Fergus County Democrat., 1916-06-15
THE STARS AND STRIPES FLOAT
Continued from Page One.)

Continued from Page One.)
clanking chains upon our feet for hav
ing said that kings right to govern
never came from God; had our lands I
heen cnnfiscated because we claimed /
the right to read the Scriptures: had /
we been eXiled from our native shores
for having said that the people should
rule themselves, we then would more
deeply realize what this starry banner
means to all who stand beneath its
folds.
Way back in the vanished years,
when huts We're palaces Of honest
thought, when rags We're soldiers
robes Of glory, when gallant men Went
barefoot in winters snow to keep this
emblem in the air our daddes fought.
! through hope and fear. through pov-
erty and despair, to determine wheth-
| er men We're men or seryile slaves.
Beneath this sacred flag our fathers
! fought, that thrones might crunble,
and princes, mobiles. dukes and lords
| become mere memories of a fading
rast; that royalty and brutal caste
might perish from the earth; that
men of merit brains and honest
thought might be raised from the com
/ mon ranks to the loftiest offices with
| in the gift Of the people. wise and just,
powerful and free: that everv man
should be the owner of himself, tnat
mothers and babes might never more
be sold upon the auction block, und
that every citizen should have a vote
on every law: and SO they wrote
across these shining stars, Govern
ments derive their Just powers from
The consent of the government
They eontended also that fear
should vanish from tie mind; that all
should have the ght to think and ex'
press their thoughts upon every ques-
tion that hatred for one who holds
an honest thought might fade forever
from the heart, and reaeon reign in
every brain; they knew that by that
right the greatest progress il every
life could be achieved, the best results
could be obtained in nations great
career and the peoples liberties be
best secured to themselves and to
their children's children through all
the years; and so again they wrote
across these stars. Tree thought, free
speech to every one beneath this flag. :
2 They knew that "all men are born
, free and equal in legal rights; that
: he who labors with hand or brain
should have the product of his toll,
, that he who honestly acquires prop
ertv should have the right to own it.;
5 that no person should be convicted OF
any offense upon false charges and
false testimony, and every person ac'
4 cused Of crime should have an impair
:, tial trial in the sacred halls Of JUS
tice; and so again they wrote across
n this banner, mo person shall be de
prived Of life, liberty or property with
out due process of law
a With holy hands they deeply carved
j. these shining truths upon the fouu
dation stones OF this republic, ant
{ for them fought and suffered ani
: hoped, through dreary months ant
weary years, through desolation an
disease. through WEAKNESS, want an'
e war, until this proud banner floate'
over our beloved land at last, the lido
of all free men, the hope OF the tollln
millions across the seas,
These are the principles that III
crowned kings upon this contlnen
ana placed all political power in tn
0 hands OF this proud people; the pri
GlfltS our Utilities leil US " lo'o'SA y
eorget; the doctrines they left to b
! cherished in our daily lives and by a
t. the children of men in the silver
dawn of the years to be: principle
sacred alike to our patriots living an
z to the memories of all our heroes i
II snnken graves upon our silent battle
fields.
e These are the doctrines that Lii
c coin loved, and for which he gave hi
life: Lincoln, the plain, the mercifu
the logical and profound; Lncoii
q whose justice was as gentle as III
dawn; Lincoln, whose love of countr
e was deeper. than the seas; LincolI
: whose strange career, from poor BIO
to president-ruler of the noblest n;
/ ton that time has ever known-su
V prised this world. His illustrlou
deeds grow grander as the years GID
swiftly by and his gentle name is born
on every ocean wave that touches 10
eign shores
Free Discussion.
Just in the ratio that we live thes
doctrines will our great nation be pr
v served. They were not given US
hold as phantom dreams. Our du'
is, and our pleasure ought to be,
IS 1--we what they mean For instanc
:. our daddies gave us free speech, III
- to slander and malign our neighbor
y not to persecute and destroy thos
- who honestly differ from us in OPP
ion. but TO freely discuss the que
tions OF the hour, that We might o