The Monte Vista journal., 1916-05-20

that they have deeper, more worthy appre-
cation of our American institutions than
the American born citizens have.
Sometimes l think that we ought to be
compelled to read such books as "The
Promised Land" and The Melting Pot"
in order to find out what these foreigners
are doing in the way of interpreting the
wealth of spirit that this nation contains,
the wealth of power for good that this
great nation possesses
These are some of the things that this
nation has stood for. We have carried on
the development of a great republic We
have had successful and broad foreign
policy. We have developed the spirit of
religious tolerance; our material successes
have placed us in the forefront of the
world. We have given women the most
enlightened freedom in history, and we
have done more than any other nation in
history in the way of assimilating a large
number of immigrants. 1t is these things
that the public school system ought to i'm
press indelibly on our memories and nflu-
ence us to preserve these things as long
as the nation stands.
l have spoken to you about historical
things l perhaps may be pardoned, be-
cause that is the field that l teach. l am
reminded, however, of a darkey preacher
who was always preaching on infant bap-
liked this perpetual text and sermon, so
they finally got together one day and said :
"See here, we would like to have you
preach about something else. You are al
ways preaching infant baptism" So the
parson said: "All right, l will see that
you get another kind of a sermon next
Sunday. l will give you another So
when Sunday came, he selected the text,
adam, where art thou" Brothers and
sisters, here is text that divides itself
naturally into four parts. First, every
man is somewhere; second, most people is
where they have got no business to be;
third, you better look out, or you will be
there yourself; fourth, infant baptism.
Now, each of these three first parts are
self-explanatory, and so I shall immediate
ly proceed to the consideration of the
fourth part, infant baptism" l am some
what like that darkey inasmuch as l can
not get away from the historical setting of
things.
1t is exceedingly important that we
never forget what this country stands for
but that is not the only important thing
that wish to bring out this evening. We
must not only not forget what our nation
stands for but we should exercise the
duties of citizenship. Our public schools
should train our future citizens always to
maintain the best interests of the nation
ence public opinion. 1t is said that it
takes as much energy and as much watch
fulness to preserve a great republic as 1t
does to establish it. 1t probably takes
more, because the original fervor of the
men that had to fight to establish a repub-
lie is gone. We take things for granted.
We imagine that this republic will run on
by itself, but that is not true. Almost
every day new problems arise, new ques-
tions come up, new phases of old ques-
tions constantly are presenting themselves
Then at the present time, we have some
much vexed questions before the consider
alton of this nation, and one of these ques-
tions is preparedness-nat prepared
ness Every newspaper and magazine has
had long editorials and numerous articles
stating the pros and con. There even
have been books published in favor of one
side or the other. Now, whatever the mer-
| It's of the policy of increasing our army
| and navy, whatever the interest of this ma
| ton so far as expending more money is
concerned, | wish to bring out one phase
| of this topic that has been mentioned with
| a good deal of importance, and that is
| this; that that nation is best prepared for
war that is best prepared for peace. But
| let us glance at it. This means that any
nation that is not making the most of its