The Paducah evening sun. [volume] (Paducah, Ky.) 1906-1929, 1907-04-26

in the days that were dark ami ter
rible and splendid. We, their de-
scendants, who pay proud homage to
their memories, and glory in the
feats of might Of one side no less
than of the other. need to keep stead
lily in mind that the homage which
counts is the homage of heart and Of
hand, and not OF the lips. the homage
of deeds and not of words only. We,
too, in our turn. must prove our
truth by our endeavor. We must
show ourselves worthy sons OF the
men of the mighty days by the way
in which we meet the problems of
our own time. We carry our heads
high because our fathers did well in
the years that tried mems souls; and
we must in our turn so bear ourselves
that the children wno come after us
may feel that we too have done our
duty.
We can not afford to forget the
maxim upon which Washington in
sisted. that the surest way to avert
war is to be prepared to meet 1t. New
ertheless the duties that most con-
Germ us of this generation are not
military, but social and industrial.
Each community must always dread
the evils which spring up as attend
ant upon the very qualities which
give it success. We of this mighty
western republic have to grapple
with the dangers that spring from
popular government tried on a
scale incomparably vaster than ever
before in the history of mankind,and
from an Astounding material pros
perity greater also than anything
which the world has hitherto seen.
Our Sovereign Duty.
GAS regards the first set of dangers
1t behoovea us to remember that men
can never escape being governed.
Either they must govern rthemself
or they must submit to being govern
ed by others. If from lowlessness or
fickleness. from folly or self-indul-
gence, they refuse to govern them
selves, then most assuredly in the
end they will have to be governed
from the outside. They can prevent
the need of government from with
out only by showing that they possess
the power of government from with
in. A sovereign can not make ex-
cuses for his failures; a sovereign
must accept the responsibility for
the exercise of the power that i'm
heres in him; and where, as is true
in our republic, the people are soyer-
|eign, then the people must show a
sober understanding an da sane and
|steadfast purpose If they are to pre-
serve that orderly liberty upon
which as foundation every republic
must rest.
"In industrial matters our enorm-
GUS prosperity has brought with it
certain grave evils. 1t is our duty to
TRY to cut out these evils without at
the same time destroying our we'll
being itself. This is an era of COM
|bination alike in the world of capital
land in the world of labor. Each
kind of combination can do good.
and yet each, however powerful,
must be opposed when it does i'll. At
the moment the greatest problem be-
fore us is how to exercise such con-
troll over the business use of vast
wealth, individual, but especially
as will insure its not being
used against the interest of the pub
lie, while yet permitting such ample
legitimate profits as will encourage
individual initiative. 1t is our bust
ness to put a stop to abuses and to
prevent their recurrence, without
showing spirit of mere vindictive-
ness for what has been done in the
past. In John Morley's brilliant
sketch of Burke he lays especial
stress upon the fact that Burke more
than almost any other thinker or
politician of his time realized the
profound lesson that In politics we
are concerned not with barren rights
but with duties; not with abstract
truth, but with practical morality.
He especially eulogizes the way in
which in his efforts for economic re.
form. Burke combined unsuitable
resolution in pressing the reform
with profound temperatures of
spirit which made him, while bent
on the extirpation of the evil system.
refuse to cherish an unreasoning and
viz, dlfoftuo al ..,flt f0u.,r.1