Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1908-07-16
PROGRESS OF LAST FIFTY YEARS.
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4 u
is trifing and indefinite, mans concep-
tons of it are often partial and indis-
tinct, but the essential idea underlying
all progress is individual liberty, indi-
vidual effort. Only through the individ-
ual is the progress of the race possible.
National liberty is gained only as indi-
viduals break the shakes of individual
bondage The individual is the center
of growth and change. The individual
has always been the landmark of pro-
gress. We know of historic nations
through their individuals. The individ-
ual has always stimulated and intro
duced original thought. The individual
is the specialist Of progress and from
him will come the new ideas. The in
dvidual arouses the world from the
slumber Of fixed and decided opinions
and thus prevents it from lapsing into
barbarism.
The chief force Of the individual is
observed in the fields Of discovery and
invention. Reformations are begun and
completed by individuals The force of
the individual is amply evident in ma
tional progress. The growth and
strength Of the United States owes
much to the honesty of Washington,
the eloquence of Patrick Henry, the
sagacity of Franklin, the wisdom of
Jefferson and the great brain of a
Lincoln
The glory of America consists not so
much in her rigid laws as in her condi-
tions for individual growth, and the
stimuli she furnishes for independent
effort. With her liberty rests upon in
diyidual character.
Every nation becomes stationary
when il ceases to encourage personal
effort. Turn your attention to China
over which centuries have come and
gone with scarcely sign of improve
ment. The castles of society are al
ways Of the same mold; their desires
and capacities are starved, native
pleasures are dead; custom reigns SUI
preme and to it justice and right must
conform. But from fixed and unpro-
gressive China turn to England and
America, where individual energy finds
welcome field What is it that has
brought Europe from the dark ages but
individual perseverance?
Nothing is truer than that individuals
have always been at the helm of the
American nation. Patrick Henry's
resolute appeal for liberty stirred a
whole nation to action. Webster, by
his irresistible powers of debate and
his matchless eloquence, held together,
for a time at least, the beliggerent
states of the Union. Slavery, that
criminal blot upon our record, was re-
moved almost wholly by individual eff
fort. Lincoln and Sumner now lie mo-
| tionless, but their efforts will live as
long as the black man loves freedom.
Individual liberty knows not the bane
or badge of authority which has rem
dered useless many brilliant minds.
Progress and retrogression begins and
ends in the individual. The individual
alone is the peerless leader Strip the
race Of these strongly marked charac-
teristics and there will be but little left
of culture and civilization. The pro-
gress of the race demands bold indiyid-
ual men, who will assert the truth and
stand by it unhinchingly. Truth has
always had it's martyrs, Men will slay
their own prophets and liberators. In
proud ignorance they viii execute a
Socrates and drag a Gallileo TO the in
QUESTION. The brutal hand of jealousy
win send Lincoln to his grave without
remvrsc, in the very hour Of his tri-
umpha martyr to his nations pro-
gress. We are yet in the twilight of
progress. Mans highest intellectual
and moral fields lie far beyond the
limits of the present horizon; yet surely
through the individual alone viii he at
tain them.
SELF-C CONTROL.
gH.1F ...-t..l 70 Tho