OCR Text |
Show ceun of OfT Salt Lake Council Joins in Nation-wide Tribute to Country's Father. SPEAKERS LAUD HERO John B. McGauran of Denver Den-ver Reveres Revolution- ! j ary Chief in Address. Coincident with the nation -wide commemoration com-memoration of the 185th anniversary of the birthday of George Washington given in the leading cities of the United Unit-ed States, under the auspices of the fourth decree assembly of the Knights of Columbus, the Salt Lake council of the Knights celebrated the oeasion last night with a patriotic address delivered by John B. McGauran, United States sureyor general of Colorado. William II. Leary, dean of the law school of the University of Utah, explained ex-plained that the object of the meeting was to promote and foster good fellowship fellow-ship and the spirit of true patriotism. Dean Leary then introduced as chairman chair-man for the evening United States Senator-elect William H. King, who paid a glowing tribute to the meraorv of "The Father of His Country" by extolling his character as being one of the noblest in all history. "America Among Nations." Senator King affirmed with all the intensity of patriotic fervor that Washington Wash-ington was the protagonist of a peace which will encompass all the nations and peoples of earth; that the dav is coming when all nations would be bound together in the bonds of peace -with ' one God, one Gospel, and one baptism.' bap-tism.' When the enthusiastic applause had subsided. Senator King introduced as speaker of the evening Mr. McGauran, who addressed his hearers on the subject sub-ject of "America Among the Nations.": His speech, which was ably and inter- , estingly given, is in part as follows: Wisdom of Washington. At this time, when dangers theaten us and temptations greater than ever he fore assail us, it is well that we nifet to celebrate Washington's day. We find inspiration in his example; we learn wisdom from his advice and it is on occasions such as this that we are reminded of the ideals for which Washington and the fathers of the revolution st rived. It is 11n years since- George Washington Wash-ington passed into the silent land-One land-One hundred and eighty-five years ago he was born. We meet here as millions mil-lions are meeting in every town and hamlet of this country honoring ourselves our-selves by doing reverence to his memory. mem-ory. Not alone to us who are Americans, Ameri-cans, but to men and women everywhere every-where and throughout a'l time Washington Wash-ington personifies an idea as old as truth -an idea that was never realized so completely and over so wide an area until he established it with his sword. What is that idea? I need not tell an American audience that it is government by consent which Washington Wash-ington and the revolutionary fathers substituted for government by force. Memory Revered. We revere the memory of Washington Washing-ton not as hero. nor soldier, nor I statesman, nor sage, but as one who i combined all of these within himself, j and stands out on the page of history as the captain of a. revolution that was j fraught with greater consequences as affecting the liberty and the welfare 1 of mankind than all the wars that had ! been fought since Charles Martel wrested the scepter from the Saracen. j The American revolution, unlike the -wars of rival dynasties and contending contend-ing states, was no petty struggle over the ambitions of men or the imaginary glories of deluded nations. Far nobler. ; f-tr higher, were Its purposes and its ' aspiration. ! Cornwallis's Surrender. ! We lay our tribute of affection on the grave of the soldier who upheld the American principle of government by consent of the governed from the first great act of the drama of the revolution at Boston through the dan- j gers of retreat, in the midst of disasters disas-ters that appalled the stoutest hearts, i tht revived the drooping spirit of his ; TH.ZG.ed s"ldiers, and reanimated the j ' starving colonists at Germantown and Brandywine, at Lonsr Island and in the cruel winter at Valley Forge, or In deeds of valor that cave new courage to the struggling colonists as at Trenton Tren-ton and Monmouth and Princeton until un-til at last, after seven long years of almost hopeless struggle, the bravery, the dogged persistence, the unyielding courage and the superb genius of the military commander were rewarded when young freedom reared her head in triumph as Corn wal lis laid down his sword at Yorktown. Our Guiding Chart. We love the statesman that, heedless heed-less of faction and misunderstandings a.nd rivalries and petty jealousies and party hates, guided the young republic repub-lic in the days of its infancy, when European despotisms glanced a.cross ihe Atlantic with envious eyes, vain-lv vain-lv hoping to see the experiment of free government wrecked and shattered shat-tered in the dismembered fragments of conflicting states and sectional resentments. re-sentments. We stand in respectful awe as we contemplate the phllosposer whose prudence and wisdom are our inheritance. inheri-tance. His farewell address is the chart that has guided us for mora than a hundred years. Tt is still the most famous and influential piece of advice in the history of our country, coun-try, imparted as he was about to retire re-tire from public life, after he ha1 guided the revolting colonies and tho young republic for almost a quarter of a century. Why do we admire him? Not for his learning, nor brilliancy of intellect, intel-lect, nor for his physical bravery on the field of battle, nor his genius as a military leader, nor hit talents, nor even the remarkable prudence which he. displayed in the dark inyp. that tried men s souls; not for any nor all these, but for the splendid moral courage that made him a ("libra 1 tar of strength in the council as In the field, w-bfn he withstood the temptations that come to all who have been elevated ele-vated to authority and power. Other men have been brave, other man have had Renins. But it was the distinguishing characteristic char-acteristic of Washington that his ambition am-bition soared into the higher realm of human conduct, where moral courage cour-age triumphs over the weakness and vanity of self, as well as over the t yranny of mobs or the flattery of kin-s. fie inspires us "with a higher devotion de-votion and a nobler ideal of patriot patri-ot ism than the world had generally known before he unsheathe! his F.,;iiii!eps sword. Wr-jt is that ideal? It 3a th American principle that is expressed in the Declaration of Independence. That document is more than a mere declaration of independence. It is a proclamation of the rights of .man. Those who accept its principles, re-gardles re-gardles of birth, creed or race, .are Americans. Those who do not accept it favor monarchy and autocracy and are necessarily antagonistic to American Ameri-can ideals. That declaration, as Lincoln Lin-coln said, "will be a stumbling Mock for tyrants until the end of time." First among the self-evident truths which the founders of our nation thus proclaimed Is the equality of all men. This is the taproot of democracy. The Democratic Doctrine. The democratic doctrine of self-government self-government is the life-giving principle of the American policy. Not onlv is it proclaimed by the decimation of independence, in-dependence, hut it is woven into our national history. True, we have not been strictly faithful to it. Manhood Man-hood suffrage did not beein with the declara tion of independence. and chattel slavery continued lonr a'ter it. hut it was our ideal, and wo hve caught up with it so far rs universal uni-versal manhood suffrage and chattel slaverv are concerned. Pelf-government is the only nnt'irn! e-overnment. No one has ever come into the world with a divine commission com-mission to govern others. AH claims of natural right to govern others without their consent have rested upon might instead of right, and have turned out in the end to be only claims to plunder and oppression. oppres-sion. The autocratic plea that some peoples peo-ples are unfit for self-government was riddled by Macauley when lie said : "There is only one cure for the evils which newly-acquired freedom produces; pro-duces; and that cure is freedom. "When a prisoner first leaves his cell he cannot hear the light of day; he is unable to discriminate colors or recognize rec-ognize faces. But the remedy is not to remand him to his dungeon, but to accustom him to the rays of the sun. The blaze of truth and liberty mav at first dazzle and bewilder nations na-tions which have become half-blind in the house of bondage. But let them gaze on, and they will soon be able to bear it." The Price of Liberty. Those who would disregard Wash- ingLons advice about disunion and ; the evil of rousing hatred anion: ourselves our-selves are disioval to our common country and unfaithful to his memory. Thope who seek to divide Americans in hostile groups along religious or racial lines are the worst and most dangerous secessionists. They have not "comprehended the glory of American Amer-ican ideals. Whether consciously or not, they are working for the destruction de-struction of the republic. The hatred of sectarianism should have no place .. in a land of freedom and opportunity. Remembering, then, as Jefferson, phrase-;! it, that eternal vigilance is the price of liberty, let us bo ever on our guard against hatred and ill-will ill-will in class or creed or race. The onlv patriotism that is worth while is exemplified in the Golden Rule that unites us as one people where the good of each is the good of all. W e need not fear for the future if each does his and her part to hold the republic re-public to the eternal principles of fundamental truth and liberty as set forth in the Declaration of Independence Indepen-dence Faithful to that ideal, and with Washington as our exemplar and guide, we may conquer the. world by the onlv force that has ever accomplished ac-complished permanent result s the force of good example. He knew no section, he served no class, No patron, no secret control; And felt-chod plunder could find no pass To the tall Virginian's soul! True to his trust, in deed and in word, He spurned tho bribe of a crown For freedom he lifted his valiant sword, For freedom he laid it down: For freedom he ruled, till freedom became An answering echo of Washington's name! The years liave sped! We stand at the gate Of a destiny new and strange. We know we are reaching a criis of fate In the drift of a ceaseless clwnge-Eut clwnge-Eut we daio not. must not, will not fix A bound to the hopps we bear; We reach the fountains of sc-veniv-six And drink a new courage there' The years have aped hut otir' cause is the same. And wo challenge the future In Washington's Wash-ington's name! |