The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1921-01-19

description. however brief, of the dec
laration of rights or tie form of gov
eminent of your constitution. The sui
stance of its provisions is well know
to all. 1t constitutes a noble structur
supporting free government, diffusin
the blessings of the most enlightene
civilization, representative of the bes
spirit of an American commonwealth
funetioning as a republic, with a simpl
dignity, passing the pomp of kings.
The Dominant Idea in Vermont Con
stitution.
THAT which was represented in tn
establishment, support and perpetual
ton of the institutions of Vermont, i
the development in its purest form o
the theory of the equality and SOW
ereignty of the people, in principle the
ultimate condition, toward which it has
long been our contention the whole hui
man race is tending. The superlative
fact for us is that when there was a
people ready to adopt and cherish such
institutions there were those ready to
propose them. 1t has been SO through.
out all human experience and, while
it is phenomena, the reason for which
is partly shrouded in mystery, in and
of itself it lends a sanction to the in
stitutions of government and society,
as they have existed in the past or ex-
list now, not on the assumption that
they are perfect or have been perfect,
but that they were and are the best
that human conditions at that time
could produce, and that they are work
ing toward perfection.
"The results of this position are two
fold 1t lays on society first, the neces-
sity in behalf of the general welfare of
supporting and defending our insttu-
tions and, in the second place, of striving
diligently for their practical improve
ment The ground for optimism lies not
in the fact of past or present perfec-
ton, but in the hope and belief that
progress has been made and will be
made, in spite of many calamities, aud
many seeming disasters, which at pres
ent appear inscrutable to the under
standing of finite beings
"The soundness of this position | be-
lieve is demonstrated by history, and
the justification of those institutions,
so typically American, here 50 resolute-
ly adopted in the beginnings of this
state, and ever since so stoutly main
tanned, if made at ALL will be made out
Of the knowledge of past human expert.
ence. 1t is this which eminently
iustiies the study Of history and the
OF historical societies II is
by an understanding and comprehen-
sion of the past that we judge of the
present and the future.
Study the Past But Appreciate the
Present.
History is to be studied and APP
1lied not for the purpose of advocating |
'eaction 1t is not the accurately in. !
'ormed who continually appeal to the
rood old times TO the disparagement of (
he present, That is Characteristic of I
hose who substitute fable and hazy |
for fact and reliable record /
True history which includes all the rec
'rds of the past, however obtained and (.
wherever recorded, whether made upon
he surface of the earth by the cease
css shifting of air and water, or trans
nitted by written signs on tablet and
parchment, or through oral repetition
landed down from sire to son, or that
most indelible of records, the accumu-
ated experience of generation after
eneration moulded into the brain of