The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1921-08-02
HARDING ASSERTS RIGHT OF FREE
 PEOPLE TO LEAD

| | than that which history records. | Hand of man alone did not build
 what was builded here; it was but
 the visible sign, the human symbol, | of a purpose which we may not un-
 derStand, but for whose benehcence
 all men must give tribute Of praise
 and voice undying gratitude. We may
 speculate and conjecture, we may
 seek to frame laws of human Fela- l tionship by which to-account for such
 results as here have been wroughts
 but at last we will have to recognize | that they are not for us to explain | Even Cromwell, in his great lead
 ership, failed to understand He spoke
 contenptuously of those whom he ac- i cuSed of running away from the
 struggle at home.
 There has never lived a genera | tion of men possessing such wealth of historic materoials. such capacity for candid analysis such broad ex- perience to guide them in right de- termination, the generation to has been none which confronted more 1 complex and difficult problems. | Therefore, like to commend study of historic materials such capacity | sweep of modern affairs. It teaches us that sometimes schism may lead l to true solidarity that division may | mean multiplication.
 | Tho community of free people of l our race whether in Europe or l America. in Africa or Australia, un- der the northern or the southern skies-whether held together by po- | ntica1 ties or by Mhe yet more potent bonds of common traditions ,1nst1tu- tions language and blood-this com
 of the history which began here at
 Jamest own and Plymouth were | founded
 God, it has come triumphantly through it's determining ordeal It comes forth from that test, nerved ! and heartened for further tacks, con tfident, assured, reliant None ques- tions either it's place or its right of | leadership; few doubt it's destiny to establish under that divine guudance
 which it has ever Tecognazed t1le splendid structure of human broth erhood in peace and understanding | The perspectives of history are not safely to be judged save from
 the loftiest peaks of human eAp
 We stand today before the un- known but we look to the future with
 confidence unshaken There IS no Just as these Pilgrim Fathers
 drew together toward ample com
 munity authority to make phe natloe
 and still preserve the freedom oI l guard against the supreme centrah- | cation of power at home and the superstate for the world More, we
 must combat the menace tsa4 tba III eate e1e ] must support the people, for Just governm is merely the guaranty to the people of the right and oppor- | tunity of that people to supporL Themselves. The one outstanding danger of today is the tendency to turn to Washington for the things
 which are the tasks or the duties or the forty-eight commonWeaHhs ms | which constitute the nation. HaV1ng | wrought the nation as the central | power of preservation and defense let us preserve it so
 A new hope looms today We are slowly but very surely recovering l from the wastes and sorrows and ut
 ter disarrangements of a catacIys1nah | war. Peace is beginning Its new as l surances; and pentltent realization and insistent conscience will preserve | that peace. Our faith is hrmer that l wars causes may be min1rn1zed, ana largely diminished And these, too, | without surrender of the nationality
 which has inspired or the good con science which has defended. The in
 ternationa1 prospect is more than
 promising and the distress and de
 pression at home are symptomat!c or early recovery. Solvent financially, sound economically, unrivahed in
 genius, unexceIIed in industry, reso-
 lute in determination and unwaver1ng 2
 in faith. these United States will
 carry on
 In the story of three hundred
 
 the agonies of yesterday, there is our
 staff for the burdens of today, there is our assurance for the trials of to- morrow The civilization of today,
 the status of mankind, has been | reached by many routes. We have approximated the common vision
 the united purpose, the one supreme l aim. We note the divisions of the
 past, the parting paths, the claShlng
 ambitions, the misguided efforts, and we see all of them bringing men
 together and urging understanding,
 suggesting larger purpose. There IS no fit temple for man amid eternal rivalries, enmities, hatreds, strife and warfare. But in the concord of | brotherhood and understanding, we may approach the state which God | must have meant for those created in his own image
 Here was the early dedication to re ligious liberty and political freedom. It was a sublime gift to posterity- We can not better express our reverence today than by sweeping aside the CT
 TOTS, the failures, the disappoint- ments the betrayals of our day, and plant here for all America and all the world, the standards of highest jus Il tice and real human brotherhood. This would add to the volume of re- joicing on earth and give echo to the
 heavens of the nobfer aspiration of united mankind. It would dim no here, but would set the world aglow with new hopes, new confidence, and ; new exaltation.
 Eel H.