The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1908-06-18
CHE T1len Of Bunker '11ill.

S>~.~~
from the Atlantic to the Pacific and
from Canada to the gulf of Mexico,
and constantly growing. They would
see country rapidly becoming the
foremost in the world, in wealth and
business and agricultural and indus
trial development, united and pros
porous, and preserving the constitu-
tional rights and liberties for which
they fought. They would listen with
astonishment to the statement the
words "American nation" stand for,
population of over 86,0O0,O00.
AS they travelled thru the country,
they would be dazzled by splendid
public and private buildings, by ornate
and beautiful churches, and by the
evidences of vast and unimagined
wealth on every side. The telegraph,
the telephone, the trolley cars, the
automobile, the railroad trains, the
great steamships at our docks, the
complicated power machinery of our
factories, and the enormous farming
operations in the west, would fairly
make their brain reel, and almost
cause them to doubt the evidence of
their senses. They would look in
vain for any successors to the five
thousand slaves whom they remem-
bered in Massachusetts. They would
find the system no longer tolerated;
they would see the whole country
filed with free men, conducting the
greatest experiment in democratic gov
ernment the world has ever seen. They
would find innumerabie great institu.
tions of learning and charity; would
discover an awakened public senti.
ment alive to the needs and rights OF
others, and seeking to reform abuses
in public and business corporate life
and they would be filled with glow
of patriotic pride in the great republic
that they had helped to establish.
Yet, however proud they might be
of the physical grandeur of the nation
whose foundation was laid by thei
courage and loyalty, they could mo-
fail upon reflection to note with dis
favor certain departures in the prac
; tice of government from the princi
] Piles for which the revolutionary wa
was waged. They would see Presi
dent at Washington whose name is Ol
thousands of lips the world over, calle'
/ the Peacemaker, as lately recorder
) national history testifies, but who
: constantly extending his powers an
! prerogatives; a senate chamber lille
partly by rich men, and which no lone
8 er retains the entire confidence of th
: country;a house of representative
8 where debate is cut short at the will G
the majority, and where the speake
d exerts the most astonishing power
Q They would find growing and insie
). ious tendency, encouraged in high quar-
9 ters, to disregard the right Of the state
i and enlarge the power of the gener'
j. government.
s They would see the old Jeffersonia
T principles of liberty, which their oW
y New England. representatives in tt
is &continentsl congress assisted, a yes
l. after the battle, in adopting in the de-
s, laration of independence, forgotte
le disregarded and ridiculed. They wou
i find high-minded young men of ed
cation no longer eagerly responsive
n appeals in the name of liberty. Th'
N would find them concerned about got
,e government rather than self-gover
33 ment. They would not approve
rs the wanton violation in the Philippin
Sc of the doctrine of the declaration
I'd Independence that governments deri
st their just powers only from the CO
I'd sent of the governed, and of the pri
be ciple that taxation without represe
l tation is tyranny" They would q
approve of the open defiance of tn
d. original agreement in the constitute
ng by which the union was made possib
in and which gave to each state unqu
ey toned control over its own affai
Dir nor would they approve of system
or taxation under which certain benz
* Charles accumulate vast fortunes at
he expense of the people.
an And, most surprising Of all, Il
I'D would see the great republic ruii
ng absolutely 8 900 600 or more people, G