The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-05-30
SELF .RESTRAINT
LIBERIY'S PRICE

LlBEklY ) PKlUEI
Continued from First Page.
even more than worthy, of those who led
them.
associations We see where the fight
Numbered thru and around the village |
of Gettysburg; where the artillery |
formed on the ridges; where the cavalry |
fought; where the hills were attacked |
and defended; and where. finally, the |
great charge surged up tf1a slope only |
to break the summit III the bloody |
spray Of gallant failure.
Fought for Peace.
But the soldiers who won at Gettys-
burg, the soldiers who fought to finish |
the civil war and thereby made their
countrymen forever their debtors, have
OF the war itself They fought for four
years in order that on this continent
those who came after them, their chill
dren and their children's children might
enjoy a lasting peace They took arms
not to destroy, but to save liberty; not
to overthrow, but to establish the SUI
premacy Of the law.
~
termine whether or not this people was
fit for government and therefore At
for liberty. Freedom is not a gift which
can be enjoyed save by those who show
themselves worthy of 1t. In this world
no privilege can be permanently appro-
priated by men who have not the power
and the will successfully to assume the
responsibility Of using it Alright.
In his recent admirable little volume
on freedom and responsibility in demo-
cratic government, President Had1ey Of
Yale has pointed out that the freedom
which Is worth anything Is the freedom
which means self-government and not
anarchy Freedom thus conceived is a
| constructive force, which enables an in
| telligent and good man to do better
| things than he could do without it;
which is in it's essence the substitution
Of self-restraint for external restraint
! the substitution of a form of restraint
which promotes progress for the form
which retards it.
This is the right view of freedom; but
| it can only be taken if there Is full
| tween liberty and responsibility in every
domain of human thought. 1t was es-
sentially the view taken by Abraham
Lincoln, and by all those who, when the
civil war broke out, realized that in a
! self-governfng democracy those who de-
|
must show that they know how to use
it with moderation and justice In peace,
and how to fight for it when it is jeop-
arded by malice domestic or foreign
| levy.
FeaIty to Lofty Ideal.
! The lessons they taught us are les
sons as applicable in our everyday lives
now as in the rare times Of great stress.
The men who made this field forever
| memorable did SO because they combined
| the power of fealty to a lofty ideal with
the power of showing that fealty In hard,
practical, common-sense fashion.
They stood for the life of effort, not
the life Of ease They had that love Of
country, that love Of justice, that love
| Of their fellowmen, without which
power and resourceful efficiency but
make a man a danger to his fellows.
Yet, In addition thereto, they likewise
possessed the power and the efficiency;
| for otherwise their high purpose would
have been barren Of result.
They knew each how to act for him
self, and yet each how to act with his
fellows. They learned, as all the gen
era ton Of the civil war learned, that
rare indeed is the chance to do anything
worth doing by one sudden and violent
effort, s 5
The men who believed that the civil
| WI Would De ended IN ninety days, the
men who cried loudest con to Rich
mond," If they had the right stuff in
them speedily learned their error; and
the war was actually won by those who
4 settled themselves steadfastly down to
tight for three years, or for as much
longer as the war might last, and who
gradually grew to understand that the
i triumph would come, not by single
| brilliant victory, but by a hundred pain
full and tedious campaigns.
In the east and the west the columns
advanced and recoiled, swayed from side
to- side, and again advanced; along the
coasts the black ships stood endlessly off
and on before the hostile forts; generals
and admirals emerged into the light.
each to face his crowded hour Of sue
i cess or failure; the men in front fought;
/ the men behind supplied and pushed for
| ward those In front; and the final victory
was due to the deeds OF all who played
their parts well and manfully, in the
scores Of battles, in the countless skirn-
ishes, in march, in camp, or in reserve,
as commissioned officers or in the ranks
wherever and whenever duty called
them.
Loyalty with Common Sense.
Just 1t must be for in civil life.
1 We can make and keep this country