The Falls City tribune., 1909-09-24
Early Legislation and Legislators.

TeilElOu HdDllS OF the people, anu
the prevailing mode of worship among
them on these outskirts Of eiViliza-
ton, in its steady march 10 the west
ern sea. Directions have lost their
significance. To reach the far east
the traveller, in times past, went by
the Cape of Good Hope, and thence
over the Indian Ocean and the China
Seas to the fiowery kingdom; but,
to reach these points now, the direc-
ton is reversed and the trip is made
by sailing west from the American
coast over the Pacific. and the small
err water divisions lying along the
eastern shores of the continent of
Asia. 1t is a little difficult in these
days to tell just which way a person
is going-when he goes at all-for he
can go west all the time and come
back to where he started, or he can
go east all the time and accomplish
the same feat. Therefore, when | say
western sea. Il mean that n which
lies still further east of the point
formerly known as the far east, and
its eastern shores are the two twin
western eontinents-the Americas; and
there you are. East and west have
become so badly mixed that 1t is
about as difficult to distinguish them
as it is to find out the age of Ann
In this one | shall have something
TO say of my observations of the
political operations of those state
builders on the great plains, their
legislation and their methods of do
ing Il. Religion and politics are the
two poles of the social magnet, by
and through which the fabric Is made
"a cohesive whole and n body polite,
Wanting one or the other, aud the
nomadic, aboriginal tribe as found
ON this continent four hundred years
ago, present the exact resultant con
ditions that would obtain.
The particular brand of religion is
not important, for there has never
been but one in the world, and new
er will be, but there are and have
been numerous expressions of IL, diff;
ferent in character among different
people, but always meaning precise
ly the same thing. Otherwise 1t
would follow that each religion pre-
supposes the existence of a different
God as the object of its particular
alteration. A stranger from another
planet set down among us, might
easily be of that opinion, judging
from the conduct of the several re-
ligious denominations with reference
to each other.
The Geeks in the olden time had a
plurality of gods and goddesses, whom
they hived on high Olympus, an in
significant mountain so called in
their national domain, but they had
no plurality of religions, and so ten
acious were they of their own dom
este or national religion. that they
killed old Socrates for, as they sup
posed teaching the youth of the coun-
: try doctrines contrary to It.
But there came among them one
day a sandy haired, stoop-shoulder-
ed man, slightly bald on the top of
his head, who looking about him in
that city of learning, of poesy, and
song. observed that they had erect
ed a monument to all the gods in the
calendar. and then to make sure that
they were guilty of no disrespect to
any of the immortal few, had erected
another and dedicated 1t to the un-
known god. That strange man from
the land of the Senate, who had
studied at the feet Of the sage Gam
aliel, said TO them in q voice that
has sounded round the world and all
through the ages: Whom we ignor-
antly worship declare | unto YOU"
With those people. religion had
beer merely a subjective reality, while
the great missionary from beyond the
Hellespont simply changed it to the
objective, and that change, after
nearly nineteen hundred years, still
holds good.
They we're merely ignorantly wor-
Shipping God, but they We're wor-
Shipping Him in the best way they
knew how. and that is what all the
vast family of man have been doing
and have lone since the race began.
If the controversies that have taken
place among men are examined with
attention and especially those concern
ing religion, 1t will be found that
much, If not all of them, are ground
ed on a mere difference of opinion
or, .1n-essentials, or is the dogged
assertion of blind prejudice on botn
sides. Any man who has served n,
reasonable apprenticeship to life
knows. or ought to know, that men
differ more about their opinions OF
things than they do about the things
themselves. This well now human
popularity lies at the bottom of all
the disputes that men engage in or
have engaged in.
That, however, does not prevent re-
ligion being an essential part of the
public polity of all civilized govern
ments. An effort was made early in
the history of this republic to fix a
line of demarkation between church
and state, and nominally it is so, but
in practical operation it is not
so to the extent assumed. True, the
church as such, is not recognized as
a controlling force in governmental
affairs, but it has been solemnly re-
solved by the highest court in the
land-in the Gerard will case-tha'
the Christian religion is a part of the
common law of this nation, and be.
ing SO, enters into all contracts, al
legislation, and permeates all the AT
fairs of the people, public or private
like a vert atmosphere.
1t is only a few years since a maj
was put out of educational Hous o.