Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1907-04-27

o fmere vindictiveness for what has
been done in the past. In John Nor
ley's brilliant sketchiof Burke he laws
especial stress upon the fact that
Burke more than almost any other
thinker or politician of his time real
lied the profound lesson that I'm pol.
itics we are concerned not with bar
rem rights, but with duties; not With
abstract truth, but with practical
morality. He especially eulogizes the
way in which in his efforts for econ.
omic reform, Burke combined un.
shakable resolution in pressing the
reform with profound temperate-
ness of spirit Which made him, while
bent on the extlrpntion of evil sys.
tenn, refuse to cherish an unreasoning
and vlndictlve i'll will toward the men
who had benefited by It, Said Burke.
"If can not reform with equity. II
will not reform at ALL Al
tThere is) state to preserve as we'll
as state to REFORM
Correct Way to Reform Abuses.
This is the exact spirit In which
this country should move to the re-
form of abuses OF corporate wealth.
The wrongdoer, the man who swim
dies and cheats, whether on q big
scale or q little one, shall receive at
our hands mercy as scant as If he
committed crimes of violence or bru-
tally. We are unalterably deter
mined to prevent wrongdoing in the
future; we have no intention OF try
ing to wreall such an indiscriminate
vengeance for wrongs done in the
past as would confound the innocent
with the guilty. Our purpose is to
build up rather than to tear down.
We show ourselves the truest friends
OF property when we make 1t evident
that we will not tolerate the abuses
of property. We gre steadily bent
on preserving the institution of priv.
ate property; We combat every ten.
dency toward reducing the people to
economic servtude; and we care not
whether the tendency is due to n sin
lister agitation directed against all
property, or whether it is due to the
actions of those members Of the pre-.
datory classes whose anti-social pow
err is UNNECESSARILY increased because
of the very fact that they possess
wealth.
Above all, we insist that while fac.
ing changed conditions and new prob
lens. We must face them in the spirit
which our forefathers showed when
they rounded and preserved this Re-
public The cornerstone of the Re.
public lies In our treating each man
on his worth as man, paying no
heed to his creed, his birthplace, or
his occupation, asking not whether
he is rich or poor, whether he labors
with head or hand asking only
whether he acts decently and honora.
bly, In the varions relations OF his
life, whether he behaves well to his
family. to his neighbors, to the State.
We base our regard for each man on
the essentials and not the accidents.
We judge him not by his profession,
but by his deeds; by his conduct, not
by what he has acquired or this
worlds goods. Other republics have
fallen because the citizens gradually
grew to consider the interests of a
class before the interests of the
whole; for when such was the case
1t mattered little whether it was the
poor who plundered the rich or the
rich who exploited the poor: in either
event the end of the Republic was at
hand. We are resolute in our pur.
pose not to fall into such a pit. This
grea tRepublic OF ours shall never
become the government of a plutocra.
cy. and 1t shall never become the gov
eminent of mob, God willing. 1t
shall remain what our fathers who
founded it meant 1t to be--a govern.
ment in which each man stands on
his worth as a man, where each is
given the largest personal liberty CON
sistent with securing the well-being
fthe whole, and where, so far as
In MS lies, we strive continually to-
secure for each man such equality of
opportunity that in the strife of life
he may have a fair chance to show
the stuff that Is IN him. we are
proud of our schools and of the
trained intelligence they give our
children the opportunity to require.
But what we care for most is the
character of the average man; for
we believe that if the average of
character in the individual citizen is
sufficiently high, If he possesses
those qualities which make him
worthy of respect in his family life
and in his work outside. as well as
the qualities which fit him for sue.
cess in the hard struggle of actual
existence-that il such is the charac-
ter of our individual citizenship,
there is literally no height of triumph
unattainable in this vast experiment
of government by, of, and for free
people.
Excelsior Goes to Or. Gardner