Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1908-04-23


I appreciate that nothing which
can say Will add to or detract from
the glory of their achievement. which
In itself is an enduring monument to
the patriotism and heroism Of the
American soldier. their sacrifice, how
ever, was not different from that which
has been made throughout all Of the
ages by those lovers of liberty who be-
lieve In a government which might
give to all the people the right to life,
liberty and property. The love OF
liberty was not born in this country Of
ours. 1t was Graded along the Danube
and about the shores of the Baltic,
even when Rome had reached the limit
OF her imperial grandeur Increasing
In Intensity with the passing of the
centuries. 1t found its highest express
sion in the older countries in the great
English charter of civil rights. which
forever guaranteed to the people Of
that land immunity from the despotism
Of those who claimed to rule by virtue
Of Divine right.
One hundred and thirty-two years
ago the great contest of humanity was
transferred from the old world to the
new, and here, because OF the isola-
ton of this country, because of the
high character of the man who es-
poused the cause of liberty and be-
cause of the signal victory achieved
by them in that struggle. an opportu-
nifty was afforded to crystalline into
written law the aspirations of the pa
triots of all the ages. The men who
built the foundations of this govern
ment were those who had submitted
to the supreme test Of patriotism, for
those who inspired the constitution of
the United States were the same who
had pledged their lives. their proper
ties and their sacred honor to the cause
of independence.
While the primary object of writ
ten constitution is to define govern
mental powers and to limit govern
mental departments, the overwhelming
necessity for such an instrument is to
prevent insidious encroachments upon
the rights of the individual citizen,
both from those in Office and from
those who by reason of their wealth
and power have an influence far great
er than that possessed by the average
citizen. And so the constitution of the
United States was regarded by its
trainers as an instrument of the most
sacred import, an alteration of which
could only be made by the people them
selves. In whom all ultimate power is
vested, and then only after the fullest
discussion and widest publicity.
Under the beneficent government so
established the nation has prospered
and the people are happy. One great
cloud came upon the. nation in the
form of an awful civil war, in which
two sections of the country were in
conflict with each other. The heroes
who rest here gave their lives that this
nation might be maintained as it came
from our forefathers. On another bat
tlefield of that war Abraham Lincoln
said: 1T is for US, the living, rather to
be dedicated TO the unfinished work
they have thus far so nobly carried on.
1t is rather for us to be here dedicated
to the great task remaining before us;
that from these honored dead we take
increased devotion for that cause for
which they here gave the last full
measure of devotion; that we highly re-
solve that these dead shall not have
died in vain; that the nation shall un-
der God have new birth of freedom,
and that the government of the people,
by the people and for the people shall
not perish from the EARTH"
Our concern is not of the past nor
wholly with the present, but much
with the future. If the destiny of the
republic is in the hands of the Ameri.
can of today, then 1t becomes him to
be guided and governed only by patri.
otto impulse and the desire to do that
which will most largely contribute to
the permanency of republican institu.
tons. Advancing our civilization SO
that we will not. by recognizing the
false claims of selfish interests and for
getting the American maxim that our
object should be to attain the greatest
good for the greatest number. incur the
penalty which other people have paid,
rather let us hold ever in mind that
those who framed our government be-
lieved In the equality of the people and
that the chief aim of government is to
maintain that equality.
Under our system Of government the
nation has reached n material develop
ment hitherto unknown. The people
have prospered beyond the dreams of
those who lived century ago. But
with the development of the country
and changes in economic conditions.
and particularly with the growth of
great private corporations performing
many of the functions of government,
has come the necessity for the exercise