Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1915-03-18

freshman looks upon his family ne tho
unit of society. He has no use FOR III.
vorcc and believes that Institution nm
dermncs tho very foundation OF our gov
eminent The Irish people who hovo
distributed themselves throughout .be
United states have not been u,tb,u,
their faults but they possess tho,,
stcadicr virtues of character which
make for good citizenship. The Irish
man has exhibited genius for yovern-
ment, as exhibited by the fact that M
sooner did he land in the United States
than he Immediately took out his citizen.
ship papers, enrolled in one of ,be
political parties and began the exercise
of his elective franchise as soon nc
possible. He has been so active that
nowadays we frequently hear the plai,.
tive murmur that the country is ruled
by the Irish and those Of us who 1.-Two
i'm the large cities know that tbero 60
an element of truth in the compl.ipt
This should be considered a tributc a,
their sagacity and prowess. because the
Declaration of independence and the In,
solutions that have deveoped under
it provide and preserve equal political
competition to all who live under tn.
stars and stripes.
In conclusion the speaker said.
II want to say to you, that all honor
is due to the Irish for the part tbov
are taking in the control and manage
ment of our institutions. They are to
be honorcd because they have ont
stripped other nationalities in the
race. But they are to be honored the
more because they were handicapped
at the start when the cmiprants
came to this country from abroad
Irish. German, French, English and
Spansh--all Of them except alone the
Irish had had some experience in gov
eminent. The irish alone of all that
complex aggregation. started in to
discharge the duties of citizenship
without any experience in government
tai matters, whatever In their little
island home they had been for CEN
turtles, political scrfs. ruled over BIZ
foreigners and excluded from every
political right. When they came over
here and took up the duties Of citizen
ship in America, they knew no more
about the arts Of government and the
principles of statesmanship than the
remote backwoodsman knows Of the
with this handicap in the race for DO
litical recognition, they have in less
than century overtaken and out
stripped the others to such an extent
that now we hear the plaintive muir
muir that the Irish have taken entire
control of our ship of state. AS mar
Vicious and as praiseworthy as the rise
of the backwoods rail splitter to the
presidency of the United states had
been the rise and progress OF the Irish
from position Of political sorfdom
to tn" guardianship of liberty ana po-
litical right This is genius since it
can be accounted for adequately in no
other way
I'm the review Of the Irish character
which have made have not sought
to hide their weaknesses or excuse their
follieS ! have. however tried to
show that the virtues and ideals pos
Sessed by the Irish people in America
have contributed greatly towards the
stability Of our institutions and stand
to day as the bulwark against the crude
and primitive political conceptions Of
'ertain iconoclasts in our midst.
Ut is customary. know, on occasions
like the present one, for the speaker TO
rail- at the conditions which caused the
nXodus from the Emerald island in the
Forties, fifties and sixties. It is Gus
aston like this to express himself with
bitterness toward England and her OPP
,ressivc laws ! am, however, not in
with that view. who can
say that the Irish may not have been
he "a frIl in, I,,,, ,f
lence to check throughout the world
HE advance of ideas which if unchcck-
ID would undermine alike the institute
ions of civil liberty and the mag
lficent structure of Christian civiliza-
ion
The little child unfamiliar with the
'irclc Of the seasons sees the grains Of
'Orn planted in the spring and thinks
hem wasted. The tiny kernels. he
links are left to rot in mother earth.
|ut with the autumnal days come the
golden harvest and the planted kerr
lels are multiplied an hundred fold
The farmer who sees in his imagination
he waving fields OF yellow corn even
rs he buries the tiny seeds within the
around, smiles at the sorrowing child
vho thinks them lost forever.
"MNSterious are the ways of ProVi-
ience. only Il narrow are of the circle
If Gods perfect plan comes within the
ange of our feeble vision. We live for
'ur own generation, but God lives
through all generations. His seasons
,re not the spring, summer, autumn and
winter. but generations and generations.
~ the psalmst says; Thou turnest
man to destruction and sayest, return