bear on legislative action, is inconsistent with good government, a palpable abuse of the corporate privilege, and should be met with public reprobation, whenever and wherever it may make its appearance. Serious and deplorable as are the evils growing out of corporate influence on political life, unfortunately for the public welfare it is not without potent and efficient allies and co-workers. Other well known and equally indefensible influences are utilized to defraud the ballot, to corrupt the franchise, and to defeat the real and genuine will of the liberty-loving and law-respecting majority. Against the entire brood of political jobbers and venal party bosses, and against every one of their corrupting and unholy methods, enlightened public opinion is under the highest obligations to uncompromisingly set its face. I am not one of those who indulge in pessimistic fears as to the future. The American Republic will not fall as Rome fell. Our Anglo-Saxon civilization contains the seeds of its own rejuvenation. The body of the American citizens can not be corrupted, or permanently led astray, and when aroused to the necessity for the reassertion of their capacity and of their determination to preserve the free institutions transmitted to them by their fathers, they will not in the future, as they have not in the past, prove unequal to the emergency. It is, however, a pertinent inquiry, and one worthy of serious consideration, whether the present is not the time when lethargy should be shaken off, and a more active interest manifested in the upbuilding of public purity and of political integrity. In this connection, and by way of concluding the remarks, I have had the honor this evening to submit, I assume the liberty of paraphrasing an extract from a recent editorial by one of the strongest writers and most eminent citizens of my own state. There must be an awakening all over the country to a keener sense of responsibility, and a realization of the fact that to retain the republic in its integrity we must be true to the ideals of life; we must be willing to consecrate to the public service at least a portion of our time and a portion of our means. It is not enough that we may live in a community and make money, protected by its laws; but that we should devote to the advancement of that community our thoughts, our goods and our energies. If this be not done; if we value peace above honor; if instead of agitation and resistance we prefer, in addition to the regular taxes, to submit to taxation by political rioters and partisan robbers, we may be certain that life in the republic will be intolerable to the next generation. Doubting not the integrity of the masses, or their devotion to honest government, I have confidence that our difficulties, present and future, foreign and domestic, will be patriotically and intelligently met and overcome, and that this government of the people, for the people and by the people is not predestined to perish from the earth. |