Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1905-08-12
SPLENDID PROGRAM AT
OLD SETTLERS PICNIC
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But seriously there are some things
that | do want to say. l want to say
such things that when you go away
from here you will all be proud of our
country
ga great part of my thunder has
been taken from me- | cannot talk
about graft, for Major Mahon in speak
ing this morning dwelt so fully upon
that subject that there is nothing more
/ to say l cannot speak about my war
record in the late war, where we did
not see much fighting. There are too
many old soldiers here for that.
"But l can talk about our country.
What a great country it is. Just to
think over its history is enough to
make a patriot out of any anarchist
that ever breathed We ought all to
be proud to live under this flag OF ours
that has never yet gone down dishon-
ored on land or sea.
Opportunity for All.
GA short time ago | was in one OF
our great cities and | went down into
one of the lowest districts of that city
where men. women and children live
worse than dogs in their kennels. in
those tenement houses. And yet there
is one thing that is open to every child
of suualor in that awful place or IN
any of the other districts of its type
in this land, and that is opportunity.
They have an opportunity that is open
to them clear from here to eternity
/, Gods greatest gift to man, greater than
, wealth greater than education, is op-
I portunity
whenever any man or body OF
men. any union or any corporation
; place themselves in front of the move
{ ment of the race so as to affect OPP
portunity then say down with them
, We as the great mass of the American
people should and must stand for
j. Square deal
f ''To almost every one of us,
! society has made possible everything
r that we have. There is not one OF us
: but that has received more from
j. society or the state, for these two
e terms are synonymous, than 1t has
/. ever received from us. Our property
:. our vested rights, and our education
e all these we have received from
f the state and in return for this we
> owe the republic not only honesty and
O good citizenship but even our lives
We must see to it that the country
e is purged Of its enemies.
d Work of Forefathers.
it 1--WE ought to recognize the grea
S, work done by our fathers in launching
d and keeping afloat this great ship O
state. We should consider the grea
y problems that have been solved b.
y our statesmen, the great work tina
t. has been done by our lawyers in shap
st ing our laws, and the work accom-
a. plished by the mass of the common
,e men and women You have seen pic
lures of battles in which you might
from their facial features, recogniz
Mt great generals but 1t is only in tn
as pictures that you see the generals i
Id front for in real warfare they are a
". the rear and the real fighting Is don
h, by the men who carry the guns. ! d
mt not mean to detract from the grea
men that direct the armies, but tn
great brunt of the fighting falls on tn
common soldiers. So the great wor
of developing the physical resource
IA Of the country has fallen on tn
shoulders of the common people.
on Lincoln once said that the Lor
:. must have loved the common peopl
' nf for he made so many Of them.
IN Progress in Iowa.
81 will not speak in detail OF tt
go progress of Wapello county for tn,
is subject with which you are a
u familiar but if you consider the pr
gress made in this state of ours
Ter the last fifty years, that is to say wit
in the memory of many of you WI
~ are here today, it will appall 20
to Almost everything of physical usef,
ness today, has been invented USE
in and developed within the lifetime
h. men here present. The average ia
M mer of today is better off than w
- the English lord of 200 years ago.
49, 81 has more Injuries. My father VIII
he lived as a boy in England had
wn walk almost half across England +
his mail. Well perhaps it was n
les, that bad but there was no such thin
as the rural mail route or the rul
cen telephone.
Heo This is an age and land of p,
civ gress and of push. The men of tod
do not know exactly what they wa
ing but they are working for it just
same. You go to the large cities a
for see the crowds racing up and do
lg. the streets like mad. Not very 10
.lle ago l was on State street in Chica
' anl watching the rushing throng and
ors. ally stopped one man who was goi
lies as fast or faster than the others a
ade. l said: Where are you going, bro
enly err He answered. Why, II do
ing, know, I was JSst walking down ST
she street. That is the American spi
YER at is this spirit that brings abb
she the graft that we hear SO much of
hole day and while 1 am as bitter agai
,or's dishonesty in any walk of life, as {
ning man, still l would rather live in
fire country where we have trouble C
trolling commerce than in one VIII
we would have trouble in arousing
There are many things that are wo
: &c than the desire of making money.
ness Notwithstanding all the clouds
corruption and of scandal that we
the today there is this bright lining:
corruption is being exposed and
eler grafters are being punished, and i
a,:d the fact that the patriotism of