Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1908-07-08

question that everywhere confronts
is this: is this measure in the
line of those great principles which
lie beneath our government? Is it
in the line of our historic develop
ment?'
What is the organizing idea of
this nation? In other ages and
lands. the man existed for the in
stitution. Bunker Hill and Lex
ington said: Henceforth the state
shall exist for the man. 1t shall
guarantee him a field in which he
shall have freedom to work out his
own destiny, his rights modified
only by the corresponding rights of
other men to do the same; and that
freedom the state shall protect. "
That is what America means. And
anything that makes a man a vic
tim of a commercial combination,
or the slave of labor organization,
is the old despotism masquerading
in new garb. Organization we
shall have in commerce and indus
try. But why should business and
toll pick up the old weapons Of per-
secution from the scrap-iron heap
of the ages, scour off the rust, re-
baptize the accommodation"
and "interdict'' as "black- list" and
boycott" and inaugurate a new
style of persecution in the market
place? l have said that a study of
the past helps US to understand the
present. There is not an institu-
tion that does not take root in the
past. Back in the New England
county meeting we find the germ
of the American Congress. Our
common school system Of today-a
system Ct which we are so justly
proud-goes back to the town.
schools established by the Puritans.
In Massachusetts every town con-
tanning fifty householders was re-
quired by law to appoint teacher
every town containing hundred
householders set up grammar
school which might prepare youths
for the university. $50 complete
and universal were the means Of in
struction," it is said, THAT in the
times preceding the Revolution
there was not to be found in all
New England an adult born in the
country who could not read and
write.'' We can forgive the Puri-
tan much of his intolerance when
we think of this splendid achieve
ment. With him is the origin Of
our present magnificent system.
The Common School is the great
, agent for reducing all our elements,
; from whatever countries, to one
homogeneous nationality. Tn {
wheat that passes thru our great
/ mills is gathered from a thousand
fields. It reaches the city by vari.
I GUS routes. Here it is thrown into
| a common hopper and the shells
: and coarser parts are torn off anc
flung aside; and when the fou1
5 passes thru the final process it i:
a clean and white. The grosser ele
: ments have all disappeared. The
! public school is the great hopper Of
Y the mill. Into it the children Of
! various lands and parentage art
] thrown. That which was distinc
t lively Irish, French or German, tn,
e peculiar ideas received by inherit
: ance and tradition, are ground of
e and disappear, while the final an,
S finished product is an American
o citizen.
e There is hardly name or a fac
! of today that does not stand con
) nected with the past. Let us tax
o one or two instances of names
J. Our word ''Indian" contains tn
4 whole history Of that period of voy
e age and discovery which include
/ the voyages of Columbus. It tell
of the time when the whole know
f world was seeking new route t
d the Indies. Columbus thought h
had reached his destination, an
e the word Indian which he ap
:, piled to the people whom he foun'
e forever reminds us of the object o
e his search. Then, too, take GU
j. word 'Pittsburg.'' It contains tn
: history of our own French and In
It dian War. 1t was originally For
: Duquesne, and commemorated tn
r dominion of the French. But tn
s rise of the great premier Pit
r changed the face of this western
it world. The French were defeated
: and the name of Pitt took the plac
e of Duquesne, and the old fort an
r village were thenceforth known a
d ''Pittsburg." In that word W
t have memorial of the treaty Q
!. 1868, by which the French kin,
k lost his possession and the institu
e tions of the Middle Ages were pre-
/ vented from establishing themselve
: on our part Of this continent. TIL
it difference between the words For