Evening star., 1909-05-09

take place in the fifty or one hundred
years to come. Do you imagine that
when million or fifteen hundred thou
sand shall be swarming in our borders
they will be the only people in this broad
domain to have no hand in the govern
ment of this magnificent republic. no
word In the election of its President. no
tongue In the national assembly? When
million men are here, when they ask
why they alone can have no part in a
republican form of government. do you
imagine they will call 1t a sufficient
answer to be told, Because you live in
Washington. If you lived In Pumpkin
Hook or Bloody Gulch you might, but
,, not while you live here Bear in mind
am not speaking of municipal suffrage
l am speaking of the right of million
OF simple American citizens to have a
share-less than one-hundredth part 1t
would be-in the legislation that con-
Germs their country and it's capital Sup
pose they have no more right than the
same number. OF people who live any
where else in the United States Have
they not as much? And that is all the
right OF which l speak.
The Longing for Suffrage.
But I hear 1t said the people of the
District do not care for suffrage Well,
all can say to that is this: If the peo-
pie OF the District of Columbia do not
really care to have part in the govern
ment of this splendid country they do
not deserve to have It, and nobody need
fear that 1t will be thrust upon them
But l cannot believe that statement
Il cannot believe that the human heart
has changed 1 cannot believe that prin-
ciples have lost their power. 1 cannot be-
iieve that the deep instincts that built
up this wonderful fabric Of free govern
ment have died out here in the very seat
OF its majesty. and that here alone the
bright consummate flower Of liberty has
gone to seed. There is no doubt that
they need auickening. There is no doubt
faculties disused. But hold before their
eyes the hope of what I am describing
and you shall see whether self-respect
and the desire for self-government are
dead.
Sir, If had it in my power tonight
to dispose of this matter as ] would. do
you know what / would do? 1 would not
change the Constitution / would not
give the people of the District suffrage.
What l would do is this: 1 would set to
their dry hearts the flame of that old
Promethean torch, the love of liberty I
would fill them with divine unrest at
their condition. l would set beside that
condition a picture of the dignity and
power they might enjoy as real citizens
of their country. l would move them first
to desire and then to demand their por-
ton OF our heritage. l would nerve them
to toll for 1t and fight for 1t through years
u,
when the agitation had created a new
Washington-when four hundred or five
hundred thousand people were calling as
with one mighty voice for the great prize
would bestow 1t on them. And. sir, l
believe that Is exactly what the god of
time will do.
Fear No Specter.
Shall we say We fear the suffrages of
vice that we ourselves are to blame for.
that could not last a generation if We did
our duty by our fellow-men? Shame on
the race or the community that holds
in its hands the wealth of the continent
and carries in its brains the accumulated
culture of the centuries and yet refuses
to lift that ignorance and vice to the
level Of enlightenment and virtue. Tear
down your shacks and shanties. Let in
the sun upon your noisOme alleys. Build
decent habtations for the poor to dwell
In. Make your prisons moral hospitals ins
stead of breeding cells for crime. Spread
education broadcast in the streets. Let US
do the work Of Christians at our doors
before we admit that our fathers were
fools and that democratic government Is
all a dark mistake. Never until the men
OF wealth and education have spent their
last surplus dollar and exhausted the
ingenuity of their brains in the effort to
make their fellow-men worthy to be
sharers In the government, never until
then will they have a right to hide behind
an excuse like that.
Il admit that an ignorant and degraded
class armed with the ballot is a menace
to the safety of the state: but deny that
1t Is a greater menace in the end than
that same class robbed of its rights,
thrust down into the dark and left as no
longer necessary to be regarded or as
sisted because no longer having any part
in the affairs of state Strip men Of the
ballot and you take away from society
the most powerful inducement that can
and elevate its helpless and its poor We
must fnd fault with the Creator II we
wish to complain that wealth, virtue and
culture cannot be safe in the neighbor-
hood of poverty. ignorance and vice. He
means that 1t shall be So He sees Blag-
den's alley as well as Dupont Circle and
he has made 1t certain by the laws Of ma
ture. by every wind that breathes across
the city, by every tiny insect that takes
it's unregarded flight from home to home
that Dupont Circle shall not be safe while
Blagdens alley is rotting with disease and
filth The very laws of nature are demo-
cratic. 1t is just the same in government.
A community that has the power to lift
ignorance and vice to it's own level, and
will not stretch out its hand to do it. de-
serves to be ruled by ignorance and vice:
and eternal justice will see to it that it is
SO. We cannot escape our duties Let us
race them then like men.
No Time to Doubt
is this an hour to doubt or question
the principles of free government? Now
when those principles, encouraged by
their success upon this continent, are
shaking every throne upon the globe?
When on the shores Of the Bosphorus
young Turkey is making good it's claim
to constitutional government When
Persia Is starting from her revery and
old China Is turning from the slumber of
1000 years? Now, when in the islands OF
the south Pacific we ourselves are reach
ing out a hand to lead a strange race into
the ordered paths Of Anglo-Saxon free
dom? Let the sons of Washington beware
lest the little brown men of the Philip
pines enter the kingdom of representative
government before them. If the people
of Columbia prefer to take their ease no
rude reformer will disturb their rest But
when we have passed away men will
describe us as the dying patriarch in his
prophetic vision pictured the most degen-
crate Of his tribes: Issachar is a strong
ass, crouching down between two burdens
and he saw that rest was good. and the
land that 1t was pleasant. and bowed his
shoulder to bear and became a servant
unto tribute.
Sir, the danger to this country lies not,
as we sometimes think. in the poor i'm
migrant who fees to us from far. still
smarting from the lash of tyranny-ig-
norant and low-minded though he be.
The prize of citizenship will appeal to
him. He will clutch II and hold 1t fast
as the immediate jewel of his SOUL
The danger lies in him who, like the
base Judean, throws pearl away richer
Id .sA to-