The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1905-05-30

dcma Cngllr and their minds have been
developed to do their own thinking.
A safe nation IS not built upon the
autocracy OF throne. 1t is not an
chored upon the rock Of a liberal con-
stitution. 1t Is dependent upon the in
telligtncc and the Wisdom Of the poo
pie, the common people, who associate
themselves together with 4 govern
ment, be it monarchy, an olgar"hy
or republic.
Form Not Responsible.
Let me illustrate this idea from the
history Of some of our southern rCpub
lies | used to think that the form OF
the United States government was the
cause of most Of our national prosper
ity. That is not true. AS l turn to
these republics Of South America find
that most Of them We're patterned aft
er our own constitution. What IS the
result? \ noted English writer de-
clares that, though there nave been
within late years 800 different IN
stances of constitutional government
started, most of them have been dead
failures. In the Bolivian republic alone
out of fourteen consecutive presidents
thirteen have either been assassinated
or have died in exile. The history Of
most Of the South American limitations
Of the United States constitution has
been merely a long series Of wars be-
tween the military and civil authorl-
ties, governmental cOnvulSiOn after
CONFUSION, revolution after revolution
and upheaval after uphcaval. What Is
the cause Of all this? 1t is not due to
the form of the South American repub-
lies, but to the Ignorance Of the South
American ballot box for the last hun
drcd years has stood as solid as Plym-
outh rock is due largely to the fact that
it is handed to the American boys over
the schoolhouse desk. We have
strong republic today because we have
strong. intelligent, Individual voters.
Has any government offered greater
educational facilities than ours? No
sooner did the Puritan settle in old
New England than he Immediately be-
gan to erect his institutions of learning.
The pilgrim fathers landed In Plymouth
in 1920, yet only sixteen years later, or
in 1886, we find that Harvard college
was founded in Cambridge on the out
skirts Of Boston. We find the Dutch
and the English settlers drifting down
into Connecticut, and what happened!
There Yale college is started in 1901
at Saybrook. We so south, and what
do we find? Pennsylvania and all the
middle states honcycombcd with col
leScs and academies. We go west, and
there institutions of learning are scat
tered everywhere. The schoolroom desk
is seen at almost every crossroad. and
the college is intrcnchcd In nearly
every town. All, yes, the modern Ma
poleon would have hard work here
to start an international conflict just
for fun or to crafty his ambitions.
He would have hard work to upset
us financially, socially or politically.
Why? Because tho people Of this age
in our beloved land have too much in
telligcnceto follow such leader as the
Little tOrSican.'
Liberty and Education.
What is the practical application of
this thought? Chief among the endur-
ing guarantees of future peace Is the
presence Of our schools and school
teachers in foreign lands. Too much
money cannot be expended upon our
public school system. Porto Rico and
the Philippines will never be truly con
quered for America until American
schools have educated those colonists
and taught them to realize the mean
ing of American liberty. That was
very wise move Of the United States
government which a. few years ago
brought the Cuban schoolteachcrs I'M
der the classic walls Of old Harvard
the Presbyterian schools at Beirut are
the two wedges which shall overthrow
the brutaitics Of the Turkish empire
China. through the influence Of our
missionary schools. shall yet become a
gigantic nation, sworn to perpetual
Of another Boxer uprising. And that
vast government Of Russia, made up
Of many mixed peoples and hcteroge-
| neous nationalities, speaking as many
different tongues rs did the work men
| at the tower of Babel, shall yet become
one through the missions Of peace. Oh,
| my friends, we cannot honor too much
| our public schoolteachers and the pro-
| fessors of our colleges as among the
! greatest Of wonder workers who are
| teaching us that war shall be no more!
And here let me state another fact.
| We not only honor the teachers and
professors who have given to us our
| education, but we also honor men like
J D. K. Pearson, who with their money
have made it possible for this same
kind of teachers to carry that educa
ton to some who would never be able
to get it but for their benefcence
| consider D. X. Pearson one Of the
most practical and far reaching philan
thropists of this age. He does not take
his money and pile it up in some great
city university, while the young people
| can find an education in many Other
schools near at hand. but he gives here
and there a few thousand dollars t
struggling colleges far out in the coun
try, away from the great centers. III
| gives there q few thousand dollars ant