Montana labor news., 1950-07-20

Montana 1"
,sossenoenr PRINTERS - .urt. ~osTA"A
..ro.JR SCORE AND SEVEN YEARS
How should know the Gettysburg Address
.,ranoer here mysef-just got IN from Nncaeo' III
~. ~ !, talk given by George Washington at the END d
the wal.
Lincoln gave it to free the slaves.
III wa. a political talk
=, "a a debate with Douglas
-. nadr a, the end OF the Civil War. some
where around 1917.
Ths it will be just four score and seven years smse
ms co. md aline President made the few appropriate re-
marks asked Of him at Gettysburg
The date was November l9, 1868. t was 10 nave 81 -
,oh.r - but Edward Everett required the extra weeks 10
o j. ,~obour Grafton that preceded Lincoln immortal,
40 minutes. The President. invited IS an aHer'noue"' "'
but a fraction of a crowded two weeks t get reauS'
The people they say, were disappointd.
.ao..;hl. that Lincoln. today. might be disappointed IN
n. people. For the words that have been engraved IN so''
and marble are something less than inde''D'e IN . ""a
Is len cities recently surveyed rightly represent the ha'o"'
more than seven million aoul's nave
s;,,..n : cent of those who have heard of it cannot identity
the speaker. Fityf -four per cent m wrong aoou ms oNNa"
Cu..,e. about the exact date cover 10 years
On;n;ons Of what the talk was about range from the wen.n-
forn.d - many like those listed at the beginning OF this "eoge
Thirty six per cent can repeat the fist me o' >" 49,
- cent even pretend to know most OF the address,
a.. th;,o that does not suffer from age IS ruth, ana LIN
coin. message has as much meaning today as it had o. years
W.. sn, live in a nation conceived in Liberty, and ded'
cated to the proposition that all mel are created equal
l. !. more than ever questionable whether any nation, 50
conceived. and so dedicated, can long endure
Never before have governments OF the Peopei :. ~
neonle. for the people persisted SC rapidly from the ear.h'
And never, many believe. has it been 50 vital that ts
nation. under God, shall have a new birth OF reeao"'
Il 4. not likely that our freedom, bought at such a pr'ce IN
da.,h and suffering. can be lightly wrested from us.
But i may dribble away. drop by unnohced drop wh'e
we are busy rolling our own smah logs
Two hundred Gfty-six organizations support lobbies IN wssh-
inston today, There ae lono,es , ,1' ,h n townsend Plan. 70,
Displaced Persons, for Railroads. Tor waterways 'o' - -
But a study Of the list does not show any 'oDpy y ''
United States Of America. !.
There ought to be one-the greatest pressure group IN his
,orv-with every one Of our TO-, 900, OOO adult Amef'can
! members. each pledged to put the country gooo nee .
n.r.onal profit or group gain, each refusing to have his think
mo done for him and delivered like the morning mail
For there can be no real public opinion without PrVa'
thinking. and there can o. ~ ha'o'' ~
What in it for mep'
this country is to have a new birth OF freedom
will not commence with committees and councils W"
develop by resolution Or proclamation
/, u;n star, quietly across the land in the hearts OF men an
others have been willing to die for may be worth some eiio'
10 preserve.
Ii will begin with some very small thing, as small perhaps
the III words Of the Gettysburg Address
snnnose-to celebrate its eighty seventh brthday-al
Is memorized it again. Most Of US knew it once
And while we were memorizing it, suppose we took time
think about its meaning. about the character or me ma
who gave il, about the hope it holds against the fearful bcE
ground of its giving. ,f
1t might help free US from lazy cynicism, from spiritual s'i
lessness from our dangerous habit OF leaving everything u
10 q non-exntent them" 1t might even lead to the ne
b;rth Of freedom that Lincoln prayed tor.
1t is with that hope that the Gettysburg Address IS r.
printed here:
-Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought tort
n hi, continent, a new nation, conceived IN Liberty an
dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal;
Now we are engaged in a great civil war. testing wheth'
-. nat,or nv n nation. s. conceived, n s O OlCd ID
LONG endure. We are met here on a great battlefield OF that wa
We have come to dedicate a portion OF 1t as a final resting Pla'
n, those who here gave their lives that that nation might Inv
Ii i. altogether fitting and proper that we should do tins.
But in a larger sense w can not dedicate-we can not col
.~crate-we can not halow this ground. The brave me-
living and dead. who struggled here, have consecrated it II
above u poor power to add or deract. The world will hit
OF nor long remember. what we say here, but can new
FORGET what they did here. 1t is for us. the living, rather
H.. dedicated here to the unfinished work which they hav
thu. far so nobly carried on. 1t is rather tor us to be he
dedicated to the great task remaining before us-that fro
,h... honored dead we take increased devotion to that cau
for which they here gave the last full measure OF devotion
that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have die
n vain: that this nation, under God. shall have a new birth
freedom: and that this government of the people, by the PeoPl
for the people shall not perish from the earth.