The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1904-05-06

more than grand monument repre-
senting the energy and intelligence Of
the people Of this county; may it be
come in fact as well as in name the
temple of justice. May the goddess
of justice never be blind. May the
scales of justice ever be equally bal
anced; equal privileges, equal rights
equal justice to all-rich and poor
alike.
Reaching skyward may these walls
ever stand an emblem of justice
Within them may the wronged find
right, the oppressed gain relief. May
the forum they inclose be ever the
theater where innocence shall tri-
umph and swift retribution overtake
the guilty. May the eyes of honest
men shine with new light as they rest
upon this structure, and the face of
crime hide itself in its presence as
before the flashing sword of an
avenging angel. Dedicated to justice
and law, may it rise forever a temple
of freedom, and at its gates may the
solemn acclaim of a free people pro-
nounce for it perpetual benediction
of love.
| ADDRESS BY HON. G. r. LYON.
We have met today to perform a
great political ceremony. to dedicate
by an impressive symbolism employed
by many nations throughout all time,
an edifice which represents the moral
character, the instructed intelligence,
the physical force, the financial power
and the patriotism and liberality.Of a
great county, county with wider
territory, containing more inhabitants.
endowed with more intelligence and
possessing more wealth than many
principalities in foreign lands gov
erned by hereditary princes.
This county is a component part of
a great state, part of great nation,
builded by our fathers and inherited
by us from them. In this county all
its citizens dwell in peace and security,
all equal before the law, worshipping
God in their own fashion, with no let
or hindrance to their pursuit OF happi-
ness.
An ideal significance inures to every
act by which the hand of man, guided
by his will, his reason and his imag-
ination, sieZes on the forms of matter
and compels them to artistic and use
full expressions; and it is this ideal
significance connected with this build
ing which gives all the citizens of this
county such a vivid and lasting in
terest in it, and makes this celebration
Of its construction q great political
event.
The greatest English writer on art
has said that architecture is the dis.
tinctive political art, and public edi-
fees, as works of art, disclose a po-
litical significance beyond their mani
fest utilities. Aside from the uses and
purposes of building, no matter how
magnificent or of what artistic excel
lence, how many of you would turn
aside from your daily avocations OF
business or pleasure, or even devote q
leisure hour, to witness the simple pro-
cess Of laying a stone in its walls,
while this large and interested congre-
cation, the invocations, the choral re-
joicings Of voice and instrument in
triumphant and patriotic music, ora
tory vainly essaying to be adequate
to its theme, the cleaning banners of
our country, the militant youth Of the
state marshalled for war, all bear wit
ness to the important and august char
acter Of this ceremony and the pro-
found impression it creates in the
minds and hearts of those who wit
ness it,
When in the progress of civilization
the inhospitable wilderness gives place
to cultivated fields, heather sacrifices
to the religion of love and charity, JUS
tice for all to the rule of force; men
build the church, the school house and
the court house, in the last are en-
acted the laws for the home govern
ment and protection of the community
by the delegates of the people. Public
burdens are equally distributed, the
equal rights of every citizen before the
law maintained, the helpless and op-
pressed defended, the innocent sue
cored, the guilty punished.
The ordinary law is the system
which civilization has adopted for the
protection Of life and property, and
the encouragement of industry. 1t |
has rejected every other system as to-
tally inadequate for the purpose. The |
very essence of civilization is to pro-
vide that any differences which may
arise between the state and its citizens.
Or between individuals in regard to |
their property, shall be settled by some |
impartial tribunal. That is all there |
s hetvyeen snvorerv and civilization.