The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1904-06-24
A Stirring Address.

of the fifth judicial circuit of Michigan,
had been secured to deliver an address
on the subject Of christian Citizen
ship" the occasion being the celebration
of the "127th Birthday of Old Glory"
The afternoon was warm one, which
doubtless accounted to certain extent
for the attendance which was far too
small to do credit to an address of the
character which Judge Smith delivered,
but it may safely be said that if the cit
izens of Owosso had realized the treat
they were to receive there would not
have been space for standing in the as
sociation lecture room.
The speaker began by assuring his
listeners that whatever dangers he
might warn them of, he still had the
most answering confidence in the sta
bility of the government under which
we are living. That being understood,
however, he wished to present to the
audience some of the needs for chris
tian citizenship.
A christian citizenship means good
citizenship. 1t means honesty both in
public and private life. 1t means good
homes and good. government. Great
claims are made for what the suffrage
will accomplish, but voting is but a
small part of the exercise of citizenship.
The ballot will never prove the panacea
of all ills, however much it may accom-
plish, but see to it that the heart and
soul of the christian citizen are right
and the ballot will take care of itself.
Loyalty to duty, built into the very
heart, is what is required. Duty, which
is constantly observed, brings results;
spasmodic attempts to purify politics
usually result in the end in worse con-
ditions than before.
Ancient Greece sacrificed all to the
state. If only the state We're advancing
its interests it mattered not what the
individual citizen was suffering.
Christs teachings were different. With
him individuals were more important
than the state as a whole.
The christian citizen is not necessar-
lily one who wears the badge of the
church but he must be broad enough to
stand against the wrong. The country
whose citizens submit calmly to wrongs
will soon possess many slaves with but
few masters. The strength of gov
ernment is measured by the readiness of
its citizens to protest against wrong
done to even its weakest citizens, and
he is not living up to the highest stand
ards who does not protest against any
wrong done himself or Others The jury
which receives the charge from the
judge finds the charge summed up in
the warning that they be just 1t is but
an instance of the spirit of Christ assert
ing itself. Every christian citizen
should make his influence felt He
should fight not only the wrongs done
in violation of law but he should also
fight those wrongs which are done under
cover of the law. There are too many
men who claim to be christians but who
are not just to their fellow men, and
who pay no attention to the Golden
Rule. A God fearing people who are
well treated make fewer mistakes and
are fairer to the minority Every chris
tian citizen should try to remove the
causes of suffering and crime. 1t is a
harm to any individual to feel that good
men will overlook crime.
The man who studies Christ will on
come to have vision which will never
fail him. So we should ever measure
ourselves by Christ. 1t is not so impor-
tant in what church or party one is but
how good one. You, however, must
have courage to accomplish anything.
The merely good citizen is of compara-
lively little value if he is not also a
courageous one. The politician who is
without either fear or scruple will beat
out the shy, fearful, good man. who is
too timid to stand up for the rights of
himself or others. No good man should
be averse to mingling in politics. Our
institutions have cost too much blood to
risk them by indifferently trusting them
to others who are unfit for the response
bility. We tolerate too much wrong
doing. We pay heavier taxes. We pay
more for our water rates We suffer
more from disease. We suffer and we
permit others to suffer who cannot af
ford to spend one penny more for these
things than is absolutely necessary, al
because we are too timid, too selfish, too
indolent to fight against the injustic,
which selfish and Incompetent men in
fiict upon us through their recklessness
dishonesty and inefficiency We shoult
fitourselves and hold ourselves in per
petual readiness to help to the full ex
tent of our ability and let no unworth,
man hold the power tf public office
Not more knowledge and power ar
needed, but more determination to us
them for the good Of the people. Their
is too much tendency to measure thing
by their money value. And still, as
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