The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1916-03-03
the cloakrooms Of congress.
WOULD HEAR THE COMMON
PEOPLE,


PEOPLE,
q would a great deal rather know
what the men on the trains and by the
wayside and in the shops and on the
farms are thinking about and yearning
for than hear any OF the vociferous
proclamations Of policy which it is 50
easy to hear and so easy to read By
picking up any scraps of printed paper.
There is only one way to hear these
things. and that is constantly to go
back to the fountains of American
action.
Senator Harding was saying just
now that we ought to try when we are
a hundred million strong to act in the
same simplicity OF principle that our
forefathers acted in when we were 81
100000 strong l heard somebody say
that the present population Of the United
States is 100000. If there are g.
100000 thinking the same thing that that
100000 thought, tie 100000 would
be saved for an illustrous future They
were ready to stake everything for an
idea, and that idea was not expedlency,
but justice. And the infinite difficulty
of public affairs, gentlemen, is to square
the things you do by the not simple, but
complicated standards Of justice. JUS
tice has nothing to do with any
temporary standard whatever. 1t IS
roited and GROUNDED in the fundamental
instincts of humanity.
SHOULD KEEP OUT OF WAR.
America ought to keep out of this
war. She ought to keep out OF this war
at the sacrifice of everything except
this single thing upon which her char
acter and history are founded, her sense
OF humanity and justice. If she sac
rifces that. she has ceased to be Amer
ica she has ceased to entertain and to
love the traditions which have made us
proud to be Americans, and when we go
about seeking safety at the expense OF
humanity, then l for one will believe
that / have been mistaken in what
have conceived to be the spirit OF
American history
You never can tell your direction
except by long measurements. You
cannot establish a line by two posts;
you have got to have three at least to
know whether they are straight with
anything, and the longer your line the
more certain your measurement. There
is only one way in which to determine
how the future of the United States
is going to be projected and that is by
looking back and seeing which way the
lines ran which led up to the present
moment OF power and of opportuni-
ty"
AMERICAN ROLL OF HONOR.
The American roll of honor, the pres
ident said, consists only of the names
of men who have squared their conduct
by ideals of duty
"And l wish" he added, that when
ever an impulse to settle thing some
short ways tempts us we might close
the door and take down some old stories
of what American idealists and states
men did in the past and not let any coun-
sci in that does not sound in the au-
thentic voice Of American tradition
Then we shall be certain what the lines
of the future are because we shall know
we are steering by the lines Of the past
We shall know that no temporary con-
venience, no temporary eXpedlency, will
lead us either to be rash or to be cow
ardly. would be just as much
ashamed to be rash as l would to be
coward. valor is self-respecting. Valor
is circumspect. Valor strikes only when
it is right to strike Valor withholds
itself from all small implications and
entang(ements and waits for the great
opportunity when the sword will flash as
ii it carried the light OF heaven upon
its blade