The Chanute times. [volume] (Chanute, Kan.) 1897-1913, 1909-03-12
ALLTTLE LAY SERMON.

government. One HdnJ Cal'Su W
the voice of 80, 900, 900 people to
the seat of supreme authority, t ok
q mple oath to observe the funda-
mental laws of the land and to bend
all his energies toward the advance
ment of the highest interests OF the
people. One day private citizen,
the next he was the official head OF
the greatest nation of :he earth-not
Dy reason of birth or conquests or
wealth or anything but the freely
expressed preference of the people
whose material destinies were com
mitted to his official keeping.
Another man, who had been called
10 the same exalted Office four years
before and who had been originally
called to this office through great
national tragedy, laid down the reins
of power with smile. One day the
president, the next he was a private
citizen, with no more authority than
The humblest workingman on the
streets, without tithe of the power
possessed by the policeman walking
his beat. He had been shOrn OF his
power, not by reason of incompe
tency or oppression, not by a con
queror or by the dlctum of some
tribunal, not as the result of revolu-
ton or upheavel Of thrones, but by
the exercise of the constitutional
prerogative of majority OF the
fourteen or fifteen millions of voters
who chose him as their chief magis-
trate. The relns were not rested
forcibly, as those of other republics
have been within the year. They
were taken from him by the unseen
hand of law more inexorable than
victory and defeat on the field OF
battle. If he had sought to hold
them for a day, the nation would
nave been afame and the whole
world would have been stirred with
excitement. But he did not seek to
hold that which was no longer his,
and no president of this country has
ever done SO. That is what makes
this republic such a magnificent
thing among the nations OF the
earth.
Aside from all political considera-
tions, which indeed are minimized
and dwarfed IN the election of
President Taft, a new era seems to
have dawned in America. Presi
dent Mckinley was something more
thah the "advance agent of pros
perity." He was an evangel of
national fraternity. But the great
work done by McKialey has been
continued and strengthened by Mr..
TAFT, who, like Mckinley, is the
president of the whole people.
There is something magnifieen,ly
fitting and no: merely sentimentally
inspiring in the universally of the
welcome extended to Mr.. Taft, and
the good wishes expressed for the
success of his administration. 1t
would be but a sorry. personal
tt umph, in the last analysis, if this
reiterated paR-Americanism-using
tn ord. in the restricted sense n
vely:ng the fusion Of all sections of
the United States-was but tribute
to Mr.. Taft himself. Back of and
beaeath 1t all is an abiding and an
inspiring significance which means
that there is at last one country over
which but one flag waves. This is
i big country; 1t requires big sums
Of money to run it and it requires
big men to govern it.
The president Of the United
States. especially when he is such 4
man as President Taft, is bigger than
any party. The political organiza-
uoH to which he belongs sinks to
the proportions, fer the TINS being,
of the particular church or clubs 10
which he belongs, while the grea
office which he fills is appropriated
in bis person by the splendid Patrio
,;eu, of the whole peapls This