The Richfield recorder. (Richfield, Idaho) 1909-1931, 1916-03-24
GOV. OF KAN
SAS TALKS
Delivers Address Before
the Grand Lodge

'Hoii oihieS anu HdFleS tndl we rear
most. The peril that threatens us.
very real and ever-present, lies not
in the cabinets of Europe but in the
hearts of our own people We can
more easily turn back the foreign in
vader than we can stifle the discon-
tent of large masses of people who
believe they are not receiving their
just deserts at the hands of society.
We can more easily escape the shot
and shell of Europe or Japan, than
we can escape the benumbing and
destructive effects of sloth and in
difference and cynicism on the part
of the people toward public affairs
and the public service. No enemy
can inflict upon us the utter ruin
that we can bring upon ourselves
by disloyalty to the American ideal.
| stood recently, on a summer night,
on Droadway-that great White Way
ahlaze with light and teeming witt
humanity. l saw stock brokers and
c erks. Il ;'ioraires and taeir ash
ers, women from homes of refine
ment and painted, brazen harlots
mingling in one wild debauch of ex-
travagance and license. | heard the
ribald songs and saw the suggestive |
dances; and l asked myself, 'Is this
America, the land of the Pilgrim
Fathers?"
And then in my minds eye | saw
the men and women who produced the |
wealth squandered with such profli-
gacy that night l saw men stripped
to the waist, in an inferno CT heat.
stoking furnaces in reeking holds of
ocean-going vessels. l saw miners dig
ging coal in tomb-like entry ways
the novels in which they
lived above ground. | saw men slav-
ing at great blast furnaces. l saw the
myriad workers in mills and factories.
| saw pailid, joyless women and chill
dren in sweat shops and cotton mills.
And instead of the hum of happy,
contented industry, Gods wages for
toll, seemed to hear the
ow rumblings of a mighty volcano
leaving with vast human misery, in
Justice and bitter discomfort.
| saw the schools of America-the
1ulwark of the nation-au1 ! saw
with dismay that their doors were
closed to nine out of ten of all the
II aP fhnu had |
acquired the mere rudiments of read
ng and writing.
l saw sane nation spending multi
Millions of dollars for alcoholic
thinks that ruin body, mind and soul.
saw thousands of harlots dragging
voung manhood and young woman
rood down to destruction. | saw the
,hurch earnestly but ineffective!y try
ng to turn back this great flood Of
'yil !
/ turned my eyes to the na olal
;apitol, to our state capitols and to
,ur municipalities. Almost every
where | saw strife and dissension,
and inefficiency and in
Inference, if not positive dishonesty.
And l turned from it all as from bad
lream and cried out to myself: This {
,annot be the America we love!" {
We should be craven if we look into
me another's faces here today and let .
,essimism cloud our meeting. In my
Ieepest heart, l believe America is :
he testing ground of democracy. /
,elieve that here is the place and I
now is the time for the highest de-
of humanity. Mankind has c
ver come up through difficulties, a
een both blessed and cursed by adj r
ersity. have the deepest confidence !
n the American spirit and the Amer
can people.
The world and all it's problems is
7here you touch elbows with it. This I
yorld is as much your world as it is +
nybody's. God holds you as respon- c
ible for it. If you would have it C
ood world and happy world, you 0
lust make it that If you would have
clean, a prosperous, a progressive
ommunity where you live, you must /,
elp make it so. II you would have
practical efficient, well administer a
d public service in township, county, h
tate and nation, instead OF slipshod. v
makeshift,- it is strictly
p to you to help get it.
/ believe this wicked war in Europe
ill bring new worldwide RESPONSE E
ilities to us as people; believe 7
lat in the cause Of humanity it will
s. America that will bind up the
orid back to peace, and it may be
ouf1ds Of the nations and lead the q