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About The Yamhill County reporter. (McMinnville, Or.) 1886-1904 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 18, 1899)
SUPPLEMENT.-August 18, 1899. Patriotic Welcome Address By Congressman Tongue. Mr. Chairman, Members of the Second Oregon, Ladies and Gentlemen: It is the imperative duty of every man to be a good citizen. He should devote a fair portion of his time, talents and means to uphold, elevate and defend his country, in peace or in war. This is es pecially true in a country like ours, where all the powers of government originate with, and should be controlled by the people. Government is for all, concerns all, and should be carried on by all the people. Our duties to our country should be as sacredly performed as our duties to our God or our families. He who does not serve his country well, does not perform his full duty to his God, his family, himself or his fellow men. Yet good men, men who are faithful to all the duties of private life, are in vastly greater numbers than good citizens who perform well their duties to the commonwealth. Those who respond properly to the demands of good citizen ship, are iusigniiicant in number, com pared with those who in all other re spects do their full duty as men. It the institutions of our country become en dangered, if the cause of freedom suffer if this republic ever descends from the proud position it now occupies.it will be because good men neglect to become good citizens Because those best litted fail to perform their public duties Few realize the magnificent privilege of Amer ican citizenship There is nothing to be compared with it in any other laud un der the sun. Ours without price, it has yet been purchased for us, enriched and preserved for us. by the blood of count less heroes, the tears of bereaved woman hood, ami the toil and suffering of tens of thousands of the best we breed. It has been rendered still more glorious by the courage and labor and sacrifice of the Second Oregon Infantry, officers ami privates. We are the heirs of centuries jf toil, suffering, ami nob'.e achieve ments The greatest evil that novi threatens our country, is the fact that thousands, yes, hundreds of thousands, year after year, enjoy all of these privi leges and make no return The welfare and happiness of every man, woman and child is dependent upon the honor of their country's flag, the quality of its laws, ami the proper administration of every department of its government. Our country preserves for us all that we have that makes life worth living. It protects property from the hand of vio lence, reputation from the tongue of slander, family honor from the invader of homes The eloquence of Demosthe nes, the music of Milton, the humanity of Shakespeare, the wisdom, devotion and patriotism of Lincoln, could not have flourished under the hand of tyran ny But to properly preserve and ad minister every department of a great government wisely and well, to enact and enforce good laws, and only good laws, to give to each citizen as much freedom of action as is consistent with public safety and the welfare of others, requires thought, toil, intelligent, patri otic devotion to the country's welfare. It requires the faithful conscientious per formance of his public duties by every citizen of the entire country. A govern ment like ours should be in fact, as well as in name, a government by the people, and by all the people. The man who shirks, who fails to do his part, is recre ant to a most sacred duty. The man who receives the blessings ami protection bestowed by a government like ours, and does not in return perform faithfully and conscientiously his own public duties, is taking something for nothing, some thing he has not earned, and is guilty of moral larceny. Yet there are men of wealth, the protection of whose persons an l property occupies the time of our courts, the watchful care and attention of our officers, the thought and labor of our legislators, the courage and suffering and lives of our soldiers, who never in their lives gave a moment’s thoughtful consideration to a single public duty. There are men of culture, educated at schools supported by the public, or by the endowment of patriotic men. who draw closely about them their robes of seif righteousness, and shrink from pub lic duties as something that might con taminate their immaculate purity, or darken the whiteness of their hands. But even this is not all. Not content with neglecting their own public and political duties, they stimulate and en courage others to equal guilt with them selves They point the finger of scorn at those whose public duties are well and faithfully done. They’ proclaim that politics are unclean, that public men are coarse, selfish politicians; that voters are corrupt. This is a vile, damnable slander upon many men who are infinitely their superiors. But if true, at whose door lies the blame? It in the politics of some of our great cities the saloon counts for more than the church and the brothel for more than leaders of society, proclaim it to the everlasting sliame of the church and society. If politics are unclean, there is greater cause for good men to be up and doing, more active and earnest and sincere in the discharge of their duty. There is no nobler call ing, no more sacred duty than to assist in the enactment of good laws, in the w ise, beneficent administration of a great government. It is to be in harmony with deity. It is to help God govern the world in righteousness Intelligent and moral men in the United States are vastly in the majority. If bad men con trol our government, it is because good men consent, and by their sufferance and neglect become particeps criminis Governments must be carried on, officers must be elected, laws must be enacted, national policies must be outlined and national history will l.e made If good men will not do these things, bad men will. But bad men will elect bad offi cers, pass bad laws and make bad histo ry. Writers and educators sometimes imagine they are doing their full public duty because engaged in diffusing gen eral intelligence am! advancing tie edu cation of the masses of our citizens. It is said that the safety and welfare of tile state, the perpetuity of free institutions and especially of government by the peopie. is in the general intelligence of its citizens This is a statement of oiiiy one-half the tiuth. Intelligence of the voter is e.-sential to the preservation of free institut ons, but it must be intelli gent acting, not intelligent onlooking. Intelligence and thoughtfulness alone did not win a g orious victory at Mala- bon, but action, terrible and effective action. Intelligence must be wielded and directed to the object to be accom plished. When Greece and Rome were tottering to their fall, through all t ie period of decay there was more scienc , more art, more literature, more elo quence, culture, refinement and wealth than in the days of their greatness. The highest poetic gifts will not make a great surgeon The most profound knowledge of theology and the intric acv of the va rious creeds will not win great battles. It was not the knowledge of theology that made Chaplain Gilbert the darling of his regiment, and the idol of all Ore gon. It was that practical Christianity that could fight as well as pray; that could share tue i.anger of the boys un der his charge, quench their thirst in battle, relieve the suffering of the wound ed, as well as administer consolation to the dying To be able to walk among the stars at w ill, and to the mus'c of the spheres intelligently listen, would count but little in drafting laws for the repres sion of the trusts, or the government of the Philippine islands. The intelligence that will and must be the safety of the republic is a ciear, thorough and consci entious conception of the principles of good government, and intelligent under standing of the many public questions that are constantly arising, the tenden cies. principles and aims of political parties, of the legislation needed for the welfare of the country, the best methods of administration of government, of meting out justice and preserving liber ty, added to willingness to act upon the knowledge conscientiously obtained. Every voter after careful and earnest thought ami conscientious investigation should decide for himself which political party, if entrusted with power, will deal with pending questions for the best in terests of the common country. Having done this, he should attend every prima ry and every convention of his party to which he is eligible, should see that good men are nominated for official position, should endeavor to keep his party true to its principles and conduct it to suc cess. The voter who neglects to attend the primaries without cause should not vote. A failure to vote without cause should be a crime. But it is not suffici ent to inform himself and act for him self. lie should do all in ills power to enlighten others and induce them to help the cause of good government. The vote of the tramp counts for as much as the college president. It is the duty of the college president to enlighten the tramp, and endeavor to sae that his vote is for good government. It is no answer to say, this is not agreeable. It was not agreeable for these soldiers to lace death for you. The man who does only agree able duties is devoid of high impulse or upright moral character. He has none of the material out of which patriots are made. If our republic should fail, it will be through the negligence, not the badness of its citizens Because men of wealth, intelligence, culture and busi ness ability are indifferent to the dis charge of their public duties. I do not expect the republic to fail, on the con trary I expect it to advance higher and higher and nearer the sun, but 1 do ex pect that an awakened and enlightened public conscience will scourge men out of this indifference and compel them to discharge their public as well as their private duties. Turning from this subject and from the contemplation of men who receive much from their country, and give noth ing in return, it is a pleasure, one of the sweetest pleasures m my life, and of yours, to welcome a baud of men, who have done more than their public duties like heroes and patriots. Men who, re ceiving little from the commonwealth have offered to lay down their lives for it; who have not only discharged their own public duties, but yours and mine, and tnose of a hundred thousand men who remained at home, while they went to the front Of tile average citizen tl.e commonwealth requires but little of his thought, or time, or labor, and this lit tle is often denied But these young the summit of the Rocky mountains westward, and established it firmly and by ail'undisputed title along the shores of the Pacific. It is fitting that other Ore gonians, largely their descendants, should have a leading part in extending that boundary still further west, and be yond the wildest dream of their pioneer ancestors. When they left us, their country was the leading nation of the smallest and youngest continent. They have placed it in the first rank of the nations of all the earth. Then our state was obscure ; its name or location was scarcely known to half the inhabitants of our own country. On my way east two years ago, a gentleman from New York upon learning that I was from Or egon, wanted to know what part of New York that was. He will nut ask that question again These boys have in scribed the name of our young state so gloriously, and in such brilliant letters, and so high on tile temple of fame, that even the destroying hand of time cannot efface it. Give them a royal welcome ! Why should we not? Who could help it? Why should no. the woods and hills, the mountains and valleys ring with it? For their return tile very birds will sing diviner and more inspiring songs. The breezes that cool their levered cheeks and bring renewed strength and health, tl.e brooks and streams as they ripple to the sea, will catch new inspiration., and attune their voice to diviner melodies in their rejoicing at the return of these brave boys. How tae veterans of old wars are wel coming tnese boys. How their old hearts thrill w ith patriotic pride and joy to find that the sons are worthy of the sires How they rejoice that the lessons they taugilt and tae examples they set on the plains of Mexico, ill the wilds of early Oregon, at Gettysburg, Shiloh and Vicks burg have not been lost upon the present generation; that tile flag saved from dis honor by the fathers has been rendered glorious in two hemispheres by the valor of the sons. It is a maxim of old world monarchs that the king never dies. These boys have helped to prove that under the stars and stripesand upon soil dedicated to freedom, patriotism, hero ism and love of country never die When the old veteran feels the d.-atll damp gather upon his brow, takes from its resting place the old sword he wielded so valiantly in defence of his country, he knows now that he can entrust it to hands that will not dishonor it; that wili not desert or surrender it; that will not wield it except in tile cause of freedom, and will return it to its scabbard only when victory lias wreathed the banner of tae free. How they with us rejoiced at the achievement of our brave soldier boys, llow the hearts of these veterans swelled with more than ordinary pride, as with defiant shcut the young soldiers CAI’T. H. S. MALONEY. men, on the threshold of their lives, took life, limb and happiness, all they have or are, or hope to tie, and placed all on the altar of our common country. When this gallant band of men left their homes and loved ones a few short months ago, they left behind them the western boundary of the United States. To this boundary they have never returned. But they extended it westward, beyond Ha waii, beyond the Ladrones, beyond Ma nila, to the farthest island of the Phil ippine group, and there, thanks to their valor, it will remain until the destiny of this republic has been fulfilled. A little over 50 years ago, the only de fined and recognized western boundary of the United States was far to the east of us. A hand of as brave men and women as ever lived, Oregon pioneers and Indian war veterans, dragged it irotn charged across the open fields, faced the fire of an entrenched foe, and planted the stars and stripes upon the fortifica tions of a defeated enemy. If in this state there is anywhere a man who be cause of their achievements and their work, because of Massin, Bulaca Bridge. San Isidro, Calumpit and Malabon, is not prouder of the state that sent them forth, and which they have so honored; prouder of the nation for which they struggled and suffered, who is not a bet ter man and citizen, more devoted to his country and humanity for their glorious achievement, bring forth the millstone, hang it about his neck and cast him into the sea. To use the language of an obi poet : “Breathes there a man with •out wo dead, Who never to himself hath said,” These heroes are our own,