Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1916-07-05

ant and happy effects, whether gener-
al or domestic, which have already,
and will forever continue to flow from
this suspicious epoch"
Referring to the reading Of the Dec
laratiOn of independence by Frank G.
Meyer, which had preceded, the ora
tor said, 1--WE have left the office, the
shop, the counting house and the farm
to join with a hundred million other
Americans in reaffirming every word
and syllable of that declaration. Citi-
zens Of a great, free and prosperous
country we have come hither to hon
or those men, our fathers, who at Lex
ington and Concord struck the first
blow in the struggle which made this
nation FREE"
Mr.. Burgess stated that the history
of the world is to be divided into three
periods, each of which had its ruling
idea. "The first" he said, 'was the
period of mutual struggle when men
fought with fellowmen for existence,
for life itself, and the keynote was
the survival of the fittest. One day
Moses travelled to the top of Mt. Sinai
and received the ten commandments,
the essence of which was thou shalt
not and we entered upon a second
period-the period Of negatiOn in
which man began to respect the rights
of fellowmen, as each pursued his own
life of selfish activity. The third per-
iod dawned when the Christ came
forth from Bethlehem preaching the
gospel of mutual help-the keynote OF
which was the brotherhood of man.
Love thy neighbOr as thyself,' he
said The new ideal was active, vital,
sustaining"
"The Declaration of Independence,
the cornerstone of our nationality,
was mans first attempt to introduce
the Iiberality of Christian principle in
to the framework of civil government;
it was a declaratiOn-nOt that all
Americans, all Englishmen, all French
men, were equal-but that all men
were equal, no matter where born, no
matter whether learned or ignorant,
rich or poor, black or white
Mr.. Burgess then traced the devel-
opment of the United States and the
coming to this country of the many
foreigners, who came to become Amer
leans, attracted by these principles.
He stated in this connection, ut is,
however, the immutable law of the
universe that no living thing can stand
still. 1t either grows or it dies. 1t
either increases or decreases. What
is true Of the individual is true OF the
nation. We must either advance or
fall back; we cannot stand still.
"While to-day" he said sis day OF
celebration and a day of national re-
ioicing. it should also be a day upon
which we should pause and take stock
of ourselves. All about are wars and
rumors of wars. Across the water is
the panoramic struggle of the nations
of Europe, the most desperate and san
culinary confiic. of all history. On our
southern border is the gravest OF cr1s-
es. A part of our standing army is
on foreign SOIL the remainder is
guarding the border, and our state
militia is modified to entrain for
Mexican service"
There is still the possibility" the
speaker said" that we may be involved
in conflict. If it is possible to escape
and retain our honor as nation let
us hope that such may be the outcome.
But if, on the other hand, there is no
honorable escape let us meet the de-
mands which will be made upon us as
every other generation of Americans
has met them"
The speaker then discussed pre-
paredness and said thaat there are only
two possible attitudes, one that we
should completely disarm and offer no
resistance to any foe, and the other
that we should plan an adequate de-
tense which should be efficient, in
stead of inefficient. He characterized
a lack of preparedness as a condition
which not only would not insure peace,