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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (July 31, 1903)
I "fif'v trm tfirW"3F "7' Tbe JULY 81 19024, ims '! 5 M Mm na M nw M Ml fr THE COMMON PEOPLE o Snsech deltvsrsd by Lsuto F. Ft Fourth f July slssratlsfi t Fair view under thsauspfssssfffc Fnlr vlswJsfferssnCius. i v. i 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 m - Uiv4