Evening star., 1921-07-04
The American Beginning.

The American 0eSAAAAA6'
,, One hundred and forty-five years ago
today a group Of American coionists
/ assembled at Philadelphia signed u
paper that was to become one OF the
. momentous documents in the history
' of the world. 1t was their "deciara-
!: ton of independence" 1t was the be-
y ginning of a movement for freedom
= from British rule. following a series OF
ID. efforts to reform conditions tha'
had become intolerable. In their ex-
pression Of principles. however. theS
IS declared for more than American IN
. dependence They wrote charter Tor
> all peoples striving to be free. which
inspired others and set goal for ma
= tionalistic aspirations throughout the
, world.
!. In celebrating Independence day. the
; anniversary Of the great act OF declara'
. ton, the American people have not
ALWAYS recalled in full the significance
= of the occasion. Sometimes they have
remembered only the exaltation of the
:, founders of the republic in their en-
: thusiasm of proclamation. Sometimes
again they have remembered the sac
.rifices that were required to make that
declaration an accomplished 1act.
=, Sometimes they have remembered the
: reactions that from time to time nave
:. followed from the high principles that
were thus eloquently expressed. Now
% Ill of nearly
a. century and a half. and especially IN
= the light of the events of the last
five years. they should bear in mind
the whole story of nation making. with
its setbacks and failures and triumphs.
: 1t is the fashion among some today
= to belittle the Declaration of lndepend'
sence as d meaningless document, as d
mere gesture which those who framed
and signed it did not intend to be fol-
lowed with deeds. Nothing is more
false Nor is it true that in the essen
tials the evolution Of the United States
has departed from the ideal that was
In that paper given expression. Those
who signed the declaration knew per-
fectly we'll that they could not create
a nation by mere stroke Of the pen
and were aware Of the tremendous diff
ficulties ahead. not merely those OF
liberation. but those Of construction
. and organization. They knew that they
:, were but taking the first step and that
in the long journey there would be de-
partures from the straight path.
Those who signed the declaration
had, Of course, no preconception OF the
great state which they were in that
act creating. Their vision did not
carry them beyond the Alleghenies.
They had no concept then Of the vast
+. empire stretching to the Pacific. over
which the same flag should fly in the
course of far less than a century. They
had no thought of the more than 100,-
900. 900 of people bound together in
continental unit of single government.
They had no dream of the wealth of
:. resources that would be developed. Of
the trade that would be created, Of the
great Industrial power that would be
produced. They could not foresee the
. grave issues that would arise within
the nation. to be solved by bloody con-
flict. They could not conceive Ameri-
can participation in the mightiest of
wars of history in a foreign land.
= It was we'll that they did not foresee
these things or they might have
e., shrunk from the responsibility they
assumed July 4, 1776. They then in
voked power beyond their full COM
prehension. 1t Is for us today to ac-
cept the evolution Of the 145 years as
a gift. to make the best Of our chance
at self government. to solve in the
, wisest way the problems that arise.
; problems that are so simple in them
selves compared with that which the
signers so bravely attacked in 1875
that the doubters and the shirkers and
the pessimists and the schemers Of to-
day should be ashamed of their fears.