Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1904-04-12
AN OPTIMlST'S VIEWS,

Hon G. b. lands, of Indiana, editor
and congressman, concluded the Y NJ
e. A. course of entertainments by de-
livering a lecture at the opera house
Saturday evening to a large audience,
his subject being AN OptImist's Mes
sage" Other orators may be better
qualified in voice than Lands as a pub
lie speaker, but the congressman has
other qualifications which make up for
this defect and has the faculty of driv-
ing home conviction with his words
He started out by saying that he al
ways liked to talk to an audience in Il
town the size of Wausau for here unlike
the large cities, we are all neighbors
The word 'neighborn has q deep sgniii-
cance The world is better today than
it ever was before since its creation.
The pessimist will say that the oppor-
tunitles for young men and women are
less than they were twenty-five years
ago. That same statement has been
made for HUNDRED years, and yet it was
always false. The late martyred presi-
dent of the United States forty years
ago was poor boy and enlisted as a
private in the Union army. He arose
to the highest office in the gift of the
people and an analysis of his cabinet,
shows that everyone of the men in it
arose from the farm or from humble
circumstances. The same is true of
nearly every great man in the country
today, whether he be in official 0r com
mercial life. While the constitution OF
the dbuntry separates the church from
the state, nevertheless politics and re-
ligion are inseparable. One is guided
by the other. If every citizen, who
loves purity in politics, would go out 10
the polls on election day and vote,
gratters would be uuheard of. The
either. who does not vote, does not de-
serve tiidt name Never before did re-
ligious sects so ihtermingle as at the
present time. In the large hospitals OF
the country, both Catholic and Protes-
tant, nurses of about an equal percent
age of the faith of each are employed,
! and the patients entering chem are also
about equal in number in that respect.
To illustrate the effect of religion
he told of the story of the destruction
OF Cervera's fleet, where the Texas
drove one of tbe Spanish boats onto the
| beach, and 1.-The sailors of the Texas
saw the destruction they had wrought,
set up loud cheer, displeasing to their
captain, who stepped forward and said
Don't cheer, boys, the po0f fellows are
| dying" Thereupon he offered a prayer
at the conclusion of which many an old
| salts face was wet with tears. There
has been great controversy as to who
was the real hero of that battle, Sampson
or Schley, but in the time to come plain,
| unassuming Capt. Jack Philips, of the
| Texas, will be accorded that honor.
| Last year $500 000, 900 worth excess of
goods was shipped from this country
! than imported. We are crowding out
| other nations in the markets of the
/ world and who can comprehend what
/ the magnitude of this trade will be 30
/ or 100 years from now2 We don't know
1 our own greatness. In warfare we are
supreme Before the opening of the
| Spanish war Spanish. officer was Of
| the opinion that his forces in Cuba
could come over here and annihilate
| our standing army of $4,000 men. lie
| did not realize that back of this small
army was a reserve force of from 1900,
| 600 to II 900 go, and when that war
/ closed the nations of the world looked
with amazement upon our magnanimi-
| ty in dealing with our conquered foes.
AS the North ard South were reunited
/ by that war so was this country and
/ Great Britain united in feelings of kin
ship, and it was to the good offices of the
latter country in dealing with a foreign
coalition that eonspired a military dem
onstrauon, that what proved three
| months war was not a five years war.
| This country and England will never
/ ally themselves on paper, but the bond
Of kinship win always exist. Our army
/ and England's navy is a combination
unconquerable.
This IS a good old world, and we have
/ the greatest country on earth. There are
some people never happy unless when
/ looking on the dark side of everything-
/ if offered me choice of two evils they
would accept both, and kick because
/ there were not more. You can find
these peoplein every community. They
will run a mile 10 tell you of some ca
lamity or talk of faults Of neighbors,
/ but never mention any virtues. Optim-
ism makes one happy, while pessimisim
4 breaks sp homes and causes discomfort
Z g. hss ~