The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1908-07-08

vention depended the great issue
whether the country should be united
as nation, or be broken into sep
arate and possibly warning frag-
ments. The problem to be solved by
the convention was not an easy one.
All recognized the need of a central
authority-of a general government
clothed with powers strong enough
to bind together all the parts, and
yet not strong enough to endanger
the separate existence and the liber-
ties of the respective states. To
merge all the states into a more per-
feet union, to make of them nation
in fact as well as name, and yet to
permit each state to retain its sep
arate existence and its citizens a suf-
ficient measure of focal freedom and
liberty-this was the problem the
convention was called upon to solve
To us living under the constitution
so happily framed by that conven-
the stress and weathered the storms
of more than century, it may seem
the problem was not a difficult one
to solve. But it w.ts. There were
no presidents. No sucn government
had ever been established. In
Greece there had been local freedom
at the expense of central power. In
Rome there had been a strong CEN
trail government at the expense of
local freedom. But the problem of
combining a strong central govern
ment with separate existence and To-
cal freedom for the constituent parts
had never been solved. That was
left for this convention to accom-
plish. And to the fact that its work
was we'll done our present institu-
lions bear eloquent witness.
Differences as to the proper con-
struction and correct Interpretation
of the constitution soon began to de-
velop. These differences we have not
time to trace. They continued to
grow until the life of the nation it.
self was involved in the controversy
which, it finally became apparent,
could be settled only by the dread
arbitrament of war. shall not dwell
upon that period when the passions
aroused by civil strife held sway;
when brother met brother in deadly
encounter; when in every city, vii
lage and hamlet there was mourning
for the lost ones, and the land was
given over to devastation. But when
the din of war had ceased from
amid ruined and blackened homes,
and through tear-dimmed eyes it was
clearly seen that henceforth we
should be one country, one nation,
one people-with one flag waving
over ALL And this was worth
thousand times over its price in HUI
man suffering-its cost in life and
wounds were slow in healing. The
bitterness engendered by the. strug-
gle could not be overcome in a sim
gle day. Years would have to come
and go before the kindly hand Of
time could completely efface the
scars of such a conflict. But the
healing process was continuous in its
operation. And when at the out
break of the war with Spain, we saw
the wearers of the blue and of the
grey rush eagerly forward, and saw
them marching shoulder to shoulder
under the Stars and Stripes; when
we saw the north and the south, the
east and west vieing with each other
for the opportunity and the privilege
of fighting the country's battles I'M
der that flag, then we awoke to the
full realization of the fact that sec
tionalism was indeed dead-that we
were one nation in fact as we'll as
name-and that we were one people
one in feeling, one in sympathy.
and one in heart. The war with
Spain, convincing the world as it did,
and as nothing else could convince
it, that we are indeed one people,
also opened our eyes to the fact that
destiny is pointing the way to fields
of broader endeavGr for this nation.
Henceforth it must play its part upon
world wide stage. And may t
acquit itself creditably; may it play
its part we'll Whether it does will
depend upon the people-will de-
pend, in a measure upon each of
you. If each will proform his duty
to himself, to his family, to his
neighbor, to his state and to his
country, there can be no doubt as to
the future
In every crisis with which this
country has been confronted the