The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-11-23
AMERICAN SPIRIT
one OF ACTIVITY Il.
DIR. EMIL q. HIRsCH DELIVERS
ELOQUENT ADDRESS. !. Il.
minnesota Society Of Colonial Wars
Holds Banquet in Aberdeen Hotel,
st. Paul, Prominent People of State
Attending TEminent Jewish Rabbi Is
Guest Of Honor and Orator.

Dr.. Emil G.. Hirsch, the eminent rab-
bi of Chicago, was the guest of honor
and the speaker last night at a social
court. of the Society of Colonial Wars
In Minnesota, held in the Aberdeen no.
tel, st. Paul. Judge Ell Torrance Of
Minneapolis presided as governor of the
society and a large number of Mime.
apolls members was present. DR.. Hirsch;
spoke on "The American Spirit.
Preliminary to the address the secre-
tary read the descriptions of tho cele.
bration of Christmas morn by the
American army of occupation in Cuba,
singing the Portuguese hymn, as given
by Governor Guild of massachusetts, ID
year before at a social court at the
home of w. D. Washburn in Minneap7.
oils. This has become a regular event
In the society proceedings. ''@ .
DR.. Hirsch's Address.
After a happy introduction by Judge
Torrance, DR.. Hirsch said in part: els
there a distinctive American spirit9.
The spirit. that caracterizes. the race
of man, is it not humanity? Then is
1t not treason to speak of American
spirit? = s sEE ~s:@5 -
"Thirty years ago. the science 7of
the study Of the chronological soul dem
onstrated that there is something
dynamically different between the diff
ferent races. What is distinctively
Americana is perhaps not Immediately
plain to us, but there is no doubt of it.
The Romans were known for their
organization, the Greeks for art, the
affairs of truth. In America we have
those of Puritan descent, Anglo-Saxon
children, those whose souls take wing
at the mention of the sagas of the
north, those whose nursery was on the
Rhine, and the descendants of the peo-
PIE of southern Europe. So they say
the American has no national soul.
We. have abundant proof that this
conclusion is hasty. The wire around
which this will crystalline is the Teu-
tonic -Anglo-Saxon strain in our Amer
lean life and our civilization. The
process has progressed far enough to
reveal a definite like of purpose. We
Can study it in the life of the people, in
the works of the people, in the Ian
guage, ambition and hopes of this ma
ton.
A Nation of Doors.
"We had a native task set to no
other nation. We became a nation Of
doors. Having to conquer a continent
and few men to do it with, we came
to regard human life and human hands
as valuable.
1--WE, have an, inventive genius pos-
sessed by no other nation. We were
not great nation until after. the war
of the REBELLION. What led the army to
victory was the invention of agricul-
tural implements. That made it posi-
BILE for the young men of the nation
to leave the pillow and shoulder the
musket. The inventive genius of the
American nation played into the hands
OF American destiny and American
glory. -.
Analogy of Nations. y,
"There is a wonderful concordance
between the old spirit of the biblical
Hebrew and of the American Puritan.
ton of liberty. The words of the Por-
tuguese hymn we sang tonight first
fell from the lips of the Hebrew.
''AnOther concordance is the deep
righteousness of the American nation.
Who fails to recognize this will fall.
There is faith in the American ma
ton that. must not be uprooted, for
the American spirit spells duty. The
American nation is chosen of God to-
proclaim that we need not fear, that
we need not be dismayed We believe
in the destiny of ideas and not in des-
tiny by conquest. We have not the
mailed fist, but the palm branch of
peace. Wherever you see the Ameri-
can invention you have evidence of
conquest for the, spirituality and
emancipation Of the whole race. =
Tolerant America.
"The American is tolerant. Wher-
ever prejudice begins to take root, you
may ascribe it to importation. To
combat this, we must keep the public
school intact.
lis the American spirit altogether
materialistic? Is the American en-
blem the dollar sigma The American
loves money to employ it again for
increased work and greater work of
civilization. It, represents power to-
him, power and energy. q -.
Because we are optimistic we solve
every perplexity. We are nation that
has solved so many problems that the
nation will solve the great industrial
and the economic problems. Our ma
tion is not drunk with success.
BE our mother tongue whatever it
may be, here in America the old pen
tecostal miracle is taking place. We
Americans, ought to be grateful for
the trust for all humanity.
THE American spirit of, the ,Ameri-
can, flag is. the prediction, and the
pledge OF a free world all over.'' '.',
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