The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1908-07-08

upon the gloom of Valley Forge, or
the crossing of the Delaware, or the
surrender of Burgoyne, or of Corn
wallis, or to stop to remind you of
any other of the many deeds that
contributed to the making good of
that declaration, or to the establish
| ing of that bill of rights, for these
are known to every school boy in the
land But what I do wish to inn
press upon your minds is the spirit
of that contestant uplifting If
soul-that dedication to noble
cause on the part of our revolution
airy sires that led them to forego the
comforts and the ease of life that
induced them to contribute freely of
their worldly goods and inspired
them to pour out their blood and to
sacrifice even life Itself to the end
that there might be established here
upon this continent "a government of
the people, by the people and for the
people, government that would af-
ford equal opportunities to all alike;
government of law-not one law
for the strong and another for the
weak-not one law for the rich and
another for the poor-not one law
for the man of this occupation and
another for the man of that occupa-
ton, but one law for all alike-a law
before which all should be COM
PEELED to bow with equal Difference,
and a law that would extend it's pro-
tecting shield for all alike without
respect to the station in life of the
Individual invoking its aid or seek
ing it's assistance. To that spirit, to
that sublime confronting of danger,
to that considering all else as dross
in comparison with the ideal set be-
fore them we owe our present insti-
tutions. And to the men and to the
women of that period we in common
with the rest of humanity are in
debted for an example that has made
the world better worth living in
an example that has proved a source
Of inspiration to the people of other
lands and of other climes.
"But the newborn nation was in
greater danger--was confronted with
greater peril after close of the war
than before. The most critical peri
Cd this country has passed through,
not even excepting the time of the
civil war. was not when faced by the
armed hosts of Great Britain, but was
the period beginning with the end
ing of the revolutionary war and
ending with the adoption of the fed
eral constitution under which We
now live. During the war the colonies
were held together by pressure from
without. The common danger
threatening the liberties of each and
all of them forced them to act in con-
cert until the danger was removed.
But with the ending of the war, with
the removal of the danger from with
out, the states began to drift apart
each going it's own way uncontrolled
by any central authority. Under the
articles of confederation congress was
powerless. 1t could recommend but
could not enforce its recommended
tions. 1t could enter into treaties
with foreign powers, but had to rely
upon the pleasure, or the within, or
the caprice of the different states as
to whether those treaties should be
respected. It could authorize the
creation of Indebtedness, but had not
the right to levy taxes or to raise rev.
enue to meet that Indebtedness.
Mutual distrust and jealousy pre-
vailed among the states. The recon-
mendations of congress were ignored.
The public credit was at the lowest
ebb, and the American confederation
was treated contemporary by for
eign powers, as they believed it to
be upon the point of dissolution.
That was indeed gloomy period.
What had been won upon the battle
field seemed about to be lost through
mutual chickering's and jealousies. A
people that had risen to the most
sublime heights of courage and of
devotion in the armed conflict with
the mother country seemed to be
drifting to disaster through the want
of some central authority to shape
its course. Washington said:
An extension of federal powers
would make us o.e of the most
wealthy, happy. respectable and pow
erful nations that ever inhabited the
terrestrial globe. Without them, we
shall soon be everything which is the
direct reverse. l predict the worst
consequences from half-starved,
limping government, always moving
uDOn clutches and lettering with ey-