Weekly journal-miner., 1916-07-05

! ANA SOAt JOAih <lQdlAot DNhJd am
 lin, Roger Sherman and Robert Liv
 ingston were appointed committed | to draw up declaration of independ
 ence, that wonderful document, tn;
 preamble of which you all know.
 This famous document, a gem o ] literature, masterpiece of statesman
 ship, mighty stroke of force, com
 posed almost entirely by Thoma,
 Jefferson, was adopted unanimously
 on the Fourth of July, l776. The i'm portancc or this date to the United
 States is attested to by the fact that
 the day is celebrated, after 40 years
 as the greatest national day of each year. We shoot off fireworks, we
 wave flags, we sing "The Star Span
 gled Banner" and in many instances we even read the Declaration of In
 dependence, and as the years pass on forget the cost of our gift, forget the
 patriotism and love of liberty that
 was required of our forefathers to
 build for us a Declaration of Inde-
 pendence, forget the most manly, the
 most courageous, the bravest little
 band of men the world has ever
 known, and in the forgetting lose
 sight of our own sacred duty to this
 heritage.
 "Is there any romance of fiction which holds more thrills for the Am erican boy than the exploits of our
 sailors in the Revolutionary war?
 Look at olir navy under Esek Hop kins, little fleet of eight vessels, two of them ships, two of them brigs, and the other much smaller, manned by men who sprang from the loins of sturdy fishermen. The Fleet of Whaleboats,' the English officers called it in derisicn. Can you inn agine anything more audacious, more impertinent than for young leuten- ant, our own John Paul Jones, to hat.i up on inc masthead of one of the vessels of his fleet of whaieboats hag-a yellow flag with pine tree in the center and rattlcsnakc coilcd beneath its branches, inscribed; Don't Tread On Me This little fleet of whaleboats, mounting ll4 guns, went forth to confront a naval power of ll2 battleships with 37l4 guns and manned by sailors trained from youth in all the arts of warfare. And on the very day that the British evacuated Boston, John Paul Jones, now captain, with that historic rat tlesnake flag and floating above it not the Stars and Stripes but the Stripes with the Union Jack, entered the waters of Great Britain, and then it was seen that an American ship, under an American captain, manned by American seamen had the plucl; and the courage to push into foreign seas and beard the hon in his den.
 What do you suppose spurred these men on against such tremendous odds? It was the spirit and love of liberty which was to encircle the heavens burning in their breasts; that is what bred heroism, the courage, the patriotism for this infant coun- try. That was the heritage to their children, this State formed at awful | cost, and it was left to these heirs to uphold.
 When this old flag, its red stripes .ypifying the glory, the valor and the of the men who died that liberty might live, and the white chi 1lematic of purity of purpose was not as it should be, this coun ny arrayed in battle more heroes and 'ignaled another triumph for the Re public which is destined to sweep the and and the seas, and carry liberty and all the blessings ot rec government into benighted lands. This republic cannot stand still; il must move onward. From civiliza- ion it derives inestimable rights, tC ger it owes immeasurable duties, to hirk which would be cowardice and .crtain moral death The greater he power in the world of nations. tho rreater the responsibility, and no na- ion owes a greater duty to civiliza- ion than the United States there ore she must create and maintain he highest self-respect, and demand 'f the world the respect due tho -reatest nation in the world.
 This nation formed by the sacri- ice of human souls. and upheld for Iearly two centuries by the valor and croism of American patriots, is ours O have and ours to hold and to keep s free from dross as purest gold. We ave a sacred duty to perform for the nen whose gift of liberty we cele rate today We owe it to them tC laim the right of the American citi- en to travel on the high seas 1T afety: we owe 1t to them to protect \merican industries against despolia ion by alien warning powers: WIG we 1t to them to demand that Am rican laws be made and maintained rithout dictation and design by alien overs and that American principles e respected without insult, withou, uestion. We owe it to them to sec hat American citizens no matter