The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1905-03-08

We are the heirs of the ages, and yet
we have had to pay few Of the penal
ties which in old countries are exacts
ed by the dead hand Of a bygone civil
ization. We have hot been obliged to
fight for our existence against any
alien race; and yet our life has called
for the vigor and effort without which
the manlier and harder virtues with
er away. Under such conditions it
would be our own fault if we failed:
and the success which we have had in
the past, the success which we conf
dently believe the future will bring,
should cause in US no feeling Of vain
glory, but rather deep and abiding
realization of all which life has Of.
fered us; a full acknowledgement Of
the responsibility which is ours; and a
fixed determination to show that under
a free government a mighty people
can thrive best, alike as regards the
things Of the body and the things Of
the soul.
Much has been given to us, and
much will rightfully be expected from
us. We have duties to others and du-
ties to ourselves; and we can shirk
neither. We have become a great ma
ton, forced by the fact Of its great
ness into relations with the other ma
tons Of the earth; aand we must be-
have as beseems a people with such
responsibilities. Toward all other ma
tions, large and small, cur attitude
must be one Of cordial and sincere
friendship. We must show not only in
our words, but in our deeds that we
are earnestly 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 nation, as in an indi-
vidual, count most when shown not by
tn weak but by the strong. While
ever careful to refrain from wronging
others, we must be no less insistent
that we are not wronged ourselves.
We wish peace; but we wish the peace
of justice, the peace of righteousness.
We wish it because we think it is
right and not because we are afraid.
No weak nation that acts manfully and
justly should ever have cause to fear
us, and strong power should ever be
able to single us out as subject for
insolent aggression.
nthar
ers of the world are important; but
still more important are our relations
among ourselves. Such growth in
wealth, in population, and in power
as this nation has seen during the CEN
tury and quarter Of its national life
is inevitably accompanied by a like
growth in the problems which are ey-
er before every nation that rises to
greatness. Power Invariably means
both responsibility and danger. Our
forefathers faced certain perils which
we have outgrown. We now face other
perils the very existence Of which it
was impossible that they should fore
see. Modern life is both complex and
intense, and the tremendous changes
wrought by the extraordinary industrial
development of the last half century
are felt in every fibre Of our social and
political being. Never before have men
tried so vast and formidable an exper-
iment as that Of administering the af-
fairs of a continent under the forms
of a democratic republic. The condi-
tions which have told for our marvel
Gus material well-being, which have
developed to very high degree our
energy, self-reliance, and individual
initiative, have also brought the care
and and anxiety inseparable from the
accumulation of great wealth in indus
trial centers. Upon the success OF our
experiment much depends; not only
as regards our own welfare, but as re-
CARDS the welfare of mankind. 1t we
fail, the cause Of free government
throughout the world will rock to the
foundations; and therefore our re-
sponsibility is heavy, to ourselves, TO
the world as it is today, and to the
generations yet unborn. There is no
good reason why we should fear the
future, but there is every reason Why
we should face it seriously, neither
hiding from ourselves the gravity OF
the problems before us nor fearing to
approach these problems with the un-
bending, unfinching 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 who founded and preserved
this Republic, the spirit in which these
tasks must be undertaken and these
problems faced, if our duty is to be
well done, remains essentially un-
changed. We know that self-govern-
ment is difficult. We know that no peo-
rle needs such hight traits Of character
as that people which seeks to govern
it's affairs Alright through the freely
expressed will Of the fremen who COM
nose it. But we have faith that we