The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1919-05-01
OLE HANSON'S TRULY AMERICAN SPEECH AT
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE TODAY

| In his victory speech at the Cham
| Der OF Commerce at noon today Mayor
| Ole Hanson, the fighting mayor of
| Seattle, said. in relation to the V-1oan:
1t is with some feelings of diffidence that
! address You today, realizing I do that
there are many men more able and better
fitted to perform my task, However. our
government, your government and my gov
eminent, has requested me to journey from
the land of perpetual springtime, where
| the setting sun turns the Pacific's blue to
Eold, and travel turnout the land to assist
IN arousing the people of the United States
! to the necessity and stern duty of paving
! their debt of honor; bring forcibly to the
minds Of the people the fact that with the
great privileges enjoyed by every inhabi-
duties and obligations which must be met
and fulfilled by us all-or our privileges
! to be.
Every child. every man, every woman
| have always been taught their rights under
our constitution and our laws. but seldom
| have our duties been impressed upon us !;
and yet all our privileges, and all that is
| good and true in our government Surfing
| from the fact that somewhere some time
| in the past someone performed his full
uuty ana sacrIf1ced his all, in order that
free land
60 1t Tvs were well at this time. it seems to me;
| story, of our own beloved land.
Our COuntry's Birth.
Born at time when the world was in
| a ferment of war and oppression, when
freedom had all but ceased to be, our land
| came into being. destined to be the place
| where the problems of working out a per
rect liberty and freedom for all mankind
would be solved thru the orderly evolution
and development of ourselves and our sur
| roundings.
Our first settlers came to our eastern
| seaboard to escape oppression and poverty
and win freedom and prosperity They
we're willing to suffer: they were ready
| eventually war in order that we might
become free and self governed people
The Great Adventure of '76.
For this, the ancestral fathers embarked
upon the great adventure of 1176. They
spent time and lives and gold in order that
freedom might live: they won independ-
ence; they won freedom; they won liberty !;
| they won the battle of equal rights-and
| when the wounded and ragged soldiers
came back from that war to their people,
no patriot raised the cry, even in that time
OF poverty and distress, that the debt of
honor incurred in order to win that first
| great victory, should be repudiated.
No Reputation by Washington.
Can you imagine Washington or Adams
| or Franklin, or JefferSon-or even Aaron
Burr advocating Reputation? No. Honor
stood first then, as it must tSand first now
with all men and all nations, if they are
In just a few short years the call of 1912
went out and again our patriots met the
| issue and won the victory. Not one dollar
| of that debt was ever repudiated.
The Civil War
| A half century later the north and the
south met in bloody combat. Thousands
| laid down their lives in order that our
nation might live. The blood stained farms
of Shiloh; the Swamps of ChickahOminy
the trenches before Vicksburg: the battle
field of Gettysburg-aye, and many other
| names call to sad but glorious memory,
| the fierceness of the struggle and the dear
The south went home to a country
| where all wealth had been destroyed; all
| fields laid bare; all orderly processes Dis
| rupted. The northern victor returned to
| a land Overburdened with debt. necessitat-
| ing reimbursement and reconstruction, strip
ped of much of its manhood and great
| part of its wealth.
No Reputation of Civil War Costs.
Our united country did not hesitate; did
| not repudiate: but the folks at home from
| that day to this have willingly. cheerfully,
| lovingly paid the debt as far a it could to
| those men who died the field of battle,
or who came home with an empty sleeve,
| or sick unto death. after defending the
union. Our hearts glow when ere we see
the bronze button of the Grand Army. of
| can ever be worn by anyone. The purest
| gem from the diamond fields of Africa is
as nothing beside this symbol of patriotism
Vistory for the Union was costly. but
Lincoln before his passing, never spoke of
field; nor did Mckinley; nor did any other
| real American.
Four years ago a deadly struggle began
between the forces of liberty and light,
and the forces of autocracy and darkness
between the nations that stood for orderly
that stood for medieval oppression.
Our Nation Champion of People of World.
BY and by civilizations foe started a
career of murder and piracy on the nigh
seas. and ships and crews and passengers
| of neutral countries were destroyed. At
| last, even We could stand no more and
two years ago We declared war against IL
country which had been at war with us for
| many long, weary months. Military Ger
many crushing the very life out of the
civilized world. We entered the list as
l che of oil llo of fhO nFld
but also in defense of all the ideals our
| flag stands for.
A War by All for All.
The people of this country said to their
a few of us; this is for all of us.
Let the rich and the poor. the laborer and
the capitalist bear an equal share And
the draft law enacted and men of all
walks of life were chosen for each sep
arate undertaking. We believed that if it
was a privilege all men should enjoy it;
| if n duty. all men should share it-and the
result was, we gathered together the
men ever mustered under one flag in the
history of the world.
Il Test of Melting Pot.
For the first time in our nations history.
the great test of the melting pot was made.
The men called to war were not only the
descendants of the three million patriots
of 1776, but hundreds of thousands were
immigrants, or the descendants of fmmf-
grants Since 1920 alone, we have welcomed
to our country, approximately:
| 4,30G, 900 Irish.
4,00C. 600 Austrians. -
| 100000 Italians.
100000 Russians.
2.40G,000 English.
100000 Scandinayians.
500 600 Scotch.
The solidarity of our nation and the
| success of our republic depended. very
largely. upon these immigrants and their
sons and daughters
For over a century, students of history
had questioned the enduring quality OF our
government. They said that we were not
nation. but mass of unassimilated neo-