St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1908-06-03

time. No longer need Webster cry out
for Liberty and Union, now and for
ever, one and inseparable." That con-
dition we have; that they and you won
to their and your everlasting glory, and
time has so completely justified the
achievement that no man in this great
land, North or South, now would have it
otherwise. Whatever be our future
problems, our future trials, we have at
least the advantage and the satisfaction
of facing them resolutely as a truly
united Nation-united not in name alone,
but in heart and purpose and determi-
nation to prove the wisdom of God in
setting up in this new land, as an
example for all the world, "a govern
ment of, for and by the people
THE PRESENT AND FUTURE.
It is fitting that on this day dedicated
to loving memory and patriotic impulse
we should take account of the present
and the future no less than of the past.
! To what end were the momentous
sacrifices of the civil war if we of today
| fail to bear the ark of the covenant OF
human liberty safely to those of tomor-
row? Let us, then, consider thought
fully patiently, tolerantly one another $
opinions regarding conditions of today
so pregnant with possibilities of progress
or retrogression, even perhaps of success
or failure. The magnitude of the task
now confronting the citizens OF the
Republic is hardly more comprehensive
to the human mind than the idea OF
eternity itself Think of it. When
Washington took command OF the
American troops the entire population
numbered three millions; when Lincoln
called for volunteers thirty-one mil
lions; today, ninety millions and nine
millions CT dependents Another half
century and more than two hundred mil
lions of human beings will be gathered
under the Stars and Stripes on this
continent alone. 1t is critical period.
If the next so years pass in peace,
leaving undisturbed the rights OF peo-
pie to govern themselves in the COM
munities in which they live, who can
doubt that the problem of the everlast.
ing future will have been solved, and
that in very truth the mlllennial state OF
the whole human race will have begun
to be realized upon the hemisphere which
already in a few hundred years has
given to man fuller and freer oppor-
tunitv to become worthy of the image
in which he was created than had been
afforded previously in sixty centuries'
THE FORESIGHT OF THE FATHERS.
Inevitably clouds gather as the power
and responsibility of Nation increase,
and it is idle to deny that at this
moment thoughtful men view with no
little apprehension the growth OF certain
popular impulses which tend towards
uncertainty and instability. Unrecog-
nized socialism, disguised in pleasing
garb, has become for the time a
stumbling block in the path OF that
marvellous progress, so far achieved by
that combination of individualism and
bold initiative which we proudly term
the American spirit. Much yet remains
to be done to meet the requirements OF
National conditions already greatly
changed and likely to vary with increas-
ing rapidity as our numbers multiply or
grow bv leaps and bounds. The Nation
IS welded politically, but not commercial
" and financially, as soon it must be
more firmly if we would fifty fulfil our
destiny. The problem is more difficult,
more complicated today than ever be-
fore. Adjustment of the delicate relation
ship of local government to National
authority at their multifarious points Of
contact was comparatively easy when
communities were segregated by re-
tarded communication. Not so now
Every day makes fresh demand upon the
ingenuity of the makers and Interpreters
of our law to keep true the balance
which constitutes the basis OF our
republican theory. Nearly every modern
invention tends to annihilate space and
so to knit the masses more and more
closely together, and render their con
stituent parts more and more interde'
pendent. How would those men who
f we have been taught, were endowed with
exceptional sagacity, the Fathers OF the
Republic, meet the situation II alive
TODAY? We cannot believe that they
would insist upon rigid adherence to
. methods once sufficient but now become
inadequate. They were not narrow
minds. They saw far and clearly--so tai
and so clearly that when they created
constitution they built it upon a .prin
chile that compels the making OF haste
slowly when an eager people might per
; chance to try to do in month what
history teaches, years are required tc
accomplish. Can we do more wisely
than abide by the dictates of that fore
! sight of the Fathers which thus far has