Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1904-01-11
SOME NOBLE WORDS
BY VIM. j. BRYAN UPON NATIONAL
OBLIGATIONS.
Extract From Address Of Mr.. Bryan at the
Thanksgiving Dinner Given by Hon. Joseph
Choate, Ambassador to England. November
26, 1908,

| 20, IyOS,
We sometimes feel that We have q
sort OF proprietary interests in the prin-
ciples of government set forth in the
Declaration Of Independence. That is a
document which we have given to the
worl,:, and yet the principles set forth
therein were not invented by an Ameri-
can. Thomas Jefferson expressed them
in felicitous Ian guage and put them into
permanent form. but the principles had
been known before. The doctrine THAI
all men are created equal, that they are
endow cd with inalienable rights, that
governments were instituted amongst
men to secure these rights, and that
they derived their just power from the
consent of the governed-this doctrine
which stands four square with all the
world was not conceived in the United
States, it did not spri " from the Amer
lean mind-aye, it did not come so much
from any mind as it was an emanation
from the heart, and it had been in the
hearts OF men for ages. (Cheers.)
| Before Columbus turned the prov Of
his ship towards the west on that event.
full voyage, before the barons wrested
Magma Charta from King John-yes, be-
fore the Roman legions landed on the
shores OF this island-aye. before Homer
sang that sentiment had nestled in the
heart OF man, and nerved him to resist
the oppressor. That sentiment was not
even Of human origin. Our own great
Lincoln declared it was God Himself
who implanted in every human heart
the love of liberty. Yes, when God Gre
ated man, when He gave him life, He
linked to life the love OF liberty, and
what God has joined together let no man
put asunder. (Cheers.)
We have received great blessings from
God and from all the world, and what is
our duty? We cannot make return to
those from whom those gifts were re-
ceived. 1t is not in our power to make
return to the Father above. Nor can we
make return to those who have sacrificed
so much for our advancement. The child
can never make full return to the mother
whose life trembled in the balance at j 8
birth. and whose kindness and care
guarded it in all the years OF infancy.
The student cannot make full return to
the teacher who awakened the mind, and
aroused an ambition for broader intel
ectual life. The adult cannot make full
return to the patriarch whose noble life
gave inspiration and incentive. So a
generation cannot make return to the
generation gone it must make its return
to the generation to come. Our nation
must discharge its debts not to the dead,
but to the living.
How can our country discharge this
great debt? In but one way, and that is
by giving to the world something equal
in value to that which it has received
from the world.
And what is the greatest gilt that man
can bestow upon man? Feed a man and
he will hunger again; give him clothing
and his clothing will wear out; but give
him noble ideal, and that ideal will be
with him through every waking hour,
lifting him to higher plane OF life, and
giving him broader conception of his
relations to his fellows.
l know, therefore, OF no greater service
that my country can render to the world
than to furnish to the world the highest
ideal that the world has known. That
ideal must be so far above us that it will
keep us looking upward all our lives, and
so far in advance Of us that we shall
never overtake it. l know of no better
illustration, no better symbol, OF an idea
life than the living spring, pouring
fourth constantly OF that which refreshes
and inyigorates, not the stagnant pool
, which receives contribution from all the
land around and around and gives forth
nothing. (Cheers.)
, Our nation must make large contri
:. button to the welfare OF the world, and il
is no reflection upon those who have gone
, before to say that we ought to do better
than they have done. We would no
meet the responsibilities Of to-day if We
did not build still higher the socia
, structure to which they devoted thei
3 lives. (Cheers.)
Pleasant and Most Effective.
! j. J. Chambers, Ed. Vindicator, Lib
erty, Texas, writes Dec. %, 1902: "Witl