Mexico Missouri message. (Mexico, Audrain County, Mo.) 1899-1918, 1910-04-28

right stun in uH, we can show that
Paul In his turn can become teach
or as well as a scholar.
individual Citizenship.
To-day, / shall speak to you on the
! subject OF individual citizenship, the
one subject Of vital Importance to
you, my hearers, and to me and my
| countrymen, because you and we are
citizens of great democratic republics.
A democratic republic such as each
Of ours--an effort to realize in its full
sense, government by, of and for the
| people-represents the most gigantic
OF all possible social experiments, the
one fraught with the greatest posi-
| bilities alike for good and for evil.
| The success of republicans like yours
and like ours means the glory, and
our failure the despair, of mankind;
and for you and for us the question
OF the quality of the Individual citi-
| ben is supreme.
Lauds GalIantry Of French.
France has taught many lessons to
other nations; surely one of the most
! important is the lesson he whole his
tory teaches, that a high artistic and
| literary development is compatible
with notable leadership in arms and
statecraft. The brilliant gallantry Of
| the French soldier has for many cen
turtles been proverbial and during
these same centuries at every court
in Europe the Free Masons of Fash
| ion" have treated the French tongue
as their common speech; while every
artist and man of letters, and every
man of science able to appreciate that
marvellous instrument Of precision,
| French prose, has turned towards
France for aid and inspiration. How
long the leadership in arms and let
tiers has lasted is curiously illustrat-
| ed by the fact that the earliest mas
terpiece in modern tongue is the splen-
did French epic which tells of Ro-
lands doom and the vengeance Of
Charlemagne when the lords of the
Frankish host were stricken at Ron
cesvelles.
Mans Force and Courage.
Let those who have, keep, let those
who have not, strive to attain. a high
standard of cultivation and scholar
ship. Yet, let us remember that these
stand second to certain other things.
There is need of a sound body, and
even more need of a sound mind. But
above mind and above body stands
character, the sum of those qualities
which we mean when we speak of
mans force and courage, of his good
faith and sense of honor. | believe in
exercise of the body, always provided
that we keep in mind that physical
development is a means and not an
end. | believe, of course, in giving to
all the people a good education. But
the education must contain much be-
sides book learning in order to be
really good. We must ever remem-
Der that no keenness, and subtleness
of intelligence, no polish, no clever
ness in any way make up for the lack
of the great solid qualities. Self re-
straint, self mastery, common sense,
the power of accepting individual re-
sponsibility and yet, of acting in CON
junction with others, courage and res
olution-these are the qualities which
make a masterful people. without
them no people can cOntol itself, or
save itself, from being controlled from
the outside. speak to a brilliant as
semblage; l speak in a great univer-
sity which represents the flower of
|. the highest intellectual development;
, / pay all homage to intellect, and to
: elaborate and specialize training of
the intellect; and yet / know / shall
/ have the assent of all you present
Z when l add that more important still
are the common plans, everyday quail
/ ties and virtues.
: "Is Right to PreVail?"
: In the next place, the good man
, should be both a strong and a brave
5 man; that is, he should be able to
} fight, he should be able to serve his
e country as a soldier if the need arises
/. There are well meaning philosophers
e who declaim against the unrighteous
D ness of war. They are right, only
r they lay all their emphasis upon the
unrighteousness. War is a dreadful
e thing, and unjust war is a crime
y against humanity. But il is such q
e crime because it is unjust, not because
= 1t is war. The choice must ever be il
' favor of righteousness, and this wheth
e er the alternative be peace-or wheth
t er the alternative be war. The ques
4 ton must be. is the right to prevail
y Finally, even more important thar
: ity to work, even more important thar
/ ability to fight at need, is to remember
|, that the chief of blessings for any ma
|, tioA is that it shall leave its seed t
y inherit the land. It was the crown o
t blessings in Biblican times; and 1t Il
). the crown of blessing now. Tit
t greatest of all curses, is the curse o
S sterillty, and the severest of all con
It demnations should be that visitet
= upon wilful sterility The first essen
8 tial, in any civilization is that tn
s man and woman shall be father ant