The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1905-03-09
HENDERSON. n. c.. THURSDAY, MARCH 8, 1905.

se.ves; and we can shirk neither. We
have become a great nation. forced by
the fact Of its greatness into relations
with the other nations of the earth, and
we must behave as beseems people with
such responsibilities. Toward all other
nations, large and small, our attitude
must be one of cordial and sincere friend
ship. We must show not only in our
words but in our deeds that we are earn
estly desirous Of securing their good will
by acting toward them in a spirit of just
and generous recognition of all their
rights. But justice and generosity in a
nation, as in an individual, count most
when shown not by the weak but by the
strong. While ever careful to refrain
from wrongng others, we must be no less
tnsstent that We are not wronged our
selves. We wish peace: but we wish the
peace of justice, the peace of righteous
ness. We wish 1t because we think it is
right and not because we are afraid. No
weak nation that acts manfully and just
ly should ever have cause to fear us, and
no strong power should ever be able to
single us out as subject for inso!ent ag-
gression.
Our relations with the other powers of
the world are Important but still more
important are our relations among our
selves. Such growth in wealth, in popula-
ton and In power this nation has seen
during the century and a quarter of its
national life is inevitably accompanied by
like growth in the problems which are
ever before every nation that rises to
greatness. Power invariably means both
responsibility and danger. Our fore
fathers faced certain perils which we have
outgrown. We now face other perils the
very existence Of which 1t was impossible
that they could foresee. Modern life is
both complex and intense, and the tre-
mendous changes wrought by the extra
,,Nl, ,%r;1 80 <IN
last half century are felt in every fibre of
our social and political being. Never be-
fore have men tried SO vast and fornid
able an experiment as that of admins.
tering the affairs of a continent under
the forms Of democratic republic. The
conditions which have told for our mar
velous material well-being, which have
developed to 4 very high degree our en-
ergy, self-reiance and individual initia-
tive, have also brought the care and
anxiety inseparable from the accumula
ton of great wealth in indust ~ial centers.
Upon the success OF our experiment much
depends; not only as regards our own
welfare. but as regards the welfare of
mankind. If we fail, the cause of free
elf-government throughout the world
will rock to it's foundations; and, there
fore, our responsibility is heavy, to our
selves, to the world as it Is today, and to
the generations yet unborn. There is no
SOOu reason why we SnOuIO lear LGc Iu-
ture, but there is every reason why we
should face it seriously, neither hiding
from ourselves the gravity of the prob
lens before us nor fearing to approach
these problems with the unbending, un-
hinching purpose to solve them Alright.
Yet, after all, though the problems are
new, though the tasks set before us differ
from the tasks set before our fathers, the
spirit in which these tasks must be un-
dertaken and these problems faced, if our
duty is to be we'll done, remains essen
TALLY unchanged. We know that self
government is difficult. We know that no
people needs such high traits of character
as that people which seeks to govern its
affairs Alright through the freely expressed
will of the freemen who compose it. But
ma -hasrA faith that We sha11-nnt- -arnIa
false to the memories Of the men OF the
mighty past. They did their work, they
left us the splendid heritage which We
now enjoy. We in our turn have an as
sured confidence that we shall be able to
leave this heritage unwasted and en-
| larged to our children and our children's s
children. To do so we must show, not
| merely in great crises, but in the every
| day affairs of life, the qualities of prac-
| teal intelligence, OF courage. of hardi-
| hood and endurance, and above all the
| power and devotion to a lofty IDEAL which
made great the men who founded this re-
| public in the days of Washington, which
| made great the men who preserved this
republic in the days of Abraham Lincoln.