Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1917-03-08
MARSHALL HAS
FAITH IN NATION
Vice President Gives Creed of
Patriotism.
GODS HAND IN GOVERNMENT
OIVinely Ordained to Show Whether
Men Are Fitted to Rule Them
seIVes-CalIs Service High
est Award.

washington March 6.-Vice Press.
, dent Marshall made his second imam.
guraI address before the senate-a
! statement of his creed of citizenship
under a government for which. he said
Il ought to be willing to live or to
die, as God decrees that it may not
: perish off the earth through treachery
within or through assault from with
out" The address follows:
custom calls for the utterance of
a few words upon this occasion: other
wise l would gladly remain silent. It
may not be inappropriate to express
my gratitude for the little nameIess,
unnumbered and ofttimes unremem-
.DereG acts of courtesy and charity
shown to me by the members of this
body during the last four years; to ex-
press my regret over the vanishing
faces OF those who are leaving and
welcome those who in a few moments
are to become our cOwOrkers in the
cause of constitutional freedom
Service Is Highest Reward.
Everywhere in America are CLAIMANT
and strident voices proclaiming the
essential elements of patriotism. He
who seeks out of them all to select
one clear note of love for country may
fail. | conceive it to be far more i'm
portant to examine myself than tC
cross-eXamine another. May I make
bold to insert in the Record some ele.
ments Of the creed which [ have
adopted in this period of retrospec.
ton and introspection? 1t does not
embrace what I know, but holds part
of what | believe.
Il have faith that this government
of ours was diyineIy ordained to dis
close whether men are by nature fitted
or can by education be made fit for
self-gOyernment; to teach Jew and
Greek, bOndman and free alike, the
essential equality of all men before
the law and to be tender and true to
humanity everywhere and under all
circumstances; to reveal that service
is the highest reward of life. / cannot
believe otherwise when l read the
words and recall the sacrifices of the
rule of government. then Washington
wrought and Lincoln died in vain.
81 believe that the world, now ad-
vancing and now retreating, is never
theless moving forward to a far-off
divine event wherein the tongues of
Babel will again be bleH led in the Ian
guage of a common brotherhood; and
[ believe that l can reach the highest
ideal Of my tradition and my lineage
as an American-aS a man, as citi-
zen and as a public OfficaI-When /
judge my fellow men without malice
and with charity, when I worry more
about my own motives and conduct |
and less about the motives and con !
duct of others. The time l am liable !
to be wholly wrong is when I know
that I am absolutely right. II an in
dividualiStic republic | am the unit |
of patriotism, and if I keep myself |
keyed in unison with the music of the |
Union, my fellow men viii catch the |
note and fall into time ana step,
81 believe there is no finer form of /
government than the one under which |
we live, and that I ought to be willing
TO live or to die, as God DEGREES, that j
It may not perish from off the earth |
through treachery within or through |
assault from without; and l believe
that though my first right is to be a /
partisan, that my first duty, Whcn the
only principles on which free govern {
ment can rest are being strained, is .
to be a patriot and 10 follow ~ d will |
derness of words that clear call which T.
bids me guard ana defend the ark of /
our national covenant"