Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1905-06-03

have become deaf to the calls of the
dcmagogue and their minds have been
developed to do their own thinking.
A safe nation is not built upon the
autocracy of a throne. 1t is not an
chOred upon the rock OF liberal con-
stitution. 1t is dependent upon the in
teliigence and the wisdom of the peo-
pie. the common people. who associate
themselves together with a govern
or republic.
Form Not Responsible.
Let me illustrate this idea from the
history of some of our southern repub-
lies l 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
err our own constitution. What is the
result? A noted English writer de-
clares that. though there have been
within late years $50 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
of the United States constitution has
been merely long series OF wars be-
tween the military and civil authori-
ties, governmental CONFUSION after
CONFUSION. revolution after revolution
and upheaval after upheaval. 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 people The reason the
American ballot box for the last hun
dred years has stood us 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 a
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 1896. 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 go south, and what
do we find? Pennsylvania and all the
middle states honeycombed with col
leges 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 intrenched 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
lie would have hard work to upset
us financially. socially or politically.
Why? Because the people of this age
in our beloved land have too much in
telligence to follow such leader as the
Little Corsican."
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 he 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 a
very wise move Of the United States
government which few years ago
brought the Cuban schoolteachers un-
der the classic walls of old Harvard.
Roberts college In Constantinople and
the Presbyterian schools at Beirut are
the two wedges which shall overthrow
the brutalities of the Turkish empire.
China. through the influence Of our
schools. shall yet become a
nation. sworn to perpetual
peace and to forever avert the horrors
OF another Boxer uprising. And that
vast government of Russia. made up
of many mixed peoples and heteroge-
neous nationalities. speaking as many
different tongues us did the workmen
Mt 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
ID. X. Pearson. who with their money
have made 1t possible for this same
kind OF teachers to carry that educa-
ton to some who would never be able
to get 1t but for their beneficence.
consider ID. X. Pearson one Of the
most practical and far reaching philan-
thrOpists Of this age. He does not take
his money and pile 1t up In some great
city university. while the young people
can find an education In many other
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