is pleasant to recall these things"
Arrh4