Omaha daily bee., 1919-06-29
Views and Reviews
Hon. Our Immortal Dec
lUrotiOn Is Preserved

Hon. Our Immortal Dec
laration Is Preserved
The signing of the peace treaty is at
epochal act in history with which it is difficu
to draw comparisons. The original instrument
with the autographs of the signatories attached
will obviously acquire value in the estimation
| of present and future generations which no one
can measure. The only document that can be
mentioned in the same way--to us even more
| precious-is our own Declaration of indie.
| pendence, which asserted to the world our right
to liberty and democracy, to maintain which
we have just fought the fight over again.
| The story of the Declaration of Indepen-
dence is told in most interesting volume com
piled by Nebraska man, Capt. William H
| Michael, who had it in his custody while he
| was chief clerk of the State department during
the Mckinley and Roosevelt administrations.
Our Declaration OF independence is sup
posed to have beeen signed on the Fourth OF
July, according to the account of it by Thomas
Jefferson, but in fact the journal shows that
no one signed it that evening except Mr.. Han
COCK and Mr.. Thompson, who signed it as
president and secretary of the congress. The
declaration was ordered engrossed on parch-
ment by resolution adopted July Is, to be
signed thereafter by every member of congress.
1t was so engrossed and on August the sig
natures were attached, and the first celebration
OF the event was on Thursday, August 8, when
it was read in the safe house grounds by John
Nixon to a large gathering, OF people. Under
Secretary for the Department of Foreign AT
fairs to take charge of all records, books and
papers, the declaration was deposited in that
department, whose title was changed few
months later to THE Department of State" in
whose custody it has since been. From l841 to
1871 the document was in the patent office as
part OF the Department of States left there be-
cause Its buildings were fire proof
The Declaration, SO Mr.. Michael's book tells
US, is on parchment, and the paper shows dis
tlnctive signs of cracking, probably due more
to injury. done in the process of making a
roe. than to time or the little handling or
Earring the document has received In 1894 it
was hemetically sealed in a frame and placed
in steel cabinet with the original signed copy
OF the constitution where it has since beer
kept under lock and seal, and is no longer
OF the secretary of state.
l have been reading H. G. Wells new book.
called The Undying Fire" which is discussion
IN dialogue form Of the fundamentals of the
universe, of life, of death, of religion-in the
light OF new values fixed by the war. There
is much in it that is suggestive much that will
evoke dissent and protest, no cry definite con-
clHslons. What strikes as the best in the
book from literary standpoint is the satire he
pours>over the faddists who communicate with
the spirit world. If the vernacuar may be
pardoned, "he doesn't do thing to them" The
thrusts are so keen and pointed that | want to
quote these few passages which he places in the
mouth OF self-mportant and generally blatant
war prohteer cast in the role of school trustee:
II have been greatly impressed by the
writings of two thoroughly scientific men,
Dr Conan Doyle and Sir Oliver Lodge. Ever
since she lost her younger sister early in life
Lady Burrows has followed up this interest
1t has been a great consolation to her And
the point is, as Sir Oliver insists in that won
derfu book Raymond that continued exist
ence in another world is as proven now as the
atomic theory in chemistry. 1t is not mat
ter of faith, but knowledge. The partition is
preached at last. We are in communication
News is coming through Scientific certainty"
We have already evidences and descrip-
tons OF the life into which shall pass. Re
member, this is no idle talk no deception by
scientific man who publishes these records; it
is great French philosopher no less man
than that wonderful thinker%and how he
thinks!-Professor Bergson, who counsel1ed
their publication. A glory of science and a
glory Of philosophy combine to reassure us.
We walk at last upon path of fact into that
further world We know already much. We
know, for example, that those who have passed
over to that higher plane have bodies still.
That | ound-comforting Without that
one would feel bleak. But, the messages say,
the internal organs are constituted differently.
Naturally. AS one would have expected. The
dietary IS, gather, practically nonresident.
Needless. As the outline is the same the
space is, presume, used for other purposes
Some sort of astral storage. They do not
bleed. An interesting fact Lady Burrows
sister is now practically bloodless. And her
teetf-she had lost several she suffered
greatly with her teeth--her teeth have all
been replaced-a beautiful set. Used now
only for artculate speech"
I'VE know details of the passage, we
stance that people blown to pieces take some
little time to reconstitute. There is CORE
lation between this corruptble body and the
spirit body that replaces it. There is sort
of spirit doctor over there, very helpful in
such cases. And burnt bodies, too, are a
the coarseness of sex is gone. The passions
fade in that better world. Every passion.
Even the habit of smoking and the craving
for alcohol fade. Not at first. The newly
dead will sometimes ask for cigar. They
are given cigars, higher..pane cigars and they
born there. Nothing of that sort That, it is
very important to understand. Here is the
place of birth; this is where lives begin This
coarse little planet is the seed-bed of life.
When it has served its purpose and populated
those higher planes, then indeed it may
seed-case that has served its purpose, matter
ing nothing. These are the thoughts, the
comforting and beautiful thoughts, that re-
ceve the endorsement of our highest scien-
tifc and philosophical intelligences"
Of course Wells is no scientist nor phoso-
pher-he is only writer of fantastic fiction, but
he sometimes hits the target just the same
If the approaching convention to revise the
Nebraska state constitution produces closer
reading of that document, lot of things will