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JULY 81 19024,
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THE COMMON PEOPLE o
Snsech deltvsrsd by Lsuto F. Ft
Fourth f July slssratlsfi t Fair
view under thsauspfssssfffc Fnlr
vlswJsfferssnCius. i
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Rev. Harry Huntington, pastor oC tke Method
ist Episcopal chwrc at Normal, wtefl tho divine
blessing upon the assembly at tin aslsbration of
the Fourth of July at Fairrisw. The Invocation
follows:
"Let na bow our heads In prayer. Our Father,
who art In Heavso, hallowed be thy name, thy
kingdom corns, thy will be done on earth as It 1b
In Heaven. We thank Thee, our Father, that we
are permitted ts observe Independence Day. Wo
thank Thee for all that day means to us. We
thank Thee for ossr sturdy forefathers who assem
bled more than a ceatury and a Quarter 'ago to
day to declare in the name of God that we are, and
of right ought to be, free and independent people.
And wo pray today, In the name of Christ, that
we may continue to be a free and independent
people. Our Father, we believe that righteousness
exalte th a nation, and that sin is a reproach to any
people, therefore we pray that as a people we
may keep very close to God. We are proud of our
aatlon, proud of our sturdy pioneers, proud of the
men who sacrificed and died upon battle fields
that we might have our country. Wo are proud
of our American inetltationB. We are proud of
our broad fields, and our hills and mountains. But,
ou, Father, in our pride, will not Thou help ua
that we may be very humble, and may not forget
that a' nation cannot bo maintained upon wealth
and upon power atone, but that it must be estab
lished upon the hearts of tke people. Our Father,
we know that the lust of office some times kills,
and that the spoils of of&ce some times buys men.
Oh, God, give us men! Our time demands strong
-minds, great hearts, true faith and ready hands.
Men whom the lust of office cannot kill. Men
whom the spoils of office cannot buy. Men who
possess opinions and a will. Men who have honor.
Men who will not lie. Men who can stand before
a demagogue and scorn his treacherous flatteries
without winking. Tall men, sun-crowned, who live
Above the fog in public duty and in pri
vate" thinking. Our "Father, we pray Thy
blessing upon every American throughout the
length and breadth of our land. Bless our people
and let them truly be strong men and women, and
may we keep very close to the teachings of tho
Man of Galilee. We ask Thy blessing upon tho
president of these United States and upon every
official over our land, and as officers who have
taken tho data to do their duty in tho administra
tion of their office, may all our officers seek to
perform that duty rightly and honestly In the
sight of God. May we como to the place where
manhood is above office, where manhood is first,
and where wo all as an American people seek to
know and do the whole of our duty. We pray,
Heavenly Father, that this day may not be ob
served In a superficial celebration, and that people
may meet together today to do honor to the flag
and to tho heroes of tne past That they may
meet together to observe and consider the great
questions that interest us as a people, that we may
bo sober, honest-minded people. That we may
study the questions of our day in tho sight of
God as He would have us study it, and that we
may truly bo men and women.
"We ask Thy blessings upon us. all, in the
same of Jesus Christ. Amen."
Mr. Post was Introduced by Mr. Bryan and
spoke as follows:
Mr. Bryan, Ladies and Gentlemen: It is a
great pleasure and a great honor to be allowed to
participate in a Fourth of July celebration like
this, in such a place as this, and in suck company
as I find myself today.
But everybody In the United States does not
like the kind of celebration that Mr. Bryan is pro
posing as well as I do. Some days ago I asked a
gentleman if he was going to attend the Fourth
of July celebration at Mr. Bryan's place. "No,"
he answered, "I am tired of hearing Mr. Bryan
talk about equal rights and things of that kind."
(Laughter.) "But," I asked, "aren't you going to
attend a Fourth of July celebration anywhere?"
"Oh, yes, I suppose so," said ho; "I shall go to
seme place around home." "Don't you expect to
hear some speaker there?" "Of course I do."
"And don't you expect that speaker to say some
thing in favor of equal right?" "Oh, yes," he re
plied, "but I don't mind that; what makes me
4'forro Bryan is that he believes in it" (Laugh-
, tsr 'and; aMdause.)
vTlut mmmta tke real significance, ladies and
gentlemen, of this particular celebration at this
particular place. The men who are met hero do
bolleve in the irtteranoes that have been read from
this book today. They do believe, hi tho Declara
tion of Independence, They do believe, therefore,
in the efLual rights' of all men before the law.
That is the principle that we aro proposing, if I
understand it, to celebrate.
Wo are not celebrating merely tho birth of a
nation the birth of even so great a republic as
this. Why, it Isn't worth while to celebrate tho
birth of the nation simply because it is a nation.
Nations have been born and nations have died.
This nation was born a httle moro than a cen
tury ago. We cannot toll how soon it may pos
sibly die as the others have died. But tho prin
ciples upon which this nation was founded, those
firinciples of equality, those principles of justice,
hose principles of righteousness, they can never
die! (Voice: Amon. Applause.) And it is those
principles that wo are celebrating.
You have often heard men who claim to bo
patriotic say, "Our country, right or wrong." They
think that Is patriotism. But that is not patriot
ism. That is political idolatry, my friends. Think
of it a moment. Analyze it My country, right
or wrong! My state, right or wrong! My party,
right or wrong! My county, right or wrong! My
township, right or wrong! My family, right or
wrong! Myself, right or wrong! MB! (Laughter
and applause.) That is what it all comes down
to. (Applause.) It is nothing but magnified self
ishness, magnified, self-interest, magnified egotism
to stand for our country, right or wrong. Let
us stand for our country right, always; but never
for our country wrong. (Applairae.)
Why, the men who gave currency to this idea
of "Our country, right or wrong" who was he?
A naval officer. I have no doubt of his patriot
ism. What did he say? "I hope my country may
always be right; but as a naval officer, right or
wrong, my country!" Well, what has that to do
'with you as voters? Supposo a constablo that you
had elected to execute laws, not to make them,
suppose he should say, "I hope tho law may al
ways be just, but just or not, I shall execute It"
That Is all that that naval officer said. He never
meant to advise the American people, those who
have votes, that thoy with their votes should
stand for our country, wrong. For the constable,
the naval officer, the army officer, the man whose
business it is to execute tho law it is not for him
in that capacity to say whether the law is right or
not; but for you, and you, and you, every one of
you, you who have votes, IC is for you to sec to it
that you never call upon any of your officers,
from constable to admiral, from admiral to presi
dent, ever to execute an unjust law. Our country,
right! Not our country, right or wrong, but our
country, right! That is the position for voters to
take.
A similar principle applies to the flag. Now
don't imagine that I am a traitor if I say an
unusual word about tho flag. We have two flags.
There is that piece of bunting, a mere piece of
cloth. You can buy it anywhere for a few cents
or a few dollars; red stripes and white stripes,
blue field and white stars all of them. 'That is
simply a symbol, and if you bow down to worship
that piece of cloth you are a political idolater.
Unless you can look beyond tho cloth Itself, un
less when that cloth thrills you it thrills you with
a thought of the great patriotic truth the cloth
represents, you are no American patriot, you are
nothing but a pagan worshipping an idol.
And how often aro the people made to wor
ship that symbol in order to hide from them some1'
well, just let me tell you a story: Once upon a
time in an eastern town they got up a Washington
birthday celebration of the ordinary kind for the
school children,, and. they put a flag across the
back wall of the school house, and they had other
flag trimmings, and so forth, and they had an
orator who spoke about the great and good Wash
ington. He wanted to make, a little dramatic ef
fect in the course of his talk, so be suddenly
stopped and said, "My little boys and girls, do you
know why that flag is stretched across there?"
There was no answer. "What!" he exclaimed,
'don't you know why that flag is there today?"
A liTtle boy raised his hand and said, "I know."
"That's it" said the orator; "that's It; and now,
my little patriotic friend, why is that flag stretched
across there today?" "If you please, sir," piped
up the boy, "it's to hide the dirt on the wall!"
(Laughter.) Tho boy saw tbroagk it Yet I 'know
full-bearded men who don't see through It Yon
can kide dirt on tke wan fraa them, every tlss if
you atrotch the flag over It (Appmuee.) They
are worshipping a mere Idol, a symbol. Let as
honor tho flag for what It stands for, and not nwre
ly because It is out bunting.
I was asked if I would say a word today about
tho common people. The common pcoplo! Do you
know that that little story about the flag suggests
a great truth tnat runs through tho whole ids
of tho common people. It is the Judgment of ths
child In regard to natters of simple right and
wrong. The child of any intelligence at all will
pierco throngh all your hypocrisy. And thecte
seems to be something like Ue judgment of tfcst
child, like the spirit of tke child, not in one srtk
ular child perhaps, but In children generally, and.
in the children of larger growth a certain some
thing which whoa it la, expressed we call it pskllc
opinion. Now, public opinion is really tlic ex
pression of the spirit of tho couuaon people. Seo
how tho snn cosies throvgh the meshes of this
tent, with its heat and wltk Its liht It lights
up all in tho tent, and it warms it making it too
warm, possibly, for the sun's heat is like the great
lovo of God himself, we Bomctimcs have to get In
the shade or It will burn us up. Juat as tbo sun's
light and heat como down tnrough the tent irpon
us, in a similar way do the very love and wisdom
of God, infinite lovo and infinite wfoloro, come
pouring down upon mankind. He who win open wp
the windows of his mind and soul will rccelTe that
heat and that light, that love and that wisdom;
and tho great mass of tho common people, the un
privileged people, do open up the doors of their
hearts and minds, and. take in tbla heat and this
light, this love and this wisdom from the Infinite,
and so we got an effect that has been expressed
In the terms,. "Tho voice of the people is the voice
of God."
You may think of that perhaps as a mean
ingless phrase. But It Is not so. The voice of tk
pcoplo la tho voice of God speaking oat among
men. Tho voice of tho people is the voice of Gsd!
That is a trno saying. You can always anneal
Abraham Lincoln knew it and none knew it better
you can always appeal to the common people on
the basis of right When you touch a sassta sense
of right, or if you touch tho sense of riki of tk
mass of the pcoplo, the common people, ths x
prlvilcged people, you strike a chord which never
fails ultimately to respond. It Is true that tke
common people sometimes do fail to respond. It
is true that truth often loses battles. Bat trstk
never has and never will lose a wnr. Wkea the
common people understand, they always respond
to appeals for tho right We have bad tiki re
sponse how often have we had it! Oftsn enough,
it should seem, to convince those who tell m that
there Is no such thing as right, that there mst
at any rate be some such thing as wromettker ra
their own heads or in their own hearts.
There arc men who call themselves scientists
(God savo the mark) men who tell us that St is a
scientific fact that there is no such thing a uni
versal right, but that a thing that is right in one
place and at one time may be wrong at another
place and at another time; tkat liberty, tor in
stance, may be right in Nebraska, bwt wrong in
the Philippines. The idea of right thsy tsR ns Is
a myth. They call themselves scientists; they deal
with facts alone. I should call tkem fciasshmpssi
scientists. There is a story about one of that
class of scientist who had got it into his head
that grasshoppers hear throngh thefcr logs. Ha
wouldn't take this on faith. He took nothing on
faith. That would be gsperstitknis. He was go
ing to prove it So he got a grasshopper. He pnt
the grasshopper on the end of the table, and then
he went to the other end and tapped oa it and
the grasshopper jumped. "Ah, said he, "that in
dicates that my theory is true. The grasshopper's
legs heard this sound and up jumped the grass
hopper." But this was not conclusive. He had to
prove a negative. He had to prove that there was
no sense of hearing anywhere else in tke grans
hopper's anatomy. So he pulled off the legs of
the grasshopper and put him back in the same
place on the table, and then he tapped on the ta
ble, again, and behold the grasshopper didn't
jump! (Laughter.) So he said, this scientist said,
"Therefore," and he said It with as much logle
as distinguished social scientists sometimes
(Continnsd on Page 14J
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