Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1905-06-01

.i9nA uiot1SCS uleu WHO Wouiu
work evil and oppression to their fell
low men. God is Justice and Charity
and Truth and if all laws were made
according to the spirit of truth, char
ity and justice, constitutions would
last for ages. 1t is absolutely impos-
sible that all classes will think alike
on all subjects, whether political, eco
nomic or religious. Men have been
divided on all subjects in the past, and
they will be divided on all questions
that may arise in the future. The
union which unites hearts, breaks
down barriers of prejudice and wipes
out. old lines of demarkation is the
great union which the world must now
struggle to establish and maintain.
1t is your noble boast. brave veter-
ans of the Grand Army, that you help
ed to wipe out the lines which divided
the north and south. 1t will add new
glory to your wreath of victory if you
help to stamp out the lines drawn
against American citizens on account
of creed or color. Next to the man
who fired on Fort Sumpter, and hoisted
the flag of treason on what had been
union buildings and forts, is the man
who hoists the flag of persecution
and discrimination and thunders cal
umny and vituperation against any
class Of citizens on account Of the COM
pleXion of their skin or their religious
belief. If history proves anything, it
proves that no religion has ever been
destroyed by pers ecution, and that the
eternal principles of justice and lib
erty must prevail in spite of color
1t is not sufficient to be loyal to the
flag only in times of war We must be
the constitution, and hence to one an
other in time of peace.
Foes to Liberty.
when the republic needs men to
vindicate her honor or preserve the
union, we have little trouble in deter
mining our duty. Then every man is
a soldier and patriot. So long as
Greece had Trojan enemy, or Rome
a Carthaginian foe their greatness was
secure. The preservation of their
country's honor killed jealousy and
made patriotism reign supreme. 1t
was in the piping times of peace,
when prosperity smiled upon the land
that wealth and luxury developed po-
litical corruption and class distinction
and patriotism was forgotten. Greed
and corruption supplanted honesty and
simplicity. and class was arrayed
against class. These proved more
deadly foes to the liberties and great
ness of Greece and Rome than the
marshalled hosts of Xerxes Or the le-
gions of Hannibal. Henceforth their
decline, though gradual, was certain.
Nations sometimes take centuries
to grow ripe enough for ruin. 1t is a
sad fact in the philosophy of the de-
cline of the nations that they may
pass through this long period of decay
unknown to the masses that compose
them. 1t has been said that barbarous
nations fall from causes without. civil
lized nations from causes within them
selves. The strength of barbarous ma.
Ntions is in their armies, their vitality
in the vanguard. They must depend
upon the sword for the preservation
and extension of their power. There
is nothing but the shield between
them and ruin. They may arise some
morning, mighty nation to see en-
camped upon a neighboring hill, an
army that is to terminate their history
as a people. Such was the fate of
Mexico; such the history Of Peru.
Cortez unfurled his banner on the
Sierra and the scepter fell from the
hand of Montezuma's. Pizzaro I'M
furled his flag in South America, and
the empire of the Incas was at an end.
But the fall of civilized people is not
an accident. It's rise was not an acct
dent. 1t was the product of wisdom
and the development of ages and can
not be destroyed in day. Like bar
barous nations it had strength in its
armies Unlike barbarous nations, it's
vitality resides in the council chamber.
When a civilized nation begins to de-
cay. it begins first in the hearts and
brains of the people. The first symp-
toms of this decay is noticeable in the
gradual and insidious encroactment on
those principles which go to make up
the life of a free nation.
Ruin of Cultivated People.
"The fall of barbarous nation
makes only a note in history. The
history of the ruin of cultivated and
free people is a painful recital of hui
man decay. 1t is fall in which more
than men and wealth are lost. Sys-
tens and ideas may be changed or
DuIlSu Ill illG IulIlS. llo utdJll lluSI DS
slow for it's organization is fine and
complicated. 1t has theology which.
like heart in the body polite, is the
purifier of human thought. 1t has a
music which throbs the pulse of the
nation. 1t has a literature as rich as
the past and present can make. 1t
has a history written on paper and
another painted on canvass or sculp-
tured in marble. These growing to-
ward perfection are signs of national
life; distorted or affected they are
marks of national decay. These
marks of civilization have al
ways received their first infec-
tons from wealth and freedom Many
nations have known how to acquire
wealth and independence, but history
proves that few nations have known
how to keep freedom from running in,
to lawlessness, or riches from degener,
ating into luxury. In the days of Gle,
ero. contempt for the gods was re,
garded as inauspicious to the nation
while Injury and nO1itica1 intri OIL q