The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1905-07-08
THE FOURTH OF JULY.

July raises the question once again as
to whether or not we, as people, have
realized what the Fathers of the Re-
public intended when they signed the
Declaration of Independence. We
can not say that we are sorry that the
days of the grandiloquent Fourth of
July orator have passed, for such ora
tory is not an evidence of patriotism.
The ordinary Fourth of July Grafton
delivered at Jones CROSSROADS or
Smithville is about as senseless and
as poor an expression of patriotism as
is the senseless manufacture of noise
f. by the discharge of gun powder in
various forms. The former is not as
dangerous to life and limb but it Is
| certainly more dangerous to the minds
of men. We are not among those who
mourn the passing of the ordinary
Fourth Of July orator, but we do ques.
ton very much whether any consider
| able portion of the American people
realize what were the thoughts anil
beliefs and the plans of Jefferson and
his co-workers who gathered there in
Philadelphia in 1776.
AS a people we do not appreciate
the risks that they ran in their eff
forts to formulate their beliefs and
to establish a government in conform
! ity herewith. 1t used to be the prac-
tice in this country to read the Decla-
ration of independence and there was
time when the majority of school
children could repeat at least the pre-
amble of that document. We hazard
the opinion that today many promin-
and other professional men would not
recognize the Declaration of Independ-
ence were it not labeled or announced.
1t is this depreciation of the essence
of that great declaration of human
rights that is to be deplored.
Never was there time when there
was more necessity for consideration
of fundamental principles than now.
1t is true that there are no kings, lords
or barons in this country to assert the
superiority of blood or birth. No one
has dared since that sublime utter
ance, in this country at least, to whis-
per about the Divine Right" of this
man or that class of men to rule, and
yet is it not true that we violate in
another way the very principles set
forth in the Declaration, eve hold
these truths to be self-evident; that
all men are created equal; that they
are endowed by their Creator with
certain inalienable rights; that among
these are life, liberty and the pursuit
of happiness; that to secure these
rights governments are instituted
among men, deriving their just power
from the consent of the governed;
that whenever any form of government
becomes destructive OF these ends it
is the right OF the people to alter or
abolish it and to institute new gov
eminent? That announcement made
one hundred and Twenty-Five years
ago aroused the American colonists to
such pitch Of enthusiasm that it car
ried them successfully through eight
years of war, pitted against over
whelming Odds Men were willing
then to lay down their lives in support
of the principle that men are created
equal, with certain inalienable rights
among which are life, liberty and the
pursuit of happiness.
Today there are hundreds of thou
sands of Americans who care so little
bout self-government that they scarce
ly ever take the trouble to vote. Wash
ingtOn and Franklin fought sooner than
pay tax in the levying of which they
had no voice. Today many of the So
called best citizens consider them
selves above mixing in politics. The
very rights for which the Fathers of
the Republic fought are now consid-
cred the attributes of lower or infer
Tor men. And while we find none
asserting their right to rule because
of the blood that flows ntheir veins,
yet we find on every hand those who
attempt to and do in fact control leg
islatures and elections through bribery
and the debauchery of public officials.
Great fortunes have taken the place Of
| lords and barons, and those who be-
fore the establishment of our govern.
| ment sought to rule by right of birth
are replaced by meaner, more sor-
did and on the whole a more inferior
class of men who seek to rule through
the unlawful use of money. Is it not
| time that the American people should
again realize the meaning of the words
of Jefferson, that men are endowed
by their Creator with certain inalien-
able rights among which are life, lib
erty and the pursuit Of happiness?
We all know that there are thousands
upon thousands of people in this coun-
try today whose right to life and liber-
ty, to say nothing of their pursuit of
happiness, is limited and even de-
stroyed by the inordinate greed of our
so-called captains of industry. Let the
sweat-shops and the factories of the
crowded cities of the East testify to
| that fact. Let the hundreds of thou