Baraboo weekly news. [volume] (Baraboo, Wis.) 1912-197?, 1922-04-27
To Simplify
CODerEn7enE
Is Plea Made
BY o. D. Brandenburg

At Lancaster, Pa. exists one Of
the oldest. most active county his
torical societies in all America, with
regular monthly meetings at which
are read papers accurately preserva-
tive of facts, events and data of To-
cal import running back through the
centuries,-for, indeed, Lancaster, first
capital of Pennsylvania, is a city of
respected age and venerated legend.
1t fosters the marking of spots of
note in the community, revels in an
exhiierating outing by the country
side each summer, pays gentle atten-
ton to the neurology of it's own hon
Ored membership and with scrupu-
lous care consigns it's records to i'm
perishable print An unusual achieve
ment of one of its Jealous members
recently was the painstaking trans
cription of all legible inscriptions on
the stones in the ancient yard of St.
James church 200 years or more old,
all fading, many partially obliterated,
others vanished entirely. A like work
might well be done in every commun-
ity, thus producing a sort of "dooms-
day book" of American cemeteries,
so 70 speak. The ST James list is
now in the archives both of the Lam
caster society and of the Pennsylvania
State Historical Society.
The Lancaster Historical Society
is broadly patriotic, loyal and keenly
guardful of American institutions.
Many addresses given by its members
are worthy of widest attention and
their lessons OF nation wide appli-
cation; as for example those con-
tanned in a memorial address made
at the last meeting by H. Frank
Eshleman, who, speaking of DIR. Da-
vid Ramsey, a notable son of Lancas-
ter county, "the father of American
history" whose quality may be sens
ed in his sermon on tea" Just prior
to the Boston bay function, the bur-
den OF which was touch not, taste
not, handle not, for in the day thou
drinkest thereof thou shalt surely
die" DR.. Ramsay, the friend of Wash
ington and his biographer, felt that
next to our duty to our creator we
ought to regard our country, and
that every pupil should be taught that
he does not belong to himself but that
he is public property-this sentiment
as it echoes across the hundred years
and more since he died ought, MIR.
Eshelman argued, to be made espec-
tally to challenge our attention today.
Organized selfishness has it's grip on
us. 1t is an i'll omen. Individual self
ishness is directly opposed to the gen
cral welfare. just as unlimited indi-
vidual liberty would be destructive of
the real liberty of people. But when
our selfishness is organized into great
camps or national crafts, each group
the avowed enemy of another and
aiming to profit az the expense of an
other craft or at the expense of the
whole nation, we are altogether in a
more dangerous situation than we
think, The germ of disirtegration is
thus at the heart of things. not the
germ Of cohesion.
Evil of Classes
The mischievous gathering up into
classes, bound together for their sew
eral special interests, is dir
ectly opposed, as the essayist said, TO
the theory of our government. It
means that the general welfare as a
great object of our government, so
these groups feel that they are not
in the preamble of our con-
stitution, is not the wish nor purpose
Of great masses of our people. It
means that, honestly or dishonesty,
eceiving their share of that general