Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1925-04-20

United States which, for 1873 years,
has given US as a people the best
government which the world has
known. Let us also remember the
solemn warning Of George Washing
ton in his farewell address:
Toward the preservation Of your
government and the permanency Of
your present happy state, 1t Is requi-
site not only that you steadily dis
countenance irregular opposition to
it's acknowledged authority, but also
that You resist with care the spirit
of innovation upon its principles,
however specious tho pretexts. One
method of assault may be to effect
in the forms of the Constitution al
terations which will impair the en-
ergy of the system and thus to I'M
dermine what cannot be directly
overthrown.'
But there Is one other beacon
light which still shines in this coun-
try and of which We may we'll speak
in New England in the Old North
church-the beacon light Of the old
New England character. Great as
We are as a people, immense and di-
versified as is our population, enor-
! nous as Is our national wealth, seri-
Gus as have been the inroads upon
the old standards of discipline up
held in the daily life of our forebears,
amplified and complex as are our
problems when compared to those of
the days Of Paul Revere. we may
we'll lift our eyes to that old beacon
light and all the more SO because
the American people, measured in
history, Is yet a young people with
their character still in the making.
1--WE know what the power of the
American people is and what it will
grow to be. We know our great
wealth and what it will grow to be.
We know the material achievements
which are ours and which still lie
before us. But of that incomparably
more important thing, the composite
moral character Of the coming gen.
erations of our people, we can but
guess.
History brings US example after
example of a people who. in suffer-
ing and adversely. by self discipline,
frugality and industry have raised
themselves to a position of wealth
and material prosperity, only to be
destroyed because their character
could not stand that ultimate and
crucial test which advancement in
wealth and material things always
brings. And so today in the United
States. above all matters Of business
and material advancement, the one
thought which should be uppermost
in the minds of us all is: What of
our character? 1t is this alone
which counts in the long run.
What man, no matter how great
has been his power and success,
does not realize it in those last days
OF life when, before his failing sight
appears the darkness of the shadow
of the valley? The ebbing away of
blood in the human body has no
more marked a relation to it's well
fare than the disintegration of char
acter has upon a people. In the COM
ing century American civilization
must meet its highest test-the test
OF whether or not it has followed
those beacon lights of personal char
acter which our New England fore
bears lifted on high for the guidance
of our people. AS they carried out
in their daily life the principles of
national conduct for which they
stood - self-denial. cleanliness of
mind and the subordination of indi-
vldual interest when opposed to the
common good, and helped to give us
this self-governing republic. so we
or today, to preserve it and our free
dom and happiness, must not only
treasure in our hearts and conscience
es the sense Of duty to our God and
our country. but exemplify it in our
daily life as a people.