University of Wisconsin Superior - Gitche Gumee Yearbook (Superior, WI)

Page 26 text:

GIT CHE GUM EE MILWA. X KEE THE DESTINY OF OUR REPUBLIC HENRY N. DELCUM VERY age in the history of civilization is marked by great nations, every great nation by great achievements; but loyal Americans arc happy in believing that no nation has ever had a greater mission, a greater manifest destiny, than our own. The Pilgrim Fathers gave up their homes and friends to seek their fortunes in a new world, firmly believing that this was the Land of Promise. As they embarked with Bibles in their hands, they raised their voices in prayer to God, and repeated his promise unto Abraham: “Get thee out from thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will show thee, and I will make of thee a great nation; and in thee shall all the families on earth be blessed.” Three hundred years have passed since the landing of the Pilgrims, and today we behold the fulfillment of that promise. Here in the heart of a continent has been built a nation so prosperous and powerful that millions arc annually attracted to its shores; a land so rich in resources and so bountiful in harvest that it is termed the granary of the world; a land teeming with the industries and enterprises of ninety millions of intelligent human beings. Such is the home of our republic. Born out of the revolt of free spirits against arbitrary authority, consciously founded on the principles of justice and liberty—on the inalienable rights of man— our nation is without precedent in history. Its birth is the most significant world-event of modern times; for from this event dates the institution of free government— “government of the people, by the people, and for the people.” Never has a nation been founded on higher principles than those embodied by our forefathers in the declaration that “all men arc created equal, and arc endowed by the Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these arc life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights governments are instituted among men.” Here we have the fundamental basis of our whole structure of government. On it rests all our social and economic progress, our very national existence. The liberation of the Colonics from British subjection was but the initial step toward the formation of a union. The grave task of welding into one, thirteen isolated and independent states, representing as many different ideals and economic interests, seemed so stupendous, so impossible, that even Jefferson despaired of its accomplishment. But through the same self-sacrificing spirit of loyalty to a common cause which had characterized the struggle for independence, a consolidation into one compact whole was finally achieved under a constitution that Gladstone pronounced “the greatest political instrument ever struck off at a given time by the brain and purpose of man.” A stable foundation once laid, there followed that era of remarkable growth and development—the era of territorial expansion—a time PAGE TWENTY-FOUR

Page 25 text:

of the right to work for whom he will nnd for what he will, or the denial of the right of an employer to hire any man for what he is willing to accept. These arc the actions of labor unions that are forcing them upon our attention. We can not stand idly by and say, These are not of mine, they do not concern me.” Every citizen who cares for the welfare of his country ought to be concerned, and every citizen who wishes to live in lawful peace with an unburned roof over his head and with life sustaining food on his table, must be concerned. If the conditions of war which have existed in Colorado, New York, Pennsylvania, and other states, on account of labor troubles, were spread throughout every state in the Union, living in this country would not only be unsafe but intolerable. These, then, arc the conditions that confront us today as a result of the disregard of the 'rights and liberties of man as given him by the law. Such is the problem presented by a system which has tried to establish class lines. Any institution which tries to establish caste in this country is attempting to check the current of our industrial progress. But No!” says the labor agitator, we will arise and by sheer force of numbers control the government in the interest of the proletariat 1” What does this mean? Class rule! The end of equality 1 The end of justice! The worst of all despotism, the despotism of an unrestrained and irresponsible majority. The beginning of rule by class greed and class hatred. The destruction of property rights and the end of social order. History can tell us what will follow. The rule of the strong hand. After the Revolution—Napoleon. The time will come when the relations between employers and the employed will be better, more humane, more Christian, than they are today. The coming of that time will not be hastened by legislation nor by whimsical administrative spasms. It is only through the great public that we can hope to obtain the solution. No institution can withstand the just condemnation of mankind. A wave of reform which has recently spread through the political world is most encouraging. Let us extend this reform to the industrial world. When the new spirit has changed the heart of the wage-earner; when workingmen resort to argument instead of clubs; when they learn to know the law and respect it—then will our prosperity increase; then will the rights of man under the law be respected; then will our wage-earners get their rightful share of the privileges and the opportunities of American life. G Il'C HE GUM EE PACE TWENTY-THREE

Page 27 text:

(luring which our nation grew from a mere strip of land bordering the Atlantic to its present vast area. Even the sea did not check its growth. Alaska has since been added; and, of late, Porto Rico and Cuba, Hawaii and the Philippines have also come under the protecting banner of our republic. The truest proofs of our nation’s greatness arc to he found, not in its rapid territorial expansion, but in the work it has accomplished for humanity. History records no other nation that has done more to emancipate mankind from ignorance and superstitition, and to deliver the weak from the tyranny and oppression of the strong. No sooner had it freed itself from foreign despotism and established its own independence, than it became the liberator of other peoples. Its support made possible the establishment of the South American republics. Its righteous indignation expelled the last vestige of Spanish cruelty from Porto Rico and Cuba. Its statesmanship prevented the dismemberment of China, at the close of the Boxer rebellion. When all other nations held aloof, its friendly intervention enabled Russia and Japan to bring to a close the most terrible war of recent times. These are the achievements that justify our claim to greatness. This has not been achieved without heroic effort. Nowhere has there been a more loyal, a more truly self-sacrificing people, who have braved more tempest to preserve their freedom and their inalienable rights as men. In the course of its brief history our nation has encountered many difficulties; but its loyal citizens have ever been prompt to respond, and after every struggle it has emerged a more confident and united nation. Through eternal vigilance and unswerving loyalty to principles of justice, it has attained the crest of the highest wave of enlightenment, and become the most prosperous and powerful of nations. With such a glorious past, what is to be the future of our republic? History records many great nations that have left little or no trace of their existence. Assyria, Persia, Egypt, and many other nations, famous in their day as leaders in the world’s progress, arc today little more than names. Of Greece and all her glory, what is left us save ruins? Even Rome, the greatest of them all, has perished. We reap the fruits of her toil. We have her laws, her art, her literature; but Rome herself is no more. What caused her destruction? Foreign invasions? The hordes of the northern barbarians? No; Rome, and Rome alone, was the cause of her own downfall! Has the inglorious fate of these great nations no lesson to teach us? Shall we not heed their timely warning? We, too, arc threatened, not by invading enemies, but by that mightier and more insidious foe which worked the ruin of so many proud empires. Shall our nation, too, crumble through the corruption and decay of her own people? “Tell me what your young men of twenty are thinking about,” says Goethe, “and I will tell you the future of your state.” Upon the earnest purpose of our people depends the future welfare of our republic. As the character of the aggregate is determined by the character of its units, so the wisdom of our nation is determined by the wisdom of every individual citizen within its borders. If our nation is to continue its great work for humanity, its people must be as true to its ideals as were those who responded to her call in past crises. If we arc true to our country’s call, our nation will not falter in its mission; but if we become corrupt and indifferent to the voice of duty, our nation must meet the inevitable fate. The future security of our nation depends upon our ability to solve her problems. One that most directly concerns her destiny is the problem of immigration. We have become a cosmopolitan people, not alone in nationality, but in ideals. Every incoming GIT CUE GUMEE PAGE TWENTY-FIVE