The commercial. (Union City, Tenn.) 190?-193?, 1911-06-02
sALuTAToRY.
Delivered by Willie II. Jones. Graduating Class
1911, Union City High school

" etCOinei NO CLASS or Ciau, bu
welcome all We believe we are wha
we seem to be, fof it is the aim Of oul
school to graduate such. We trust thai
the interest manifested by your presenc,
may be not only for the passing mo-
ment, but throughout a long career.
You will commend our virtues; we ask
that you be lenient to our faults TIC
you all a genuine welcomed
INFLUENCE OF coNslERcIALIsM.
Foremost in the galaxy Of the world
stands America. 1t is with no little
pride we place the index finger Of one
hand upon the little intrepid band OF
settlers who made their homes on the
eastern coast of the country in the
seventeenth century, and then place the
index finger Of the other hand upon the
worldwide power Of to-day. God-fear-
ing Plymouth and undaunted James
town sturdily surmounted pioneer labors
in the unhewn forests and over the path
less mountains, increased and multiplied
until in scarce three hundred years their
descendants engross land stretching
from ocean to ocean, from the great
lakes to the gulf, even holding under
their sway the islands OF the sea.
No geographical conditions have fur
thered this unprecedented expansion.
1t has been the patient, persevering up
rightness of an American citizenship.
Lighting the past with fulsome rays,
and guiding her onward movement,
have been such luminaries as Washing
ton and Hamilton, Lincoln and Lee.
The present beholds, in the heavens Of
fame, Roosevelt and Bryan, Jane Adams
and Clara Barton. What Of the futureY
Glory of the past, however thrilling, is
too ethereal thing upon which to build
a future. 1t must be shaped by the liv-
ing, breathing, pulsating humanity Of
to-day.
We are face to face with the fact that
the children of now will be the citizens
Of then Would it not give profit to
give pause and consider the NOW" and
its current tendency upon our nations
future?
The dollar has become an omnipotent
magician. Aye, the God-given souls Of
men cringe and grovel in base sub
lection before this throned monarch.
Hardly a newspaper is published that
does not contain the history OF some
new graft.
Politicians make and unmake laws
Tor price. For the speedy accumula-
lion Of filthy lucre, governors of States
and rulers Of nations prove recreant to
he trusts bestowed upon them by too
rusty constituency. The petty police
If our calloused cities place their pro-
Getting arms over debauchery and crime
o make their incomes commensurate
With their ambitions. Even the push
art is plundered in their rapacious
freed.
0 cursed lust OF goldl When for thy
axe the fool throws up his interest in
10Th worlds? His soul first starved in
his, then damned in that to comet
The commercial world reeks with
raft. There are thefts by under
eight, thefts by adulteration, thefts
y misrepresentation, thefts by suhsti-
ltion, thefts to the right Of us, thefts
4 front of us-even as hellish as when
ne robber enters by stealth the home Of
is unsuspecting victim.
Pleasure and domination have so
ulled the consciences OF men that it has
Imost become an axiom, Every man
as his price. To-day the church is de-
leted ofits manhood Why2 Ask men.
Conscience forbids us to ally ourselves
it'll the most sacred OF earth while we
re compelled to practice modern bust
ess methods. Unholy competition,
nsanctified greed that would compel
len, for their very existence, to cruelty
fresh Almighty God; commercial slav
y, which compels one firm to swerve
ON the straight road OF honesty, be-
Iuse, forsooth, others reap profit from
Ieir all too questionable career, doing
lto others as you, in suspicious mis-
Ealing, believe they would do unto you,
1t doing them first Even good men,
caring the wall OF babes at home, know
IT how to escape the swelling waive Ct
commercialism.
To-day even the little ones have their
ice. Examinations are stolen for the
ere bauble Of graduation. 0rations Z
ID essays are purloined for a fleeting :
me. Athletic fields have been turned :
to gambling dens that the more ven-