Ottumwa tri-weekly courier., 1908-09-08

of Christopher Columbus. Now after
he had demonstrated to the world
that there was land beyond the seas,
planted the banner of his country on
the richest islands of the ocean, he
was arrested on his return from his
last voyage and died in a, dungeon,
victim of ingratitude.
"We sometimes here now unfriend-
ly criticisms of such men as Samuel
Gompers, John Mitchell and others.
1t is ingTatitude. Some one defines in
gratitude as 'Stabbing the hand that
has fed you Another says, Spelling
another will never make yourself
clean Let us appreciate the words of
| these men who are sacrificing their
| lives in the interest of humanity
wherever we find them.
THE other subject is Indifference. A
man asked boy the other day If his
! father was a Christian. Sure my
father is Christian the boy replied,
! but he amt working at it now I
I don't know If there are any Christians
! present who are in that fix, but ! do
know of lots of Union men who think
that because their dues are paid that
| that is all there is to 1t. Men, you
have got to appreciate, educate and
advocate the principles of the Trades
| Union movement all the time and If
/ the two million members of the Amer
| ican Federation of Labor would prac-
tice less tngratHude to their leaders
and be moro consistant and energetic
! in the union movement, eight years
| from now we would not need to pick
out our friends from ranks of the
Republican, Democratic Socialist or
any other parties. We could select
men from our own"
Cummins' Two Letters.
Following Mr.. Kitto's response, the
letters Of Governor Cummins, cancell-
ing his engagement and the second
stating his attitude towards coming,
were read. The first letter under date
of August 2S, follows:
Il very much regret to tell you that
it will be necessary for me to cancel
my engagement to speak at Ottumwa
on Labor Day. I have looked forward
to this occasion with great pleasure,
/ and | am extremely sorry that 1 must
forego the opportunity which you have
given me. | have called an extra ses-
sion of the General Assembly to meet
next Monday. 1t will probably be in
session for a little more than week.
and it is absolutely necessary for me
to be here every day of the session.
know that you will understand the cir
cumstances that surround me. and the
new conditions which have developed
since l promised you to make the
speech. l sincerely hope that at
some other tipe l may have the
| chance to meet your people, and ex-
press the views which l have held re-
garding the subject in which you are
so deeply Interested
The second letter bearing date OF
| September 2, follows:
II have your of the 30th ult. I want
you to believe the situation is much
more disagreeable to me than it pos
sibly can be to you. I will be in OF
tumwa on next Monday unless it is
imperative that I be here. I have ex-
planned to Mr. Urick today just what
conditions surrounded me and he will
tall: to you fully about it. 1t may be
that | can get away. but it also may
be that it would be out of the question
for me to leave Des Moines at that
time. There are certain crises in pub
lie affairs which demand the attention
of public official and it is likely tha
we will be in one Of these crises ir