The Taney County republican. (Forsyth, Mo.) 1895-1992, 1914-07-09
This Country a Success

One hundred anf thlrty-eight years
ago to-day our sturdy iorefathers an
nounced that the thirteen colonies had
been forced to sever the ties that had
bound them to the mother country.
They proclaimed in an immortal
declaration the reasons that impelled
this action and likewise gave 10 the
world their views Of the source and
aims of ideal government. This dec
laration became the charter OF faith OF
the world's greatest nation, whether
measured by its material resources or
the achievements OF its people. The
wiseacres Of Europe were rather in
clined to smile at its fine rhetoric and
ridicule its theories. Democracy was
no new thing under the sun. 1t had
been weighed and found wanting in
other times and climes. Even after
the mother country had been forced
10 recognize the new nation independ-
ence, following a series Of defeats so
50 remarkable that even the victors
could only ascribe them to Providence,
the crucial test was not passed. Ex-
perience under the Articles Of Con
federation, aptly styled "a rope OF
sand" seemed 10 justify the predictions
Of foreign pessimists. II filed Wash
ington with gloomy forebodings and
he began a campaign which resulted
in the formation and adoption Of the
constitution Of the United States,
which Gladstone, nearly a century
later, pronounced THE most wonder
iul document ever struck at given
time from the brain and purpose Of
man"
Filled with compromises TO harmo-
nize the claShing opinions OF the
motley convention and to quiet the
jealousies Of the colonies, this consii-
tuition has, with but few notifications,
survived until the present day, a model
Of adaptability to the needs Of changing
conditions. Familiar with the pitfalls
Of direct democracy as revealed by the
history OF the Greek and Italian repub-
lies, the framers ol the constitution,
with a Saxon genius for government,
,dopted a representative form, with
frequent elections for the registration
ofthe popular will. Impatient theorists
still clamor for more direct government,
but they find little in our history to
support their contentious. While the
government has not always responded
like a weathervane to popular whims
and caprices, it has ever been con-
trolled by a definite, settled public
opinion.
The nation has steadily advanced
until it leads the world in wealth, in
its system Of transportation and trans.
mission, in its annual products Of farm,
mine and mill, in its dissemination OF
knowledge and in its religious and
philanthropic activities. It's public
debt is smaller than that OF any nation
even approaching it in size and popu
tion. The yoke OF taxation is easier
here than anywhere else on the globe.
II we had no statistics to show the
country's superior prosperity and the
distribution OF the same, the tide Of
immigration would be sufficient proof.
With all its defects, shortcomings,
excuses and inequalities, the United
States is not only the best country now
on earth, but history has never seen
its equal. Every American has a right
TO be proud Of it and should feel his
obligation TO be worthy OF the boon OF
its citizenship. The St. Louis Globe
Democrat, July 4th.