Show now HOW NATIONS tho the florida ulion prints an old decree issued by xing PHILIP I 1 IV of spain to count DE GAT captain general ot of now naw ordering and providing funds for the building of 0 the old seawall sea wall that still exists at st augustine fla the decree Is dated at al madrid september 30 1601 that announcement no sets onn one to thinking at that time spain bad nearly nil all of south america contra centra america mexico florida and california it had the to create the mightiest inight lest empire that tho the world had ever seen been at the time cun con invaded mexico and pIzA invaded porn ceru in valor endurance and determination no people on earth wore were cupo superior alor to the Spanish possibly Poa sibly had bad nothing been found but some omo lands on oil which the ordinary fruits of 0 tho the earth would grow that sterling strength might havo have been left to the people and the tha spaniards might have done as well in the south as the english did la in the north of tha now world Thomen tho men who bottled in now Is ew england went want with the determination to worship GOD their own way tile the war cry of 0 tho the men who sot set and peru was the conversion of 0 tho the world to the belief of 0 holy mother church in tho the northern climate men had bad to work every day in tho the year to make inako a living in tho the south lands a little work was sufficient and the mines of the precious metals created abnormal fortunes those these wore were carried to old spain and a reign of extravagance succeeded in tho the new kew world feasts and holy days acro multiplied the climate had bad its effect on the people and they speedily became loafers the priests became corrupt a dry rot succeeded which meant national decay thus from old spain wout went province after province and tho the people who threw oft off the yoke bolog belog governed by no fixed principles in private life as a role were unfit to govern themselves them selve and tho the whole region now from the mexican line to patagonia with the single exception of argentine gent loc is peopled by a race raca four our of which are not civilized with all their opportunities they failed with such it a chance tor for the establishment lish ment of schools and tho the bull building dlag up M of a highly empire they failed either tho the climate demoralized thoin thern or ortho tha wealth that came to the few and which under spanish laws loft nothing to the many or the degro depredation dation of a fanaticism which was eu gendered engendered by false priests and which gave dispensations in full atonement for a who aholo lescaro score of vices and crimes or something else also had bad its effect certain it Is that looking back at the english race and the spanish race i the t tsuio 11 a of the discovery of this country it la Is clear that it if tho the common oba observer orver had been informed of what the two different nations would find in the new world ho be would bavo predicted that at tho the orid ord of 0 00 years tho the sout southern bern country would own all the now world and dominate both the old and new kow worlds world if there la is any lesson out of it all B 1 I it is that thoung the great moving spring of commercio com merco and ot of enlightenment lit in hands bands Is money still groat great to alth given to it a weak people or to lo a people under tyrannical rulo rule through all the wealth is mado to gravitate to tho the few ew will ond end lit in tho the destruction desi ruction of the iho race it is questionable whether the Amori american cats people ari are any stronger tha werft were tho the spanish people rn koplo at the almo that started out on his expedition tion certainly no do moro more magalie magnificent valor was over displayed than ahil ahat of when on tho the shores shares ot of tho the gulf of 0 mexico ho he burned his bis ships and turned bis lace face to the conquest ot of a land the hie extent ot of which or the opposition which would bo be employed against him almi were utterly unknown avd trusting only to his valor plunged into that wilderness confident conn donl in his ability and in ill tile the courage of 0 his bis followers what ho he intended we wa have more money than spain in all hir bor glory had bad wo we have before us balbo the opportunity to become not only the iho greatest nation of ni modern cidern but tile greatest groa nation that tho the has ever soon seen but if wo we ever forget the fact that what a man has bis in this thin world ho he must earn it if wo we continue to worship woney until marriage becomes simply a matter of barter it wo we permit laws to tavor favor ciora slid more tho the rich and to draw closer and closer the tolls around the poor door then it will not bo be long ions until in will go out ont ol of the homos of the people and our decline and fall will be more pitiful than was that of the nation that mado made the most striking conquests in tho the now kow world and which drew most mosi from tile the treasure chambers where the gold and hilver of a continent were hidden away money Is a magnificent agent of 0 good la in the ho hands of a great people it makes make all things possible to them as long as they hold it as a slave to do their work but when other rodi are aio sot sol aside and tho the money god alono alone Is and when mon men and women are am rated not by what but bat bank account and when that gets gela to be ba among a people then money becomes an engine of destruction no io nation has over ever been ablo able to stand up before it no nation ever will so front from tills this little item copied above which aliola abowd that thai only years ago spain was atrium ever two thirds of tills this continent but now has harlost lost its power we can see sea what awaits our ration nation unless our people prove to bo be groat enough to accept the gifts which are theirs and to make a satisfactory accounting tor for thorn them |