Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1904-07-08

did not know that he has so declared
everybody else did. But l have no
more space in this letter to discuss that
mendacious document.
Mistaken A. to His Text.
DR.. Frank Gunsaulus is rated, and
justly SO, as one Of the most brilliant
orators and educators in America, but
evidently the learned doctor should
read the Declaration of Independence
before he delivers any more denuncia-
lions upon 1t. The following is Chi
cago dispatch recently printed in the
Washington Post:
DR.. Frank Gunsaulus delivered the bac-
calaureate address at the Auditorium to
the graduating class OF Armour institute
today.
There was never more interesting
falsehood than All men are created free
and equal" said he. 1.-THE Declaration
OF Independence was the work of an hour
OF intense excitement, and on every ma
tional anniversary this phrase is mis-
quoted because when 1t is taken from its
context 1t Is false. Freedom is something
to be won. Men are not born free Ev-
cry power into whose control man
comes Is conquered freedom. There are
no equals in this universe Of Gods God
10 no Socialist"
Whether God is Socialist I do not
know, but do know that the Declare
ton Of Independence does not contain
the sentence which DR.. Gunsaulus says
it does, certainly not the word free"
on which he bases his caustic criticism.
What he was trying to quote was this:
"All men are created equal" not free
and equal" The doctor should refresh
his memory as to that immortal docu-
ment before he jumps on 1t again. He
owes 1t to himself and the world SO to
do, for he speaks as one having author
ity, and an error promulgated by him
in his terse and pleasing style will be
| accepted as truth by many without
doubt and without investigation. AS
this letter will be published about July
4. 1t will not be considered inapropos
to set forth the magnificent and thrill
Ing paragraph from which he was try
ing to quote, for nobody believes for
moment that man Of such high
character purposely misquoted from
the charter of our liberty. Here is the
paragraph as adopted and promulgated
by the fathers.
1--WE hold these truths to be self evil
dent-that all men are created equal;
that they are endowed by their Creator
with unalienable rights; that among
these are life, liberty and the pursuit
OF happiness; that to secure these rights
governments are instituted among men,
deriving their just powers from the
consent of the governed; that when
ever any form of government becomes
destructive Of these ends it is the right
of the people to alter or abolish it and
to institute new government, laying its
foundation on such principles and or
ganizing its powers in such form rs to
them shall seem most likely to effect
their safety and happiness"
Jefferson never wrote and the fathers
never declared that "all men are Gre
Rted free" II they had done SO the
statement by DR.. Gunsaulus that
there never was a more interesting
falsehood" would have been true, for
on the 4th day Of July, 1776, very few
men were free, and the men who
risked their necks by signing the Dec
laration not only knew that but also
knew that they themselves were en-
gagged in q fierce struggle with the
greatest empire In the world to secure
their own freedom. So It would have
been preposterous for them to have
said that fall men are created free,n
and that band of patriots and sages
and heroes were not engaged in doing
preposterous things or In saying them.
DR.. Gunsaulus puts the word free In
to their mouths and then denounces as
an interesting falsehood" what he says.
they said, but which they never said.
A little further along they declare that
men are endowed with inalienable
rights, among which is liberty-a prop
osition which DR.. Gunsaulus will hard
ly care to deny. But the right to be
free and being free are two entirely
different propositions. The fathers as
serted the right to liberty, and they and
their contemporary Americans made
themselves free and made us free. :.
The sentence "all men are created
equal" Is absolutely true as Jefferson
and the fathers meant it-not equal in
height, complexion, weight, brains, good
looks or anything Of that sort, but
equal in the right to be free, in their
right to live, in their right to be happy.
on Yorktown's blood stained heights
George Washington made that Declara-
ton good. and 1t is only in these later
days that the truths-the great funda-
mental truths-therein contained have
been questioned, at least by AmerI-
cans.
The twin propositions, "all men are
created equal" and governments de-
rive their just powers from the consent
Of the governed" constitute the foun-
dations Of representative Nevernment
on this continent and elsewhere.
It is true that "the Declaration Of
Independence was the work of an hour
OF intense excitement" as DR.. Gun.
saulus says, but It is not false for that