The wageworker. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1904-????, 1910-06-17
TRUE PATRIOTISM
John Clark Ridpath's Essay on
the Tenets of Liberty.
THE HIGHWAY TO FREEDOM.

GouCat'on the BASIS on Which Free
Government Must Rest-A Republic
Without Intelligence Is a Paradox
and an impossiblity.
The idea that the United States is
one nation and not thirty eight ma
tions Is tne grand cardinal doctrine OF
sound political faith State pride
and sectional attachment are natural
passions in the human breast and are
so near akin to patriotism as to be dis
tinguished from it only in the court OF
higher reason. But there Is a no.
bier love of country-a patriotism that
rises above all places and sections,
that knows no country. no state. no
north. no south. but only native land;
that claims no mountain slope. that
clings to no river bank, that worships
no range of hills. but lifts the aspiring
eye to continent redeemed from bar
barism by common sacrifices and made
sacred by the shedding of kindred
blood. Such a patriotism is the cable
and sheet anchor of our hope.
A second requisite for the preserva-
universal secular education of the peo-
pie. Monarchies govern their subjects
by authority and precedent; republics
by right. reason and free will. Wheth-
er one method or the other will be
better turns wholly upon the intelli-
gence of the governor. No force which
has moved among men. impelling to bad
action. inspiring to crime, overturning
order. tearing away the bulwarks of
liberty and right and converting CIV
il;zation into waste. has been so full
of evil and so powerful to destroy as
blind. ignorant and factious democ-
racy. A republic without intelligence
even high degree of inteligence-is
a paradox and an impossibility.
What means that principle of the
Declaration of Independence which de-
clares the consent Of the governed to
be the true foundation of all just au-
thority? What kind of consent" is re-
ferred to? Manifestly not the passive
and unresisting acquiescence of the
mind which. like the potters clay. re-
ceives whatever is impressed upon it.
but that active. thinking. resolute. con-
scious. personal consent which distin-
cuisines the true freeman from the
puppet. When the people of the Unit
ed States rise to the heights of this no.
BILE and intelligent self assertion the
occupation Of the party leader-most
despicable of all tyrants-will be gone
forever, and in order that the people
may ascend to that high plane the
means by which intelligence Is foster
ed. right reason exalted and calm
and rational public opinion produced
must be universally secured. The pub
lie free school is the fountain whose
streams shall make glad all the land
Of liberty. We must educate or perish.
third thing necessary to the perpe-
tuity of American liberties is tolera-
tion-toleration in the broadcast and
most glorious sense. In the colonial
times intolerance imbittered the lives
of our fathers. Until the present day
the baleful shadow has been upon the
land. The proscriptive vices of the
middle ages have flowed down with
the blood of the race and tainted the
distrust of freedom. Liberty in the
minds of men has meant the privilege
of agreeing with the majority. Men
have desired free thought, but fear has
stood at the door. 1t remains for the
United States to build a highway.
broad and free. into every field of lib
eral inquiry and to make the poorest
of men who walks therein secure In
life and reputation.
Prescription has no part or lot in
the American system. The stake. the
gibbet and the rack. thumbscrews.
sword and pillory. have no place on
this side Of the sea. Nature is diversi-
fed: so are human faculties. beliefs
and practices. Essential freedom is
the right to differ, and that right must
be sacredly respected. Nor must the
privilege of dissent be conceded with
GOODNESS and disdain. but openly. cor
daily and with good will. No less OF
rank. abatement of character or ostra-
cism from society must darken the
pathway of the humblest Of the seek
ers after truth. The right of free
thought. free inquiry and free speech
Is as clear as the MONDAY and bounte-
WIS as the air and ocean. Without
full and cheerful recognition of this
right America is only name.
The fourth idea. essential to the well
fare and stability of the republic. Is
the nobility of labor. 1t is the mission
of the United States to ennoble toll
and honor the toiler. In other lands
to labor has been considered the lot of
serfs and peasants: to gather the fruits
and consume them in luxury and war.
the business of the great Since the
medieval times European society has
been organized on the basis of no.
bility and people. To be a nobleman
was to be distinguished from the peo-
Pile: to be one of the people was to be
forever debarred from nobility. Thus
has been set on human industry the
stigma of perpetual disgrace. Some
thing of this has been transmitted to