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Title: Have faith in Massachusetts; 2d ed.
       A Collection of Speeches and Messages

Author: Calvin Coolidge

Release Date: October 14, 2004 [EBook #13748]

Language: English

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HAVE FAITH

IN

MASSACHUSETTS

[Illustration: Portrait of Calvin Coolidge _Copyright, Notman_]




HAVE FAITH

IN

MASSACHUSETTS

_A Collection of Speeches and Messages_

BY

CALVIN COOLIDGE

_Governor of Massachusetts_


SECOND EDITION ENLARGED




BOSTON AND NEW YORK

HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY

_The Riverside Press Cambridge_





INTRODUCTORY NOTE


There are certain fundamental principles of sound community life which
cannot be stated too emphatically or too often. Few public men of to-day
have shown a finer combination of right feeling and clear thinking about
these principles, with a gift for the pithy expression of them, than has
Governor Calvin Coolidge. It was an accurate phrase that President
Meiklejohn used when, in conferring the degree of Doctor of Laws on him
at Amherst College last June, he complimented him on teaching the lesson
of "adequate brevity."

His speeches and messages abound in evidences of this gift, but in the
main the speeches are not easily accessible. It has seemed to some of
Governor Coolidge's admirers, as it has to the publishers of this little
volume, that a real public service might be rendered by making a
careful selection from the best of the speeches and issuing them in an
attractive and convenient form. With his permission this has been done,
and it is hoped that many readers will welcome the book in this time of
special need of inspiring and steadying influences.

It is a time when all men should realize that, in the words of Governor
Coolidge himself, "Laws must rest on the eternal foundations of
righteousness"; that "Industry, thrift, character are not conferred by
act or resolve. Government cannot relieve from toil." It is a time when
we must "have faith in Massachusetts. We need a broader, firmer, deeper
faith in the people,--a faith that men desire to do right, that the
Commonwealth is founded upon a righteousness which will endure."

THE EDITORS

_Boston, September_, 1919




NOTE TO SECOND EDITION


In the issue of a second edition of this collection of Governor
Coolidge's speeches and messages, the opportunity has been taken to add
a proclamation and three recently delivered addresses, which bring the
volume practically up to the date of publication.

_Boston, October, 1919_




  The Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

  _By His Excellency_

  CALVIN COOLIDGE

  GOVERNOR

  A PROCLAMATION


Massachusetts has many glories. The last one she would wish to surrender
is the glory of the men who have served her in war. While such devotion
lives the Commonwealth is secure. Whatever dangers may threaten from
within or without she can view them calmly. Turning to her veterans she
can say "These are our defenders. They are invincible. In them is our
safety."

War is the rule of force. Peace is the reign of law. When Massachusetts
was settled the Pilgrims first dedicated themselves to a reign of law.
When they set foot on Plymouth Rock they brought the Mayflower Compact,
in which, calling on the Creator to witness, they agreed with each other
to make just laws and render due submission and obedience. The date of
that American document was written November 11, 1620.

After more than five years of the bitterest war in human experience, the
last great stronghold of force, surrendering to the demands of America
and her allies, agreed to cast aside the sword and live under the law.
The date of that world document was written November 11, 1918.

Now, therefore, in grateful commemoration of the unsurpassed deeds of
heroism performed by the service men of Massachusetts, of the sacrifice
of her people, sometimes greater than life itself, of the service
rendered by every war charity and organization, to honor those who bore
arms, to recognize those who supported the government, in accordance
with the law of the current year

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 1919

is set apart as a holiday for general observance and celebration of the
home coming of Massachusetts soldiers, sailors and marines. In that
welcome may we dedicate ourselves to a continued support of the cause
for which they freely offered life, that there may be wiped away
everywhere the burden of, injustice and every attempt to rule by force,
and that there may be ushered in a reign of law, that will ease the weak
of their great burdens, and leave the strong, unhampered by the
opposition of evil men, the opportunity to exert their whole energy for
the welfare of their fellow men. Let war and all force end, and peace
and all law reign.

GIVEN at the Executive Chamber, in Boston, this twenty-eighth day of
October, in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and nineteen,
and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred
and forty-fourth.

[Illustration: Seal of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts]

By His Excellency the Governor.

[Illustration: signatures of Calvin Coolidge and Albert P. Langley]

_Secretary of the Commonwealth._

God Save the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.




CONTENTS

        I. To the State Senate on Being Elected its President,
           January 7, 1914
       II. Amherst College Alumni Association, Boston, February 4, 1916
      III. Brockton Chamber of Commerce, April 11, 1916
       IV. At the Home of Daniel Webster, Marshfield, July 4, 1916
        V. Riverside, August 28, 1916
       VI. At the Home of Augustus P. Gardner, Hamilton, September, 1916
      VII. Lafayette Banquet, Fall River, September 4, 1913
     VIII. Norfolk Republican Club, Boston, October 9, 1916
       IX. Public Meeting on the High Cost of Living, Faneuil Hall,
           December 9, 1916
        X. One Hundredth Anniversary Dinner of the Provident Institution
           for Savings, December 13, 1916
       XI. Associated Industries Dinner, Boston, December 15, 1916
      XII. On the Nature of Politics
     XIII. Tremont Temple, November 3, 1917
      XIV. Dedication of Town-House, Weston, November 27, 1917
       XV. Amherst Alumni Dinner, Springfield, March 15, 1918
      XVI. Message for the Boston _Post_, April 22, 1918
     XVII. Roxbury Historical Society, Bunker Hill Day, June 17, 1918
    XVIII. Fairhaven, July 4, 1918
      XIX. Somerville Republican City Committee, August 7, 1918
       XX. Written for the Sunday _Advertiser_ and _American_,
           September 1, 1918
      XXI. Essex County Club, Lynnfield, September 14, 1918
     XXII. Tremont Temple, November 2, 1918
    XXIII. Faneuil Hall, November 4, 1918
     XXIV. From Inaugural Address as Governor, January 2, 1919
      XXV. Statement on the Death of Theodore Roosevelt
     XXVI. Lincoln Day Proclamation, January 30, 1919
    XXVII. Introducing Henry Cabot Lodge and A. Lawrence Lowell at the
           Debate on the League of Nations, Symphony Hall, March 19, 1919
   XXVIII. Veto of Salary Increase
     XXIX. Flag Day Proclamation, May 26, 1919
      XXX. Amherst College Commencement, June 18, 1919
     XXXI. Harvard University Commencement, June 19, 1919
    XXXII. Plymouth, Labor Day, September 1, 1919
   XXXIII. Westfield, September 3, 1919
    XXXIV. A Proclamation, September 11, 1919
     XXXV. An Order to the Police Commissioner of Boston,
           September 11, 1919
    XXXVI. A Telegram to Samuel Gompers, September 14, 1919
   XXXVII. A Proclamation, September 24, 1919
  XXXVIII. Holy Cross College, June 25, 1919
    XXXIX. Republican State Convention, Tremont Temple, October 4, 1919
       XL. Williams College, October 17, 1919
      XLI. Concerning Teachers' Salaries, October 29, 1919
     XLII. Statement to the Press, Election Day, November 4, 1919
    XLIII. Speech at Tremont Temple, Saturday, November 1, 1919, 8 P.M.




HAVE FAITH

IN

MASSACHUSETTS




I

TO THE STATE SENATE ON BEING ELECTED ITS PRESIDENT

JANUARY 7, 1914


Honorable Senators:--I thank you--with gratitude for the high honor
given, with appreciation for the solemn obligations assumed--I thank
you.

This Commonwealth is one. We are all members of one body. The welfare of
the weakest and the welfare of the most powerful are inseparably bound
together. Industry cannot flourish if labor languish. Transportation
cannot prosper if manufactures decline. The general welfare cannot be
provided for in any one act, but it is well to remember that the benefit
of one is the benefit of all, and the neglect of one is the neglect of
all. The suspension of one man's dividends is the suspension of another
man's pay envelope.

Men do not make laws. They do but discover them. Laws must be justified
by something more than the will of the majority. They must rest on the
eternal foundation of righteousness. That state is most fortunate in its
form of government which has the aptest instruments for the discovery of
laws. The latest, most modern, and nearest perfect system that
statesmanship has devised is representative government. Its weakness is
the weakness of us imperfect human beings who administer it. Its
strength is that even such administration secures to the people more
blessings than any other system ever produced. No nation has discarded
it and retained liberty. Representative government must be preserved.

Courts are established, not to determine the popularity of a cause, but
to adjudicate and enforce rights. No litigant should be required to
submit his case to the hazard and expense of a political campaign. No
judge should be required to seek or receive political rewards. The
courts of Massachusetts are known and honored wherever men love justice.
Let their glory suffer no diminution at our hands. The electorate and
judiciary cannot combine. A hearing means a hearing. When the trial of
causes goes outside the court-room, Anglo-Saxon constitutional
government ends.

The people cannot look to legislation generally for success. Industry,
thrift, character, are not conferred by act or resolve. Government
cannot relieve from toil. It can provide no substitute for the rewards
of service. It can, of course, care for the defective and recognize
distinguished merit. The normal must care for themselves.
Self-government means self-support.

Man is born into the universe with a personality that is his own. He
has a right that is founded upon the constitution of the universe to
have property that is his own. Ultimately, property rights and personal
rights are the same thing. The one cannot be preserved if the other be
violated. Each man is entitled to his rights and the rewards of his
service be they never so large or never so small.

History reveals no civilized people among whom there were not a highly
educated class, and large aggregations of wealth, represented usually by
the clergy and the nobility. Inspiration has always come from above.
Diffusion of learning has come down from the university to the common
school--the kindergarten is last. No one would now expect to aid the
common school by abolishing higher education.

It may be that the diffusion of wealth works in an analogous way. As the
little red schoolhouse is builded in the college, it may be that the
fostering and protection of large aggregations of wealth are the only
foundation on which to build the prosperity of the whole people. Large
profits mean large pay rolls. But profits must be the result of service
performed. In no land are there so many and such large aggregations of
wealth as here; in no land do they perform larger service; in no land
will the work of a day bring so large a reward in material and spiritual
welfare.

Have faith in Massachusetts. In some unimportant detail some other
States may surpass her, but in the general results, there is no place on
earth where the people secure, in a larger measure, the blessings of
organized government, and nowhere can those functions more properly be
termed self-government.

Do the day's work. If it be to protect the rights of the weak, whoever
objects, do it. If it be to help a powerful corporation better to serve
the people, whatever the opposition, do that. Expect to be called a
stand-patter, but don't be a stand-patter. Expect to be called a
demagogue, but don't be a demagogue. Don't hesitate to be as
revolutionary as science. Don't hesitate to be as reactionary as the
multiplication table. Don't expect to build up the weak by pulling down
the strong. Don't hurry to legislate. Give administration a chance to
catch up with legislation.

We need a broader, firmer, deeper faith in the people--a faith that men
desire to do right, that the Commonwealth is founded upon a
righteousness which will endure, a reconstructed faith that the final
approval of the people is given not to demagogues, slavishly pandering
to their selfishness, merchandising with the clamor of the hour, but to
statesmen, ministering to their welfare, representing their deep,
silent, abiding convictions.

Statutes must appeal to more than material welfare. Wages won't satisfy,
be they never so large. Nor houses; nor lands; nor coupons, though they
fall thick as the leaves of autumn. Man has a spiritual nature. Touch
it, and it must respond as the magnet responds to the pole. To that, not
to selfishness, let the laws of the Commonwealth appeal. Recognize the
immortal worth and dignity of man. Let the laws of Massachusetts
proclaim to her humblest citizen, performing the most menial task, the
recognition of his manhood, the recognition that all men are peers, the
humblest with the most exalted, the recognition that all work is
glorified. Such is the path to equality before the law. Such is the
foundation of liberty under the law. Such is the sublime revelation of
man's relation to man--Democracy.




II

AMHERST COLLEGE ALUMNI ASSOCIATION, BOSTON

FEBRUARY 4, 1916


We live in an age which questions everything. The past generation was
one of religious criticism. This is one of commercial criticism.

We have seen the development of great industries. It has been
represented that some of these have not been free from blame. In this
development some men have seemed to prosper beyond the measure of their
service, while others have appeared to be bound to toil beyond their
strength for less than a decent livelihood.

As a result of criticising these conditions there has grown up a too
well-developed public opinion along two lines; one, that the men engaged
in great affairs are selfish and greedy and not to be trusted, that
business activity is not moral and the whole system is to be condemned;
and the other, that employment, that work, is a curse to man, and that
working hours ought to be as short as possible or in some way abolished.
After criticism, our religious faith emerged clearer and stronger and
freed from doubt. So will our business relations emerge, purified but
justified.

The evidence of evolution and the facts of history tell us of the
progress and development of man through various steps and ages, known by
various names. We learn of the stone age, the bronze, and the iron age.
We can see the different steps in the growth of the forms of government;
how anarchy was put down by the strong arm of the despot, of the growth
of aristocracy, of limited monarchies and of parliaments, and finally
democracy.

But in all these changes man took but one step at a time. Where we can
trace history, no race ever stepped directly from the stone age to the
iron age and no nation ever passed directly from depotism to democracy.
Each advance has been made only when a previous stage was approaching
perfection, even to conditions which are now sometimes lost arts.

We have reached the age of invention, of commerce, of great industrial
enterprise. It is often referred to as selfish and materialistic.

Our economic system has been attacked from above and from below. But the
short answer lies in the teachings of history. The hope of a Watt or an
Edison lay in the men who chipped flint to perfection. The seed of
democracy lay in a perfected despotism. The hope of to-morrow lies in
the development of the instruments of to-day. The prospect of advance
lies in maintaining those conditions which have stimulated invention and
industry and commerce. The only road to a more progressive age lies in
perfecting the instrumentalities of this age. The only hope for peace
lies in the perfection of the arts of war.

    "We build the ladder by which we rise ...
           *       *       *       *       *
    And we mount to the summit round by round."

All growth depends upon activity. Life is manifest only by action. There
is no development physically or intellectually without effort, and
effort means work. Work is not a curse, it is the prerogative of
intelligence, the only means to manhood, and the measure of
civilization. Savages do not work. The growth of a sentiment that
despises work is an appeal from civilization to barbarism.

I would not be understood as making a sweeping criticism of current
legislation along these lines. I, too, rejoice that an awakened
conscience has outlawed commercial standards that were false or low and
that an awakened humanity has decreed that the working and living
condition of our citizens must be worthy of true manhood and true
womanhood.

I agree that the measure of success is not merchandise but character.
But I do criticise those sentiments, held in all too respectable
quarters, that our economic system is fundamentally wrong, that commerce
is only selfishness, and that our citizens, holding the hope of all that
America means, are living in industrial slavery. I appeal to Amherst men
to reiterate and sustain the Amherst doctrine, that the man who builds a
factory builds a temple, that the man who works there worships there,
and to each is due, not scorn and blame, but reverence and praise.




III

BROCKTON CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

APRIL 11, 1916


Man's nature drives him ever onward. He is forever seeking development.
At one time it may be by the chase, at another by warfare, and again by
the quiet arts of peace and commerce, but something within is ever
calling him on to "replenish the earth and subdue it."

It may be of little importance to determine at any time just where we
are, but it is of the utmost importance to determine whither we are
going. Set the course aright and time must bring mankind to the ultimate
goal.

We are living in a commercial age. It is often designated as selfish and
materialistic. We are told that everything has been commercialized. They
say it has not been enough that this spirit should dominate the marts
of trade, it has spread to every avenue of human endeavor, to our arts,
our sciences and professions, our politics, our educational institutions
and even into the pulpit; and because of this there are those who have
gone so far in their criticism of commercialism as to advocate the
destruction of all enterprise and the abolition of all property.

Destructive criticism is always easy because, despite some campaign
oratory, some of us are not yet perfect. But constructive criticism is
not so easy. The faults of commercialism, like many other faults, lie in
the use we make of it. Before we decide upon a wholesale condemnation of
the most noteworthy spirit of modern times it would be well to examine
carefully what that spirit has done to advance the welfare of mankind.

Wherever we can read human history, the answer is always the same. Where
commerce has flourished there civilization has increased. It has not
sufficed that men should tend their flocks, and maintain themselves in
comfort on their industry alone, however great. It is only when the
exchange of products begins that development follows. This was the case
in ancient Babylon, whose records of trade and banking we are just
beginning to read. Their merchandise went by canal and caravan to the
ends of the earth. It was not the war galleys, but the merchant vessel
of Phoenicia, of Tyre, and Carthage that brought them civilization and
power. To-day it is not the battle fleet, but the mercantile marine
which in the end will determine the destiny of nations. The advance of
our own land has been due to our trade, and the comfort and happiness of
our people are dependent on our general business conditions. It is only
a figure of poetry that "wealth accumulates and men decay." Where wealth
has accumulated, there the arts and sciences have flourished, there
education has been diffused, and of contemplation liberty has been born.
The progress of man has been measured by his commercial prosperity. I
believe that these considerations are sufficient to justify our business
enterprise and activity, but there are still deeper reasons. I have
intended to indicate not only that commerce is an instrument of great
power, but that commercial development is necessary to all human
progress. What, then, of the prevalent criticism? Men have mistaken the
means for the end. It is not enough for the individual or the nation to
acquire riches. Money will not purchase character or good government. We
are under the injunction to "replenish the earth and subdue it," not so
much because of the help a new earth will be to us, as because by that
process man is to find himself and thereby realize his highest destiny.
Men must work for more than wages, factories must turn out more than
merchandise, or there is naught but black despair ahead.

If material rewards be the only measure of success, there is no hope of
a peaceful solution of our social questions, for they will never be
large enough to satisfy. But such is not the case. Men struggle for
material success because that is the path, the process, to the
development of character. We ought to demand economic justice, but most
of all because it is justice. We must forever realize that material
rewards are limited and in a sense they are only incidental, but the
development of character is unlimited and is the only essential. The
measure of success is not the quantity of merchandise, but the quality
of manhood which is produced.

These, then, are the justifying conceptions of the spirit of our age;
that commerce is the foundation of human progress and prosperity and the
great artisan of human character. Let us dismiss the general indictment
that has all too long hung over business enterprise. While we continue
to condemn, unsparingly, selfishness and greed and all trafficking in
the natural rights of man, let us not forget to respect thrift and
industry and enterprise. Let us look to the service rather than to the
reward. Then shall we see in our industrial army, from the most exalted
captain to the humblest soldier in the ranks, a purpose worthy to
minister to the highest needs of man and to fulfil the hope of a fairer
day.




IV

AT THE HOME OF DANIEL WEBSTER, MARSHFIELD

JULY 4, 1916


History is revelation. It is the manifestation in human affairs of a
"power not ourselves that makes for righteousness." Savages have no
history. It is the mark of civilization. This New England of ours
slumbered from the dawn of creation until the beginning of the
seventeenth century, not unpeopled, but with no record of human events
worthy of a name. Different races came, and lived, and vanished, but the
story of their existence has little more of interest for us than the
story the naturalist tells of the animal kingdom, or the geologist
relates of the formation of the crust of the earth. It takes men of
larger vision and higher inspiration, with a power to impart a larger
vision and a higher inspiration to the people, to make history. It is
not a negative, but a positive achievement. It is unconcerned with
idolatry or despotism or treason or rebellion or betrayal, but bows in
reverence before Moses or Hampden or Washington or Lincoln or the Light
that shone on Calvary.

July 4, 1776, was a day of history in its high and true significance.
Not because the underlying principles set out in the Declaration of
Independence were new; they are older than the Christian religion, or
Greek philosophy, nor was it because history is made by proclamation or
declaration; history is made only by action. But it was an historic day
because the representatives of three millions of people there vocalized
Concord and Lexington and Bunker Hill, which gave notice to the world
that they were acting, and proposed to act, and to found an independent
nation, on the theory that "all men are created equal; that they are
endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among
these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." The wonder and
glory of the American people is not the ringing declaration of that day,
but the action, then already begun, and in the process of being carried
out in spite of every obstacle that war could interpose, making the
theory of freedom and equality a reality. We revere that day because it
marks the beginnings of independence, the beginnings of a constitution
that was finally to give universal freedom and equality to all American
citizens, the beginnings of a government that was to recognize beyond
all others the power and worth and dignity of man. There began the first
of governments to acknowledge that it was founded on the sovereignty of
the people. There the world first beheld the revelation of modern
democracy.

Democracy is not a tearing-down; it is a building-up. It is not a denial
of the divine right of kings; it supplements that claim with the
assertion of the divine right of all men. It does not destroy; it
fulfils. It is the consummation of all theories of government, to the
spirit of which all the nations of the earth must yield. It is the great
constructive force of the ages. It is the alpha and omega of man's
relation to man, the beginning and the end. There is and can be no more
doubt of the triumph of democracy in human affairs, than there is of the
triumph of gravitation in the physical world; the only question is how
and when. Its foundation lays hold upon eternity.

These are some of the ideals that the founders of our institutions
expressed, in part unconsciously, on that momentous day now passed by
one hundred and forty years. They knew that ideals do not maintain
themselves. They knew that they there declared a purpose which would be
resisted by the forces, on land and sea, of the mightiest empire of the
earth. Without the resolution of the people of the Colonies to resort to
arms, and without the guiding military genius of Washington, the
Declaration of Independence would be naught in history but the vision of
doctrinaires, a mockery of sounding brass and tinkling cymbal. Let us
never forget that it was that resolution and that genius which made it
the vitalizing force of a great nation. It takes service and sacrifice
to maintain ideals.

But it is far more than the Declaration of Independence that brings us
here to-day. That was, indeed, a great document. It was drawn up by
Thomas Jefferson when he was at his best. It was the product of men who
seemed inspired. No greater company ever assembled to interpret the
voice of the people or direct the destinies of a nation. The events of
history may have added to it, but subtracted nothing. Wisdom and
experience have increased the admiration of it. Time and criticism have
not shaken it. It stands with ordinance and law, charter and
constitution, prophecy and revelation, whether we read them in the
history of Babylon, the results of Runnymede, the Ten Commandments, or
the Sermon on the Mount. But, however worthy of our reverence and
admiration, however preeminent, it was only one incident of a great
forward movement of the human race, of which the American Revolution was
itself only a larger incident. It was not so much a struggle of the
Colonies against the tyranny of bad government, as against wrong
principles of government, and for self-government. It was man realizing
himself. It was sovereignty from within which responded to the alarm of
Paul Revere on that April night, and which went marching, gun in hand,
against sovereignty from without, wherever it was found on earth. It
only paused at Concord, or Yorktown, then marched on to Paris, to
London, to Moscow, to Pekin. Against it the powers of privilege and the
forces of despotism could not prevail. Superstition and sham cannot
stand before intelligence and reality. The light that first broke over
the thirteen Colonies lying along the Atlantic Coast was destined to
illuminate the world. It has been a struggle against the forces of
darkness; victory has been and is still delayed in some quarters, but
the result is not in doubt. All the forces of the universe are ranged on
the side of democracy. It must prevail.

In the train of this idea there has come to man a long line of
collateral blessings. Freedom has many sides and angles. Human slavery
has been swept away. With security of personal rights has come security
of property rights. The freedom of the human mind is recognized in the
right of free speech and free press. The public schools have made
education possible for all, and ignorance a disgrace. A most significant
development of respect for man has come to be respect for his
occupation. It is not alone for the learned professions that great
treasures are now poured out. Technical, trade, and vocational schools
for teaching skill in occupations are fostered and nourished, with the
same care as colleges and universities for the teaching of sciences and
the classics. Democracy not only ennobled man; it has ennobled industry.
In political affairs the vote of the humblest has long counted for as
much as the vote of the most exalted. We are working towards the day
when, in our industrial life, equal honor shall fall to equal endeavor,
whether it be exhibited in the office or in the shop.

These are some of the results of that great world movement, which, first
exhibiting itself in the Continental Congress of America, carried her
arms to victory, through the sacrifice of a seven years' revolutionary
war, and wrote into the Treaty of Paris the recognition of the right of
the people to rule: since which days existence on this planet has had a
new meaning; a result which, changing the old order of things, putting
the race under the control and guidance of new forces, rescued man from
every thraldom, but laid on him every duty.

We know that only ignorance and superstition seek to explain events by
fate and destiny, yet there is a fascination in such speculations born,
perhaps, of human frailty. How happens it that James Otis laid out in
1762 the then almost treasonable proposition that "Kings were made for
the good of the people, and not the people for them," in a pamphlet
which was circulated among the Colonists? What school had taught Patrick
Henry that national outlook which he expressed in the opening debates of
the first Continental Congress when he said, "I am not a Virginian, but
an American," and which hurried him on to the later cry of "Liberty or
death?" How was it that the filling of a vacancy sent Thomas Jefferson
to the second Continental Congress, there to pen the immortal
Declaration we this day celebrate? No other living man could have
excelled him in preparation for, or in the execution of, that great
task. What circumstance put the young George Washington under the
military instruction of a former army officer, and then gave him years
of training to lead the Continental forces? What settled Ethan Allen in
the wilderness of the Green Mountains ready to strike Ticonderoga?
Whence came that power to draft state papers, in a new and unlettered
land, which compelled the admiration of the cultured Earl of Chatham?
What lengthened out the days of Benjamin Franklin that he might
negotiate the Treaty of Paris? What influence sent the miraculous voice
of Daniel Webster from the outlying settlements of New Hampshire to
rouse the land with his appeal for Liberty and Union? And finally who
raised up Lincoln, to lead, to inspire, and to die, that the opening
assertion of the Declaration might stand at last fulfilled?

These thoughts are overpowering. But let us beware of fate and destiny.
Barbarians have decreased, but barbarism still exists. Rome boasted the
name of the Eternal City. It was but eight hundred years from the sack
of the city by one tribe of barbarians to the sack of the city by
another tribe of barbarians. Between lay something akin to a democratic
commonwealth. Then games, and bribes for the populace, with dictators
and Caesars, while later the Praetorian Guard sold the royal purple to the
highest bidder. After which came Alaric, the Goth, and night. Since when
democracy lay dormant for some fifteen centuries. We may claim with
reason that our Nation has had the guidance of Providence; we may know
that our form of government must ultimately prevail upon earth; but what
guaranty have we that it shall be maintained here? What proof that some
unlineal hand, some barbarism, without or within, shall not wrench the
sceptre of democracy from our grasp? The rule of princes, the privilege
of birth, has come down through the ages; the rule of the people has not
yet marked a century and a half. There is no absolute proof, no positive
guaranty, but there is hope and high expectation, and the path is not
uncharted.

It may be some help to know that, however much of glory, there is no
magic in American democracy. Let us examine some more of this
Declaration of ours, and examine it in the light of the events of those
solemn days in which it was adopted.

Men of every clime have lavished much admiration upon the first part of
the Declaration of Independence, and rightly so, for it marked the entry
of new forces and new ideals into human affairs. Its admirers have
sometimes failed in their attempts to live by it, but none have
successfully disputed its truth. It is the realization of the true
glory and worth of man, which, when once admitted, wrought vast changes
that have marked all history since its day. All this relates to natural
rights, fascinating to dwell upon, but not sufficient to live by. The
signers knew that well; more important still, the people whom they
represented knew it. So they did not stop there. After asserting that
man was to stand out in the universe with a new and supreme importance,
and that governments were instituted to insure life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness, they did not shrink from the logical conclusion of
this doctrine. They knew that the duty between the citizen and the State
was reciprocal. They knew that the State called on its citizens for
their property and their lives; they laid down the proposition that
government was to protect the citizen in his life, liberty, and pursuit
of happiness. At some expense? Yes. Those prudent and thrifty men had no
false notions about incurring expense. They knew the value of
increasing their material resources, but they knew that prosperity was a
means, not an end. At cost of life? Yes. These sons of the Puritans, of
the Huguenots, of the men of Londonderry, braved exile to secure peace,
but they were not afraid to die in defence of their convictions. They
put no limit on what the State must do for the citizen in his hour of
need. While they required all, they gave all. Let us read their
conclusion in their own words, and mark its simplicity and majesty: "And
for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the
protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our
lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor." There is no cringing
reservation here, no alternative, and no delay. Here is the voice of the
plain men of Middlesex, promising Yorktown, promising Appomattox.

The doctrine of the Declaration of Independence, predicated upon the
glory of man, and the corresponding duty of society, is that the rights
of citizens are to be protected with every power and resource of the
State, and a government that does any less is false to the teachings of
that great document, of the name American. Beyond this, the principle
that it is the obligation of the people to rise and overthrow government
which fails in these respects. But above all, the call to duty, the
pledge of fortune and of life, nobility of character through nobility of
action: this is Americanism.

     "Woe for us if we forget, we that hold by these."

Herein are the teachings of this day--touching the heights of man's
glory and the depths of man's duty. Here lies the path to national
preservation, and there is no other. Education, the progress of science,
commercial prosperity, yes, and peace, all these and their accompanying
blessings are worthy and commendable objects of attainment. But these
are not the end, whether these come or no; the end lies in
action--action in accord with the eternal principles of the Declaration
of Independence; the words of the Continental Congress, but the deeds of
the Army of the Revolution.

This is the meaning of America. And it is all our own. Doctrinaires and
visionaries may shudder at it. The privilege of birth may jeer at it.
The practical politician may scoff at it. But the people of the Nation
respond to it, and march away to Mexico to the rescue of a colored
trooper as they marched of old to the rescue of an emperor. The
assertion of human rights is naught but a call to human sacrifice. This
is yet the spirit of the American people. Only so long as this flame
burns shall we endure and the light of liberty be shed over the nations
of the earth. May the increase of the years increase for America only
the devotion to this spirit, only the intensity of this flame, and the
eternal truth of Lowell's lines:

    "What were our lives without thee?
    What all our lives to save thee?
    We reck not what we gave thee;
    We will not dare to doubt thee,
    But ask whatever else and we will dare."




V

RIVERSIDE

AUGUST 28, 1916


It may be that there would be votes for the Republican Party in the
promise of low taxes and vanishing expenditures. I can see an
opportunity for its candidates to pose as the apostles of retrenchment
and reform. I am not one of those who believe votes are to be won by
misrepresentations, skilful presentations of half truths, and plausible
deductions from false premises. Good government cannot be found on the
bargain-counter. We have seen samples of bargain-counter government in
the past when low tax rates were secured by increasing the bonded debt
for current expenses or refusing to keep our institutions up to the
standard in repairs, extensions, equipment, and accommodations. I
refuse, and the Republican Party refuses, to endorse that method of
sham and shoddy economy. New projects can wait, but the commitments of
the Commonwealth must be maintained. We cannot curtail the usual
appropriations or the care of mothers with dependent children or the
support of the poor, the insane, and the infirm. The Democratic
programme of cutting the State tax, by vetoing appropriations of the
utmost urgency for improvements and maintenance costs of institutions
and asylums of the unfortunates of the State, cannot be the example for
a Republican administration. The result has been that our institutions
are deficient in resources--even in sleeping accommodations--and it will
take years to restore them to the old-time Republican efficiency. Our
party will have no part in a scheme of economy which adds to the misery
of the wards of the Commonwealth--the sick, the insane, and the
unfortunate; those who are too weak even to protest.

Because I know these conditions I know a Republican administration
would face an increasing State tax rather than not see them remedied.

The Republican Party lit the fire of progress in Massachusetts. It has
tended it faithfully. It will not flicker now. It has provided here
conditions of employment, and safeguards for health, that are surpassed
nowhere on earth. There will be no backward step. The reuniting of the
Republican Party means no reaction in the protection of women and
children in our industrial life. These laws are settled. These
principles are established. Minor modifications are possible, but the
foundations are not to be disturbed. The advance may have been too rapid
in some cases, but there can be no retreat. That is the position of the
great majority of those who constitute our party.

We recognize there is need of relief--need to our industries, need to
our population in manufacturing centres; but it must come from
construction, not from destruction. Put an administration on Beacon
Hill that can conserve our resources, that can protect us from further
injuries, until a national Republican policy can restore those
conditions of confidence and prosperity under which our advance began
and under which it can be resumed.

This makes the coming State election take on a most important
aspect--not that it can furnish all the needed relief, but that it will
increase the probability of a complete relief in the near future if it
be crowned with Republican victory.




VI

AT THE HOME OF AUGUSTUS P. GARDNER, HAMILTON

SEPTEMBER, 1916


Standing here in the presence of our host, our thoughts naturally turn
to a discussion of "Preparedness." I do not propose to overlook that
issue; but I shall offer suggestions of another kind of "preparedness."
Not that I shrink from full and free consideration of the military needs
of our country. Nor do I agree that it is now necessary to remain silent
regarding the domestic or foreign relations of this Nation.

I agree that partisanship should stop at the boundary line, but I assert
that patriotism should begin there. Others, however, have covered this
field, and I leave it to them and to you.

I do, however, propose to discuss the "preparedness" of the State to
care for its unfortunates. And I propose to do this without any party
bias and without blame upon any particular individual, but in just
criticism of a system.

In Massachusetts, we are citizens before we are partisans. The good name
of the Commonwealth is of more moment to us than party success. But
unfortunately, because of existing conditions, that good name, in one
particular at least, is now in jeopardy.

Massachusetts, for twenty years, has been able honestly to boast of the
care it has bestowed upon her sick, poor, and insane. Her institutions
have been regarded as models throughout the world. We are falling from
that proud estate; crowded housing conditions, corridors used for
sleeping purposes, are not only not unusual, but are coming to be the
accepted standard. The heads of asylums complain that maintenance and
the allowance for food supply and supervision are being skimped.

On August 1 of this year, the institutions throughout the State housed
more than 700 patients above what they were designed to accommodate, and
I am told the crowding is steadily increasing. That is one reason I have
been at pains to set forth that I do not see the way clear to make a
radical reduction in the annual State budget. I now repeat that
declaration, in spite of contradiction, because I know the citizens of
this State have no desire for economies gained at such a sacrifice. The
people have no stomach for retrenchment of that sort.

A charge of overcrowding, which must mean a lack of care, is not to be
carelessly made. You are entitled to facts, as well as phrases. I gave
the whole number now confined in our institutions above the stated
capacity as over 700. About August 1, Danvers had 1530 in an institution
of 1350 capacity. Northampton, my home town, had 913, in a hospital
built for 819. In Boston State Hospital, there were 1572, where the
capacity was 1406. Westboro had 1260 inmates, with capacity for 1161,
and Medfield had 1615, where the capacity was 1542. These capacities are
given from official recorded accommodations.

This was not the practice of the past, and there can be no question as
to where the responsibility rests. The General Court has done its best,
but there has been a halt elsewhere. A substantial appropriation was
made for a new State Hospital for the Metropolitan District, and an
additional appropriation for a new institution for the feeble-minded in
the western part of the State. In its desire to hasten matters, the
legislature went even further and granted money for plans for a new
hospital in the Metropolitan District, to relieve part of the outside
congestion, but the needed relief is still in the future.

I feel the time has come when the people must assert themselves and show
that they will tolerate no delay and no parsimony in the care of our
unfortunates. Restore the fame of our State in the handling of these
problems to its former lustre.

I repeat that this is not partisan. I am not criticising individuals. I
am denouncing a system. When you substitute patronage for patriotism,
administration breaks down. We need more of the Office Desk and less of
the Show Window in politics. Let men in office substitute the midnight
oil for the limelight. Let Massachusetts return to the sound business
methods which were exemplified in the past by such Democrats in the East
as Governor Gaston and Governor Douglas, and by such Republicans in the
West as Governor Robinson and Governor Crane.

Above all, let us not, in our haste to prepare for war, forget to
prepare for peace. The issue is with you. You can, by your votes, show
what system you stamp with the approval of enlightened Massachusetts
Public Opinion.




VII

LAFAYETTE BANQUET, FALL RIVER

SEPTEMBER 4, 1916


Seemingly trifling events oft carry in their train great consequences.
The firing of a gun in the backwoods of Pennsylvania, Macaulay tells us,
started the Seven Years' War which set the world in conflagration,
causing men to fight each other on every shore of the seven seas and
giving new masters to the most ancient of empires. We see to-day fifteen
nations engaged in the most terrific war in the history of the human
race and trace its origin to the bullet of a madman fired in the
Balkans. It is true that the flintlock gun at Lexington was not the
first, nor yet the last, to fire a "shot heard round the world." It was
not the distance it travelled, but the message it carried which has
marked it out above all other human events. It was the character of
that message which, claimed the attention of him we this day honor, in
the far-off fortress of the now famous Metz; it was because it roused in
the listener a sympathetic response that it was destined to link forever
the events of Concord and Lexington and Bunker Hill and Dorchester
Heights, in our Commonwealth, with the name of Lafayette.

For there was a new tone in those Massachusetts guns. It was not the old
lust of conquest, not the sullen roar of hatred and revenge, but a
higher, clearer note of a people asserting their inalienable
sovereignty. It is a happy circumstance that one of our native-born,
Benjamin Franklin, was instrumental in bringing Lafayette to America;
but beyond that it is fitting at this time to give a thought to our
Commonwealth because his ideals, his character, his life, were all in
sympathy with that great Revolution which was begun within her borders
and carried to a successful conclusion by the sacrifice of her treasure
and her blood. It was not the able legal argument of James Otis against
the British Writs of Assistance, nor the petitions and remonstrances of
the Colonists to the British throne, admirable though they were, that
aroused the approbation and brought his support to our cause. It was not
alone that he agreed with the convictions of the Continental Congress.
He saw in the example of Massachusetts a people who would shrink from no
sacrifice to defend rights which were beyond price. It was not the
Tories, fleeing to Canada, that attracted him. It was the patriots,
bearing arms, and he brought them not a pen but a sword.

"Resistance to tyranny is obedience to law," and "obedience to law is
liberty." Those are the foundations of the Commonwealth. It was these
principles in action which appealed to that young captain of dragoons
and brought the sword and resources of the aristocrat to battle for
democracy. I love to think of his connection with our history. I love
to think of him at the dedication of the Bunker Hill Monument receiving
the approbation of the Nation from the lips of Daniel Webster. I love to
think of the long line of American citizens of French blood in our
Commonwealth to-day, ready to defend the principles he fought for,
"Liberty under the Law," citizens who, like him, look not with apology,
but with respect and approval and admiration on that sentiment inscribed
on the white flag of Massachusetts, "_Ense petit placidam sub libertate
quietem_" (With a sword she seeks secure peace under liberty).




VIII

NORFOLK REPUBLICAN CLUB, BOSTON

OCTOBER 9, 1916


Last night at Somerville I spoke on some of the fundamental differences
between the Republican and Democratic policies, and showed how we were
dependent on Republican principles as a foundation on which to erect any
advance in our social and economic welfare.

This year the Republican Party has adopted a very advanced platform.
That was natural, for we have always been the party of progress, and
have given our attention to that, when we were not engaged in a
life-and-death struggle to overcome the fallacies put forth by our
opponents, with which we are all so familiar. The result has been that
here in Massachusetts, where our party has ever been strong, and where
we have framed legislation for more than fifty years, more progress has
been made along the lines of humanitarian legislation than in any other
State. We have felt free to call on our industries to make large outlays
along these lines because we have furnished them with the advantages of
a protective tariff and an honest and efficient state government. The
consequences have been that in this State the hours and conditions of
labor have been better than anywhere else on earth. Those provisions for
safety, sanitation, compensations for accidents, and for good living
conditions have now been almost entirely worked out. There remains,
however, the condition of sickness, age, misfortune, lack of employment,
or some other cause, that temporarily renders people unable to care for
themselves. Our platform has taken up this condition.

We have long been familiar with insurance to cover losses. You will
readily recall the different kinds. Formerly it was only used in
commerce, by the well-to-do. Recently it has been adapted to the use of
all our people by the great industrial companies which have been very
successful. Our State has adopted a system of savings-bank insurance,
thus reducing the expense. Now, social insurance will not be, under a
Republican interpretation, any new form of outdoor relief, some new
scheme of living on the town. It will be an extension of the old
familiar principle to the needs at hand, and so popularized as to meet
the requirements of our times.

It ought to be understood, however, that there can be no remedy for lack
of industry and thrift, secured by law. It ought to be understood that
no scheme of insurance and no scheme of government aid is likely to make
us all prosperous. And above all, these remedies must go forward on the
firm foundation of an independent, self-supporting, self-governing
people. But we do honestly put forward a proposition for the relief of
misfortune.

The Republican Party is proposing humanitarian legislation to build up
character, to establish independence, not pauperism; it will in the
future, as in the past, ever stand opposed to the establishment of one
class who shall live on the Government, and another class who shall pay
the taxes. To those who fear we are turning Socialists, and to those who
think we are withholding just and desirable public aid and support, I
say that government under the Republican Party will continue in the
future to be so administered as to breed not mendicants, but men.
Humanitarian legislation is going to be the handmaid of character.




IX

PUBLIC MEETING ON THE HIGH COST OF LIVING, FANEUIL HALL

DECEMBER 9, 1916


The great aim of American institutions is the protection of the
individual. That is the principle which lies at the foundation of
Anglo-Saxon liberty. It matters not with what power the individual is
assailed, nor whether that power is represented by wealth or place or
numbers; against it the humblest American citizen has the right to the
protection of his Government by every force that Government can command.

This right would be but half expressed if it ran only to a remedy after
a wrong is inflicted; it should and does run to the prevention of a
wrong which is threatened. We find our citizens, to-day, not so much
suffering from the high cost of living, though that is grievous enough,
as threatened with an increasing cost which will bring suffering and
misery to a large body of our inhabitants. So we come here not only to
discuss providing a remedy for what is now existing, but some protection
to ward off what is threatening to be a worse calamity. We shall utterly
fail of our purpose to provide relief unless we look at things as they
are. It is useless to indulge in indiscriminate abuse. We must not
confuse the innocent with the guilty; it must be our object to allay
suspicion, not to create it. The great body of our tradespeople are
honest and conscientious, anxious to serve their customers for a fair
return for their service. We want their cooeperation in our pursuit of
facts; we want to cooeperate with them in proposing and securing a
remedy. We do not deny the existence of economic laws, nor the right to
profit by a change of conditions.

But we do claim the right and duty of the Government to investigate and
punish any artificial creation of high prices by means of illegal
monopolies or restraints of trade. And above all, we claim the right of
publicity. That is a remedy with an arm longer and stronger than that of
the law. Let us know what is going on and the remedy will provide
itself. In working along this line we shall have great help from the
newspapers. The American people are prepared to meet any reasonable
burden; they are not asking for charity or favor; fair prices and fair
profits they will gladly pay; but they demand information that they are
fair, and an immediate reduction if they are not.

The Commonwealth has just provided money for an investigation by a
competent commission. Its Police Department, its Law Department, are
also at the service of our citizens. Let us refrain from suspicion; let
us refrain from all indiscriminate blame; but let us present at once to
the proper authorities all facts and all evidence of unfair practices.
Let all our merchants, of whatever degree, assist in this work for the
public good and let the individual see and feel that all his rights are
protected by his Government.




X

ONE HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY DINNER OF THE PROVIDENT INSTITUTION FOR
SAVINGS

DECEMBER 13, 1916


The history of the institution we here celebrate reaches back more than
one third of the way to the landing of the Mayflower--back to the day of
the men who signed the Declaration of Independence, who saw Prescott,
Pomeroy, Stark, and Warren at Bunker Hill, who followed Washington and
his generals from Dochester Heights to Yorktown, and saw the old Bay
Colony become the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. They had seen a nation
in the making. They founded their government on the rights of the
individual. They had no hesitation in defending those rights against the
invasion of a British King and Parliament, by a Revolutionary War, nor
in criticising their own Government at Washington when they thought an
invasion of those rights was again threatened by the preliminaries and
the prosecution of the War of 1812. They had made the Commonwealth. They
understood its Government. They knew it was a part of themselves, their
own organization. They had not acquired the state of mind that enabled
them to stand aloof and regard government as something apart and
separate from the people. It would never have occurred to them that they
could not transact for themselves any other business just as well as
they could transact for themselves the business of government. They were
the men who had fought a war to limit the power of government and
enlarge the privileges of the individual.

It was the same spirit that made Massachusetts that made the Provident
Institution for Savings. What the men of that day wanted they made for
themselves. They would never have thought of asking Congress to keep
their money in the post-office. They did not want their commercial
privileges interfered with by having the Government buy and sell for
them. They had the self-reliance and the independence to prefer to do
those things for themselves. This is the spirit that founded
Massachusetts, the spirit that has seen your bank grow until it could
now probably purchase all there was of property in the Commonwealth when
it began its existence. I want to see that spirit still preeminent here.
I want to see a deeper realization on the part of the people that this
is their Commonwealth, their Government; that they control it, that they
pay its expenses, that it is, after all, only a part of themselves; that
any attempt to shift upon it their duties, their responsibilities, or
their support will in the end only delude, degrade, impoverish, and
enslave. Your institution points the only way, through self-control,
self-denial, and self-support, to self-government, to independence, to a
more generous liberty, and to a firmer establishment of individual
rights.




XI

ASSOCIATED INDUSTRIES DINNER, BOSTON

DECEMBER 15, 1916


During the past few years we have questioned the soundness of many
principles that had for a long time been taken for granted. We have
examined the foundations of our institutions of government. We have
debated again the theories of the men who wrote the Declaration of
Independence, the Constitution of the Nation, and laid down the
fundamental law of our own Commonwealth. Along with this examination of
our form of government has gone an examination of our social,
industrial, and economic system. What is to come out of it all?

In the last fifty years we have had a material prosperity in this
country the like of which was never beheld before. A prosperity which
not only built up great industries, great transportation systems, great
banks and a great commerce, but a prosperity under whose influence arts
and sciences, education and charity flourished most abundantly. It was
little wonder that men came to think that prosperity was the chief end
of man and grew arrogant in the use of its power. It was little wonder
that such a misunderstanding arose that one part of the community
thought the owners and managers of our great industries were robbers, or
that they thought some of the people meant to confiscate all property.
It has been a costly investigation, but if we can arrive at a better
understanding of our economic and social laws it will be worth all it
cost.

As a part of this discussion we have had many attempts at regulation of
industrial activity by law. Some of it has proceeded on the theory that
if those who enjoyed material prosperity used it for wrong purposes,
such prosperity should be limited or abolished. That is as sound as it
would be to abolish writing to prevent forgery. We need to keep forever
in mind that guilt is personal; if there is to be punishment let it fall
on the evil-doer, let us not condemn the instrument. We need power. Is
the steam engine too strong? Is electricity too swift? Can any
prosperity be too great? Can any instrument of commerce or industry ever
be too powerful to serve the public needs? What then of the anti-trust
laws? They are sound in theory. Their assemblances of wealth are broken
up because they were assembled for an unlawful purpose. It is the
purpose that is condemned. You men who represent our industries can see
that there is the same right to disperse unlawful assembling of wealth
or power that there is to disperse a mob that has met to lynch or riot.
But that principle does not denounce town-meetings or prayer-meetings.

We have established here a democracy on the principle that all men are
created equal. It is our endeavor to extend equal blessings to all. It
can be done approximately if we establish the correct standards. We are
coming to see that we are dependent upon commercial and industrial
prosperity, not only for the creation of wealth, but for the solving of
the great problem of the distribution of wealth. There is just one
condition on which men can secure employment and a living, nourishing,
profitable wages for whatever they contribute to the enterprise, be it
labor or capital, and that condition is that some one make a profit by
it. That is the sound basis for the distribution of wealth and the only
one. It cannot be done by law, it cannot be done by public ownership, it
cannot be done by socialism. When you deny the right to a profit you
deny the right of a reward to thrift and industry.

The scientists tell us that the same force that rounds the teardrop
moulds the earth. Physical laws have their analogy in social and
industrial life. The law that builds up the people is the law that
builds up industry. What price could the millions, who have found the
inestimable blessings of American citizenship around our great
industrial centres, after coming here from lands of oppression, afford
to pay to those who organized those industries? Shall we not recognize
the great service they have done the cause of humanity? Have we not seen
what happens to industry, to transportation, to all commercial activity
which we call business when profit fails? Have we not seen the suffering
and misery which it entails upon the people?

Let us recognize the source of these fundamental principles and not
hesitate to assert them. Let us frown upon greed and selfishness, but
let us also condemn envy and uncharitableness. Let us have done with
misunderstandings, let us strive to realize the dream of democracy by a
prosperity of industry that shall mean the prosperity of the people, by
a strengthening of our material resources that shall mean a
strengthening of our character, by a merchandising that has for its end
manhood, and womanhood, the ideal of American Citizenship.




XII

ON THE NATURE OF POLITICS


Politics is not an end, but a means. It is not a product, but a process.
It is the art of government. Like other values it has its counterfeits.
So much emphasis has been put upon the false that the significance of
the true has been obscured and politics has come to convey the meaning
of crafty and cunning selfishness, instead of candid and sincere
service. The Greek derivation shows the nobler purpose. Politikos means
city-rearing, state-craft. And when we remember that city also meant
civilization, the spurious presentment, mean and sordid, drops away and
the real figure of the politician, dignified and honorable, a minister
to civilization, author and finisher of government, is revealed in its
true and dignified proportions.

There is always something about genius that is indefinable, mysterious,
perhaps to its possessor most of all. It has been the product of rude
surroundings no less than of the most cultured environment, want and
neglect have sometimes nourished it, abundance and care have failed to
produce it. Why some succeed in public life and others fail would be as
difficult to tell as why some succeed or fail in other activities. Very
few men in America have started out with any fixed idea of entering
public life, fewer still would admit having such an idea. It was said of
Chief Justice Waite, of the United States Supreme Court, being asked
when a youth what he proposed to do when a man, he replied, he had not
yet decided whether to be President or Chief Justice. This may be in
part due to a general profession of holding to the principle of Benjamin
Franklin that office should neither be sought nor refused and in part to
the American idea that the people choose their own officers so that
public service is not optional. In other countries this is not so. For
centuries some seats in the British Parliament were controlled and
probably sold as were commissions in the army, but that has never been
the case here. A certain Congressman, however, on arriving at Washington
was asked by an old friend how he happened to be elected. He replied
that he was not elected, but appointed. It is worth while noting that
the boss who was then supposed to hold the power of appointment in that
district has since been driven from power, but the Congressman, though
he was defeated when his party was lately divided, has been reflected.
All of which suggests that the boss did not appoint in the first
instance, but was merely well enough informed to see what the people
wanted before they had formulated their own opinions and desires. It was
said of McKinley that he could tell what Congress would do on a certain
measure before the men in Congress themselves knew what their decision
was to be. Cannon has said of McKinley that his ear was so close to the
ground that it was full of grasshoppers. But the fact remains that
office brokerage is here held in reprehensive scorn and professional
office-seeking in contempt. Every native-born American, however, is
potentially a President, and it must always be remembered that the
obligation to serve the State is forever binding upon all, although
office is the gift of the people.

Of course these considerations relate not to appointive places like the
Judiciary, Commissionerships, clerical positions and like places, but to
the more important elective offices. Another reason why political life
of this nature is not chosen as a career is that it does not pay. Nearly
all offices of this class are held at a financial sacrifice, not merely
that the holder could earn more at some other occupation, but that the
salary of the office does not maintain the holder of the office. It is
but recently that Parliament has paid a salary to its members. In years
gone by the United States Senate has been rather marked for its number
of rich men. Few prominent members of Congress are dependent on their
salary, which is but another way of saying that in Washington Senators
and Representatives need more than their official salaries to become
most effective. It is a consolation to be able to state that this is not
the condition of members of the Massachusetts General Court. There,
ability and character come very near to being the sole requirements for
success. Although some men have seen service in our legislature of
nearly twenty years, to the great benefit of the Commonwealth, no one
would choose that for a career and these men doubtless look on it only
as an avocation.

For these reasons we have no profession of politics or of public life in
the sense that we have a profession of law and medicine and other
learned callings. We have men who have spent many years in office, but
it would be difficult to find one outside the limitations noted who
would refer to that as his business, occupation, or profession.

The inexperienced are prone to hold an erroneous idea of public life and
its methods. Not long ago I listened to a joint debate in a prominent
preparatory school. Each side took it for granted that public men were
influenced only by improper motives and that officials of the government
were seeking only their own gain and advantage without regard to the
welfare of the people. Such a presumption has no foundation in fact.
There are dishonest men in public office. There are quacks, shysters,
and charlatans among doctors, lawyers, and clergy, but they are not
representative of their professions nor indicative of their methods. Our
public men, as a class, are inspired by honorable and patriotic motives,
desirous only of a faithful execution of their trust from the executive
and legislative branches of the States and Nation down to the
executives of our towns, who bear the dignified and significant title of
selectmen. Public men must expect criticism and be prepared to endure
false charges from their opponents. It is a matter of no great concern
to them. But public confidence in government is a matter of great
concern. It cannot be maintained in the face of such opinions as I have
mentioned. It is necessary to differentiate between partisan assertions
and actual conditions. It is necessary to recognize worth as well as to
condemn graft. No system of government can stand that lacks public
confidence and no progress can be made on the assumption of a false
premise. Public administration is honest and sound and public business
is transacted on a higher plane than private business.

There is no difficulty for men in college to understand elections and
government. They have all had experience in it. The same motives that
operate in the choice of class officers operate in choosing officers for
the Commonwealth. Here men are soon estimated at their true worth. Here
places of trust are conferred and administered as they will be in later
years. The scale is smaller, the opportunities are less, conditions are
more artificial, but the principles are the same. Of course the present
estimate is not the ultimate. There are men here who appear important
that will not appear so in years to come. There are men who seem
insignificant now who will develop at a later day. But the motive which
leads to elections here leads to elections in the State.

Is there any especial obligation on the part of college-bred men to be
candidates for public office? I do not think so. It is said that
although college graduates constitute but one per cent of the
population, they hold about fifty per cent of the public offices, so
that this question seems to take care of itself. But I do not feel that
there is any more obligation to run for office than there is to become a
banker, a merchant, a teacher, or enter any other special occupation. As
indicated some men have a particular aptitude in this direction and some
have none. Of course experience counts here as in any other human
activity, and all experience worth the name is the result of
application, of time and thought and study and practice. If the
individual finds he has liking and capacity for this work, he will
involuntarily find himself engaged in it. There is no catalogue of such
capacity. One man gets results in one way, another in another. But in
general only the man of broad sympathy and deep understanding of his
fellow men can meet with much success.

What I have said relates to the somewhat narrow field of office-holding.
This is really a small part of the American system or of any system.
James Bryce tells us that we have a government of public opinion. That
is growing to be more and more true of the governments of the entire
world. The first care of despotism seems to be to control the school and
the press. Where the mind is free it turns not to force but to reason
for the source of authority. Men submit to a government of force as we
are doing now when they believe it is necessary for their security,
necessary to protect them from the imposition of force from without.
This is probably the main motive of the German people. They have been
taught that their only protection lay in the support of a military
despotism. Rightly or wrongly they have believed this and believing have
submitted to what they suppose their only means of security. They have
been governed accordingly. Germany is still feudal.

This leads to the larger and all important field of politics. Here we
soon see that office-holding is the incidental, but the standard of
citizenship is the essential. Government does rest upon the opinions of
men. Its results rest on their actions. This makes every man a
politician whether he will or no. This lays the burden on us all. Men
who have had the advantages of liberal culture ought to be the leaders
in maintaining the standards of citizenship. Unless they can and do
accomplish this result education is a failure. Greatly have they been
taught, greatly must they teach. The power to think is the most
practical thing in the world. It is not and cannot be cloistered from
politics.

We live under a republican form of government. We need forever to
remember that representative government does represent. A careless,
indifferent representative is the result of a careless, indifferent
electorate. The people who start to elect a man to get what he can for
his district will probably find they have elected a man who will get
what he can for himself. A body will keep on its course for a time after
the moving impulse ceases by reason of its momentum. The men who
founded our government had fought and thought mightily on the
relationship of man to his government. Our institutions would go for a
time under the momentum they gave. But we should be deluded if we
supposed they can be maintained without more of the same stern sacrifice
offered in perpetuity. Government is not an edifice that the founders
turn over to posterity all completed. It is an institution, like a
university which fails unless the process of education continues.

The State is not founded on selfishness. It cannot maintain itself by
the offer of material rewards. It is the opportunity for service. There
has of late been held out the hope that government could by legislation
remove from the individual the need of effort. The managers of
industries have seemed to think that their difficulties could be removed
and prosperity ensured by changing the laws. The employee has been led
to believe that his condition could be made easy by the same method.
When industries can be carried on without any struggle, their results
will be worthless, and when wages can be secured without any effort they
will have no purchasing value. In the end the value of the product will
be measured by the amount of effort necessary to secure it. Our late Dr.
Garman recognized this limitation in one of his lectures where he
says:--

"Critics have noticed three stages in the development of human
civilization. First: the let-alone policy; every man to look out for
number one. This is the age of selfishness. Second: the opposite pole of
thinking; every man to do somebody's else work for him. This is the dry
rot of sentimentality that feeds tramps and enacts poor laws such as
excite the indignation of Herbert Spencer. But the third stage is
represented by our formula: every man must render and receive the best
possible service, except in the case of inequality, and there the
strong must help the weak to help themselves; only on this condition is
help given. This is the true interpretation of the life of Christ. On
the first basis He would have remained in heaven and let the earth take
care of itself. On the second basis He would have come to earth with his
hands full of gold and silver treasures satisfying every want that
unfortunate humanity could have devised. But on the third basis He comes
to earth in the form of a servant who is at the same time a master
commanding his disciples to take up their cross and follow Him; it is
sovereignty through service as opposed to slavery through service. He
refuses to make the world wealthy, but He offers to help them make
themselves wealthy with true riches which shall be a hundred-fold more,
even in this life, than that which was offered them by any former
system."

This applies to political life no less than to industrial life. We live
under the fairest government on earth. But it is not self-sustaining.
Nor is that all. There are selfishness and injustice and evil in the
world. More than that, these forces are never at rest. Some desire to
use the processes of government for their own ends. Some desire to
destroy the authority of government altogether. Our institutions are
predicated on the rights and the corresponding duties, on the worth, of
the individual. It is to him that we must look for safety. We may need
new charters, new constitutions and new laws at times. We must always
have an alert and interested citizenship. We have no dependence but the
individual. New charters cannot save us. They may appear to help but the
chances are that the beneficial results obtained result from an
increased interest aroused by discussing changes. Laws do not make
reforms, reforms make laws. We cannot look to government. We must look
to ourselves. We must stand not in the expectation of a reward but with
a desire to serve. There will come out of government exactly what is put
into it. Society gets about what it deserves. It is the part of educated
men to know and recognize these principles and influences and knowing
them to inform and warn their fellow countrymen. Politics is the process
of action in public affairs. It is personal, it is individual, and
nothing more. Destiny is in you.




XIII

TREMONT TEMPLE

NOVEMBER 3, 1917


There is a time and place for everything. There are times when some
things are out of place. Domestic science is an important subject. So is
the proper heating and ventilating of our habitations. But when the
house is on fire reasonable men do not stop to argue of culinary cuts
nor listen to a disquisition on plumbing; they call out the fire
department and join it in an attempt to save their dwelling. They think
only in terms of the conflagration.

So it is in this hour that has come to us so grim with destiny. We
cannot stop now to discuss domestic party politics. Our men are on the
firing-line of France. There will be no party designations in the
casualty lists. We cannot stop to glance at that alluring field of
history that tells us of the past patriotic devotion of the men of our
party to the cause of the Nation--devotion without reserve. We must
think now only in terms of winning the war.

An election at this time is not of our choosing. We are having one
because it is necessary under the terms of our Constitution of
Massachusetts. We have not conducted the ordinary party canvass. We have
not flaunted party banners, we have not burned red fire, we have not
rent the air with martial music, we have not held the usual party
rallies. We have addressed meetings, but such addresses have been to
urge subscriptions to the Liberty Loan, to urge gifts to the great
humanitarian work of the Red Cross, and for the efforts of charity,
benevolence, and mercy that are represented by the Y.M.C.A. and by the
Knights of Columbus, for the conservation of food, and for the other
patriotic purposes.

But we are not to infer that this is not an important election. It is
too important to think of candidates, too important to think of party,
too important to think of anything but our country at war. No more
important election has been held since the days of War Governor Andrew.
On Tuesday next the voters of Massachusetts will decide whether they
will support the Government in its defence of America, and its defence
of all that America means. There is no room for domestic party issues
here. The only question for consideration is whether the Government of
this Commonwealth, legislative and executive, has rendered and will
render prompt and efficient support for the national defence. Perhaps it
would be enough to point out that Massachusetts troops were first at the
Mexican border and first in France. But that is only part of the story.

Wars are waged now with far more than merely the troops in the field.
Every resource of the people goes into the battle. It is a matter of
organizing the entire fabric of society. No one has yet pointed out, no
one can point out, any failure on the part of our State Government to
take efficient measures for this purpose. More than that, Massachusetts
did not have to be asked; while Washington was yet dumb Massachusetts
spoke.

Months before war was declared a Public Safety Committee was appointed
and went to work; weeks before war a conference of New England Governors
was called and a million dollars was given the Governor and Council to
equip Massachusetts troops for which the National Treasury had no money.
By reason of this foresight our men went forth better supplied than any
others, with ten dollars additional pay from their home State, and the
assurance that their dependents could draw forty dollars monthly where
needed for their support. The production and distribution of food and
fuel have been advanced. The maintenance of industrial peace has been
promoted. The Gloucester fishermen, fifteen thousand shoemakers in
Lynn, the Boston & Maine railroad employees, have had their differences
adjusted. A second million dollars for emergency expenses has been given
the Governor and Council. An efficient State Guard of over ten thousand
men has been organized. Our brave soldiers, their dependents, the great
patriotic public have been protected by the present Government with
every means that ingenuity could devise. We have won the right to
reelection by duty well performed.

Remember this: we are not responsible for the war, we are responsible
for the preparation that enables us to defend our soldiers and ourselves
from savages. Massachusetts is not going to repudiate these patriotic
services. To do so now would mean more than repudiating the Government.
It would mean repudiating the devotion of our brave men in arms,
repudiating the sacrifice of the fathers, mothers, wives, and dear ones
behind, and repudiating the loyalty of the millions who subscribed to
the Liberty Loan,--it would mean repudiating America.

Massachusetts has decided that the path of the Mayflower shall not be
closed. She has decided to sail the seas. She has decided to sail not
under the edict of Potsdam, crimped in narrow lanes seeking safety in
unarmed merchantmen painted in fantastic hues, as the badge of an
infamous servitude, but she has decided to sail under the ancient
Declaration of Independence, choosing what course she will, maintaining
security by the guns of ships of the line, flying at the mast the Stars
and Stripes, forever the emblem of a militant liberty.




XIV

DEDICATION OF TOWN-HOUSE, WESTON

NOVEMBER 27, 1917


I was interested to come out here and take part in the dedication of
this beautiful building in part because my ancestors had lived in this
locality in times gone past, but more especially because I am interested
in the town governments of Massachusetts. You have heard the
town-meeting referred to this evening. It seemed to me that the towns in
this Commonwealth correspond in part to what we might call the
water-tight compartments of the ship of state, and while sometimes our
State Government has wavered, sometimes it has been suspended, and it
has been thought that the people could not care for themselves under
those conditions. Whenever that has arisen the towns of the Commonwealth
have come to the rescue and been able to furnish the foundation and the
strength on which might not only be carried on, but on which might again
be erected the failing government of the Commonwealth or the failing
government of the Nation. So that I know nothing to which we New
Englanders owe more, and especially the people of Massachusetts, of our
civil liberties than we do to our form of town government.

The history of Weston has been long and interesting, beginning, as your
town seal designates, back in 1630, when Watertown was recognized as one
of the three or four towns in the Commonwealth; set off by boundaries
into the Farmers' Precinct in 1698, and becoming incorporated as a town
in 1713. There begins a long and honorable history. Of course, the first
part of it gathered to a large degree around the church. The first
church was started here, I think, in 1695, and I believe that the land
on which it was to be erected was purchased of a man who bore my name.
Your first clergyman seems to have been settled about 1702; and the
long and even tenor of your ways here and your devotion to things which
were established is perhaps shown and exemplified in the fact that
during the next one hundred and seventy-four years, coming clear down to
1876, you had but six clergymen presiding over that church. You have an
example here now, along the same line, in the long tenure of office that
has come to your present town clerk, he having been first elected, I
believe, in 1864 and having held office from that time to this, probably
serving as long, if not longer, than any of the town clerks of
Massachusetts, certainly, I believe, the longest of any present living
town clerk.

There are many interesting things connected with the history of this
town. It bore its part in the Indian Wars. Here was organized an Indian
fighting expedition that went to the North, and, though some of the men
in that expedition were lost and the expedition was not altogether
successful, it showed, the spirit, the resolution, the bravery, and the
courage which animated the men of those days.

Mr. Young has referred to that day in Massachusetts history that we are
all so proud of, the Nineteenth of April, 1775. But you had an
interesting event here in this town leading up to that great day.
General Gage was in command of the British forces at Boston. There had
been gathered supplies for carrying on a war out here through Middlesex
County and out to the west in Worcester. History tells us that he sent
out here Sergeant Howe and other spies, in order that he might find out
what the conditions were and whether it would be easy for the British
troops to come out here and seize those supplies and break what they
thought was the idea on the part of the colonists of starting a
rebellion. Sergeant Howe came out here, went to the hotel, where, of
course, the landlord received him hospitably, but informed him that
probably it wouldn't be a healthy place for him to stay for a very long
time, and sent him away in the dead of the night. He went back to Boston
and made a report to the General in which he said that the people of
this vicinity were generally resolved to be free or to die. That was the
spirit of those times; and he advised the Britishers that if they wanted
to go out to Worcester they would probably need an expedition of ten
thousand men and a sufficient train of artillery, and he doubted
whether, if such an expedition as that were sent out, any part of it
would return alive. On account of the report that he brought back it was
determined by the British authorities that it was more prudent to go up
to Concord than it was to come out here on the way to Worcester. That
was the reason that the expedition on that Nineteenth of April was
started for Concord rather than through here for Worcester.

Of course, there are many other interesting events in the history of
this town. You had here many men who have seen military service. You
furnished a large number for the Revolutionary War and a large amount of
money. You furnished as your quota one hundred and twenty-six soldiers
that went into the army from 1861 to 1865. But you were doing here what
they were doing all over the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. I doubt if
the leading and prominent and decisive part that Massachusetts played in
the great Revolutionary War is generally understood. It is interesting
to recall that when General Washington came here he seems to have come
with somewhat of a prejudice against New England men. I think there are
extant letters which he wrote at that time rather reflecting upon what
the New England men were doing and the character of Massachusetts men of
those days. But that was not his idea at the end of the war. Then,
although he had been brought up far to the south, he had a different
idea. Then he said, and said very generously, that he thought well of
New England men and had it not been for their support, had it not been
for the men, the materials and munitions that they supplied to the
Revolutionary forces, the war would not have been a success. His name is
interestingly connected with your town of Weston.

You have had here not only an interesting population but an interesting
location. It was through this town that the great arteries of travel ran
to the west and south and to the north. When Burgoyne surrendered, some
of his troops were brought through this town on their way to the
sea-coast. When Washington came up to visit New England after he had
been President, he came through the town of Weston, and I do not know
whether this is any reflection on the cooking of those days in the towns
to the west, but it says in the history of the town of Weston that at
one time when Washington stopped at the hotel in Wayland, although the
hostess had provided what she thought was a very fine banquet, he left
his staff to eat that and went out into the kitchen to help himself to a
bowl of bread and milk. I suppose he would not be thought to have done
that because he was a candidate for office and wanted to appear as one
of the plain people, because that was after he had served in the office
of President. But he stopped here in the town of Weston and was
entertained here at the hotel. And many other great men passed through
here and were entertained here from the time when we were colonies clear
up to the time when the railroads were established along in the middle
of the last century.

So this town has had a long and interesting history, and has done its
part in building up Massachusetts and giving her strength to take her
part in the history of this great Nation. And it is pleasant to see how
the work that the fathers have done before us is bearing fruit in these
times of ours. It is interesting to see this beautiful building. It is
interesting to know that you have a town planning committee who are
placing this building in a situation where it will contribute to the
physical beauty of this historic town. We have not given the time and
the attention and the thought that we should have given to things of
that kind in Massachusetts. We have been too utilitarian. We have
thought that if a building was located in some place where we could have
access to it, where it could be used, where it could transact the
business of the town, that was enough. We are coming to see in these
modern days that that is not enough; that we need not only utilitarian
motives, but that we need to give some time, some thought and attention
to the artistic in life; that we need to concern ourselves not only with
the material but give some thought to the spiritual; that we need to
pay some attention to the beautiful as well as to that which is merely
useful.

These things are appreciated. Weston is doing something along these
lines and building her public buildings and laying out her public square
or her common (as it was known in the old days) so they will be things
of beauty as well as things of use. Let us dedicate this building to
these new purposes. Let us dedicate it to the glorious history of the
past. Let us dedicate it to the sacrifice that is required in these
present days. Let us dedicate it to the hope of the future. Let us
dedicate it to New England ideals--those ideals that have made
Massachusetts one of the strong States of the Nation; strong enough so
that in Revolutionary days we contributed far in excess of our portion
of men and money to that great struggle; strong enough so that the whole
Nation has looked to Massachusetts in days of stress for comfort and
support.

We are very proud of our democracy. We are very proud of our form of
government. We believe that there is no other nation on earth that gives
to the individual the privileges and the rights that he has in America.
The time has come now when we are going to defend those rights. The time
has come when the world is looking to America, as the Nation has looked
to Massachusetts in the past, to stand up and defend the rights of the
individual. Sovereignty, it is our belief, is vested in the individual;
and we are going to protect the rights of the individual. It is an
auspicious moment to dedicate here in New England one of our town halls,
an auspicious moment in which to dedicate it to the supremacy of those
ideals for which the whole world is fighting at the present time; that
the rights of the individual as they were established here in the past
may be maintained by us now and carried to a yet greater development in
the future.




XV

AMHERST ALUMNI DINNER, SPRINGFIELD

MARCH 15, 1918


The individual may not require the higher institutions of learning, but
society does. Without them civilization as we know it would fall from
mankind in a night. They minister not alone to their own students, they
minister to all humanity.

It is this same ancient spirit which, coming to the defence of the
Nation, has in this new day of peril made nearly every college campus a
training field for military service, and again sent graduate and
undergraduate into the fighting forces of our country. They are
demonstrating again that they are the strongholds of ordered liberty and
individual freedom. This has ever been the distinguishing characteristic
of the American institution of learning. They have believed in
democracy because they believed in the nobility of man; they have served
society because they have looked upon the possession of learning not as
conferring a privilege but as laying on a duty. They have taught and
practised the precept that the greater man's power the greater his
obligation. The supreme choice is righteousness. It is that "moral
power" to which Professor Tyler referred as the great contribution of
college men to the cause of the Union.

The Nation is taking a military census, it is thinking now in terms of
armament. The officers of government are discussing manpower,
transportation by land and sea and through the air, the production of
rifles, artillery, and explosives, the raising of money by loans and
taxation. The Nation ought to be most mightily engaged in this work. It
must put every ounce of its resources into the production and
organization of its material power. But these are to a degree but the
outward manifestations of something yet more important. The ultimate
result of all wars and of this war has been and will be determined by
the moral power of the nations engaged. On that will depend whether
armies "ray out darkness" or are the source of light and life and
liberty. Without the support of the moral power of the Nation armies
will prove useless, without a moral victory, whatever the fortunes of
the battlefield, there can be no abiding peace.

Whatever the difficulties of an exact definition may be the
manifestations of moral power are not difficult to recognize. The life
of America is rich with such examples. It has been predominant here. It
established thirteen colonies which were to a large degree
self-sustaining and self-governing. They fought and won a revolutionary
war. What manner of men they were, what was the character of their
leadership, was attested only in part by Saratoga and Yorktown.
Washington had displayed great power on many fields of battle, the
colonists had suffered long and endured to the end, but the glory of
military power fades away beside the picture of the victorious general,
returning his commission to the representatives of a people who would
have made him king, and retiring after two terms from the Presidency
which he could have held for life, and the picture of a war-worn people
turning from debt, disorder, almost anarchy, not to division, not to
despotism, but to national unity under the ordered liberty of the
Federal Constitution.

It was manifested again in the adoption and defence by the young nation
of that principle which is known as the Monroe Doctrine that European
despotism should make no further progress in the Western Hemisphere. It
is in the great argument of Webster replying to Hayne and the stout
declaration of Jackson that he would treat nullification as treason. It
was the compelling force of the Civil War, expounded by Lincoln in his
unyielding purpose to save the Union but "with malice toward none, with
charity for all," which General Grant, his greatest soldier, put into
practice at Appomattox when he sent General Lee back with his sword, and
his soldiers home to the plantations, with their war horses for the
spring plowing. And at the conclusion of the Spanish War it is to the
ever-enduring credit of our country that it exacted not penalties, but
justice, and actually compensated a defeated foe for public property
that had come to our hands in the Philippines as the result of the
fortunes of battle. But what of the present crisis? Is the heart of the
Nation still sound, does it still respond to the appeal to the high
ideals of the past? If those two and one half years, before the American
declaration of war, shall appear, when unprejudiced history is written,
to have been characterized by patience, forbearance, and self-restraint,
they will add to the credit of former days. If they were characterized
by selfishness, by politics, by a balancing of expediency against
justice they will be counted as a time of ignominy for which a
victorious war would furnish scant compensation.




XVI

MESSAGE FOR THE BOSTON POST

APRIL 22, 1918


The nation with the greatest moral power will win. Of that are born
armies and navies and the resolution to endure. Have faith in the moral
power of America. It gave independence under Washington and freedom
under Lincoln. Here, right never lost. Here, wrong never won. However
powerful the forces of evil may appear, somewhere there are more
powerful forces of righteousness. Courage and confidence are our
heritage. Justice is our might. The outcome is in your hand, my fellow
American; if you deserve to win, the Nation cannot lose.




XVII

ROXBURY HISTORICAL SOCIETY, BUNKER HILL DAY

JUNE 17, 1918


Reverence is the measure not of others but of ourselves. This assemblage
on the one hundred and forty-third anniversary of the Battle of Bunker
Hill tells not only of the spirit of that day but of the spirit of
to-day. What men worship that will they become. The heroes and holidays
of a people which fascinate their soul reveal what they hold are the
realities of life and mark out a line beyond which they will not
retreat, but at which they will stand to overcome or die. They who
reverence Bunker Hill will fight there. Your true patriot sees home and
hearthstone in the welfare of his country.

Rightly viewed, then, this day is set apart for an examination of
ourselves by recounting the deeds of the men of long ago.

What was there in the events of the seventeenth day of June, 1775,
which holds the veneration of Americans and the increasing admiration of
the world? There are the physical facts not too unimportant to be
unworthy of reiteration even in the learned presence of an Historical
Society. A detachment of men clad for the most part in the dress of
their daily occupations, standing with bared heads and muskets grounded
muzzle down in the twilight glow on Cambridge Common, heard Samuel
Langdon, President of Harvard College, seek divine blessing on their
cause and marched away in the darkness to a little eminence at
Charlestown, where, ere the setting of another sun, much history was to
be made and much glory lost and won. When a new dawn had lifted the
mists of the Bay, the British, under General Howe, saw an intrenchment
on Breed's Hill, which must be taken or Boston abandoned. The works were
exposed in the rear to attack from land and sea. This was disdained by
the king's soldiers in their contempt for the supposed fighting ability
of the Americans. Leisurely, as on dress parade, they assembled for an
assault that they thought was to be a demonstration of the uselessness
of any armed resistance on the part of the Colonies. In splendid array
they advanced late in the day. A few straggling shots and all was still
behind the parapet. It was easier than they had expected. But when they
reached a point where 'tis said the men behind the intrenchments could
see the whites of their eyes, they were met by a withering fire that
tore their ranks asunder and sent them back in disorder, utterly routed
by their despised foes. In time they form and advance again but the
result is the same. The demonstration of superiority was not a success.
For a third time they form, not now for dress parade, but for a
hazardous assault. This time the result was different. The patriots had
lost nothing of courage or determination but there was left scarcely
one round of powder. They had no bayonets. Pouring in their last volley
and still resisting with clubbed muskets, they retired slowly and in
order from the field. So great was the British loss that there was no
pursuit. The intensity of the battle is told by the loss of the
Americans, out of about fifteen hundred engaged, of nearly twenty per
cent, and of the British, out of some thirty-five hundred engaged, of
nearly thirty-three per cent, all in one and one half hours.

It was the story of brave men bravely led but insufficiently equipped.
Their leader, Colonel Prescott, had walked the breastworks to show his
men that the cannonade was not particularly dangerous. John Stark,
bringing his company, in which were his Irish compatriots, across
Charlestown Neck under the guns of the battleships, refused to quicken
his step. His Major, Andrew McCleary, fell at the rail fence which he
had held during the day. Dr. Joseph Warren, your own son of Roxbury,
fell in the retreat, but the Americans, though picking off his officers,
spared General Howe. They had fought the French under his brother.

Such were some of the outstanding deeds of the day. But these were the
deeds of men and the deeds of men always have an inward significance. In
distant Philadelphia, on this very day, the Continental Congress had
chosen as the Commander of their Army, General George Washington, a man
whose clear vision looked into the realities of things and did not
falter. On his way to the front four days later, dispatches reached him
of the battle. He revealed the meaning of the day with, one question,
"Did the militia fight?" Learning how those heroic men fought, he said,
"Then the liberties of the Country are safe." No greater commentary has
ever been made on the significance of Bunker Hill.

We read events by what goes before and after. We think of Bunker Hill
as the first real battle for independence, the prelude to the
Revolution. Yet these were both after-thoughts. Independence Day was
still more than a year away and then eight years from accomplishment.
The Revolution cannot be said to have become established until the
adoption of the Federal Constitution. No, on this June day, these were
not the conscious objects sought. They were contending for the liberties
of the country, they were not yet bent on establishing a new nation nor
on recognizing that relationship between men which the modern world
calls democracy. They were maintaining well their traditions, these sons
of Londonderry, lovers of freedom and anxious for the fray, and these
sons of the Puritans, whom Macaulay tells us humbly abased themselves in
the dust before the Lord, but hesitated not to set their foot upon the
neck of their king.

It is the moral quality of the day that abides. It was the purpose of
those plain garbed men behind the parapet that told whether they were
savages bent on plunder, living under the law of the jungle, or sons of
the morning bearing the light of civilization. The glorious revolution
of 1688 was fading from memory. The English Government of that day
rested upon privilege and corruption at the base, surmounted by a king
bent on despotism, but fortunately too weak to accomplish any design
either of good or ill. An empire still outwardly sound was rotting at
the core. The privilege which had found Great Britain so complacent
sought to establish itself over the Colonies. The purpose of the
patriots was resistance to tyranny. Pitt and Burke and Lord Camden in
England recognized this, and, loving liberty, approved the course of the
Colonies. The Tories here, loving privilege, approved the course of the
Royal Government. Bunker Hill meant that the Colonies would save
themselves and saving themselves save the mother country for liberty.
The war was not inevitable. Perhaps wars are never inevitable. But the
conflict between freedom and privilege was inevitable. That it broke out
in America rather than in England was accidental. Liberty, the rights of
man against tyranny, the rights of kings, was in the air. One side must
give way. There might have been a peaceful settlement by timely
concessions such as the Reform Bill of England some fifty years later,
or the Japanese reforms of our own times, but wanting that a collision
was inevitable. Lacking a Bunker Hill there had been another Dunbar.

The eighteenth century was the era of the development of political
rights. It was the culmination of the ideas of the Renaissance. It was
the putting into practice in government of the answer to the long
pondered and much discussed question, "What is right?" Custom was giving
way at last to reason. Class and caste and place, all the distinctions
based on appearance and accident were giving way before reality. Men
turned from distinctions which were temporal to those which were
eternal. The sovereignty of kings and the nobility of peers was
swallowed up in the sovereignty and nobility of all men. The inequal in
quantity became equal in quality.

The successful solution of this problem was the crowning glory of a
century and a half of America. It established for all time how men ought
to act toward each other in the governmental relation. The rule of the
people had begun.

Bunker Hill had a deeper significance. It was an example of the great
law of human progress and civilization. There has been much talk in
recent years of the survival of the fittest and of efficiency. We are
beginning to hear of the development of the super-man and the claim that
he has of right dominion over the rest of his inferiors on earth. This
philosophy denies the doctrine of equality and holds that government is
not based on consent but on compulsion. It holds that the weak must
serve the strong, which is the law of slavery, it applies the law of the
animal world to mankind and puts science above morals. This sounds the
call to the jungle. It is not an advance to the morning but a retreat to
night. It is not the light of human reason but the darkness of the
wisdom of the serpent.

The law of progress and civilization is not the law of the jungle. It is
not an earthly law, it is a divine law. It does not mean the survival of
the fittest, it means the sacrifice of the fittest. Any mother will give
her life for her child. Men put the women and children in the lifeboats
before they themselves will leave the sinking ship. John Hampden and
Nathan Hale did not survive, nor did Lincoln, but Benedict Arnold did.
The example above all others takes us back to Jerusalem some nineteen
hundred years ago. The men of Bunker Hill were true disciples of
civilization, because they were willing to sacrifice themselves to
resist the evils and redeem the liberties of the British Empire. The
proud shaft which rises over their battlefield and the bronze form of
Joseph Warren in your square are not monuments to expediency or success,
they are monuments to righteousness.

This is the age-old story. Men are reading it again to-day--written in
blood. The Prussian military despotism has abandoned the law of
civilization for the law of barbarism. We could approve and join in the
scramble to the jungle, or we could resist and sacrifice ourselves to
save an erring nation. Not being beasts, but men, we choose the
sacrifice.

This brings us to the part that America is taking at the end of its
second hundred and fifty years of existence. Is it not a part of that
increasing purpose which the poet, the seer, tells us runs through the
ages? Has not our Nation been raised up and strengthened, trained and
prepared, to meet the great sacrifice that must be made now to save the
world from despotism? We have heard much of our lack of preparation. We
have been altogether lacking in preparation in a strict military sense.
We had no vast forces of artillery or infantry, no large stores of
munitions, few trained men. But let us not forget to pay proper respect
to the preparation we did have, which was the result of long training
and careful teaching. We had a mental, a moral, a spiritual training
that fitted us equally with any other people to engage in this great
contest which after all is a contest of ideas as well as of arms. We
must never neglect the military preparation again, but we may as well
recognize that we have had a preparation without which arms in our hands
would very much resemble in purpose those now arrayed against us.

Are we not realizing a noble destiny? The great Admiral who discovered
America bore the significant name of Christopher. It has been pointed
out that this name means Christ-bearer. Were not the men who stood at
Bunker Hill bearing light to the world by their sacrifices? Are not the
men of to-day, the entire Nation of to-day, living in accordance with
the significance of that name, and by their service and sacrifice
redeeming mankind from the forces that make for everlasting destruction?
We seek no territory and no rewards. We give but do not take. We seek
for a victory of our ideas. Our arms are but the means. America follows
no such delusion as a place in the sun for the strong by the destruction
of the weak. America seeks rather, by giving of her strength for the
service of the weak, a place in eternity.




XVIII

FAIRHAVEN

JULY 4, 1918


We have met on this anniversary of American independence to assess the
dimensions of a kind deed. Nearly four score years ago the master of a
whaling vessel sailing from this port rescued from a barren rock in the
China Sea some Japanese fishermen. Among them was a young boy whom he
brought home with him to Fairhaven, where he was given the advantages of
New England life and sent to school with the boys and girls of the
neighborhood, where he excelled in his studies. But as he grew up he was
filled with a longing to see Japan and his aged mother. He knew that the
duty of filial piety lay upon him according to the teachings of his
race, and he was determined to meet that obligation. I think that is one
of the lessons of this day. Here was a youth who determined to pursue
the course which he had been taught was right. He braved the dangers of
the voyage and the greater dangers that awaited an absentee from his
country under the then existing laws, to perform his duty to his mother
and to his native land. In making that return I think we are entitled to
say that he was the first Ambassador of America to the Court of Japan,
for his extraordinary experience soon brought him into the association
of the highest officials of his country, and his presence there prepared
the way for the friendly reception which was given to Commodore Perry
when he was sent to Japan to open relations between that Government and
the Government of America.

And so we see how out of the kind deed of Captain Whitefield, friendly
relations which have existed for many years between the people of Japan
and the people of America were encouraged and made possible. And it is
in recognition of that event that we have here to-day this great
concourse of people, this martial array, and the representative of the
Japanese people--a people who have never failed to respond to an act of
kindness.

It was with special pleasure that I came here representing the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts, to extend an official welcome to His
Excellency Viscount Ishii, who comes here to present to the town of
Fairhaven a Sumari sword on behalf of the son of that boy who was
rescued long ago. This sword was once the emblem of place and caste and
arbitrary rank. It has taken on a new significance because Captain
Whitefield was true to the call of humanity, because a Japanese boy was
true to his call of duty. This emblem will hereafter be a token not only
of the friendship that exists between two nations but a token of
liberty, of freedom, and of the recognition by the Government of both
these nations of the rights of the people. Let it remain here as a
mutual pledge by the giver and the receiver of their determination that
the motive which inspired the representatives of each race to do right
is to be a motive which is to govern the people of the earth.




XIX

SOMERVILLE REPUBLICAN CITY COMMITTEE

AUGUST 7, 1918


Coming into your presence in ordinary times, gentlemen of the committee,
I should be inclined to direct your attention to the long and patriotic
services of our party, to the great benefits its policies have conferred
upon this Nation, to the illustrious names of our leaders, to our
present activities, and to our future party policy. But these are not
ordinary times. Our country is at war. There is no way to save our party
if our country be lost. And in the present crisis there is only one way
to save our country. We must support the State and National Governments
in whatever they request for the conduct of the war. The Constitution
makes the President Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy. What he
needs should be freely given. This has been and will be the policy of
the Republican administration of Massachusetts and of her Senators and
Representatives in Congress. We seek no party advantage from the
distress of our country. Among Republicans there will be no political
profiteering.

It is a year and four months now since we declared the German Government
was making war on America. We are beginning to see what our requirements
are. We had a small but efficient standing army, and a larger but less
efficient National Guard. These have been increased by enlistments. We
have a new national force,--never to be designated as Conscripts, but as
the accepted soldiers of a whole Nation that has volunteered, of almost
unlimited numbers. By taxation and by three Liberty Loans, each
over-subscribed by more than fifty per cent, we have demonstrated that
there will be no lack of money. The problem of the production and
conservation of food is being met, though not yet without some
inconvenience, yet so far with very little suffering. The remaining
factor is the production of the necessary materials for carrying on the
war. We lack ships and military supplies. Whether these are secured in
time in sufficient quantity will depend in a large measure upon the
attitude of the people managing and employed in these industries. The
attitude of the leaders of organized labor has been patriotic. They
realize that this is a war to preserve the rights that have been won for
the people, and they have at all times advised their fellow workmen to
remain at work. There must be forbearance on all sides. Where wages are
too low they should be increased voluntarily. Where there is
disagreement the Government has provided means for investigation and
adjustment. Our industrial front must keep pace with our military front.

We are demonstrating the ability of America. Within the last few days
the report has come to us that our soldiers have defeated the Prussian
Guard. The sneer of Germany at America is vanishing. It is true that the
German high command still couple American and African soldiers together
in intended derision. What they say in scorn, let us say in praise. We
have fought before for the rights of all men irrespective of color. We
are proud to fight now with colored men for the rights of white men. It
would be fitting recognition of their worth to send our American negro,
when that time comes, to inform the Prussian military despotism on what
terms their defeated armies are to be granted peace.

While the victories that have recently come to our arms are most
encouraging, they should only stimulate us to redoubled efforts. The
only hope of a short war is to prepare for a long one. In this work the
States play a most important part. Massachusetts must be kept so
organized and governed as to continue that able, effective, and prompt
cooeperation with the National Government that has marked the past
progress of the war. In this we have a great part to do here. It was for
such a task that the Republican Party came into being sixty-four years
ago. One of the resolutions adopted at its birth peculiarly dedicates it
to the requirements of the present hour.

"Resolved, that in view of the necessity of battling for the first
principles of republican government and against the schemes of an
aristocracy, the most revolting and oppressive with which the earth was
ever cursed, or man debased, we will cooeperate and be known as
'Republicans' until the contest be terminated."

This great work lies before our party in Massachusetts. We shall go on
battling for the first principles of Republican government until it has
been secured to all the people of the earth.

Our American forces on sea and land are proving sufficient to turn the
tide in favor of the Allied cause. They could not succeed alone, we
could not succeed alone. We are furnishing a reserve power that is
bringing victory.

But America must furnish more than armies and navies for the future. If
armies and navies were to be supreme, Germany would be right. There are
other and greater forces in the world than march to the roll of the
drum. As we are turning the scale with our sword now, so hereafter we
must turn the scale with the moral power of America. It must be our
disinterested plans that are to restore Europe to a place through
justice when we have secured victory through the sword. And into a new
world we are to take not only the people of oppressed Europe but the
people of America. Out of our sacrifice and suffering, out of our blood
and tears, America shall have a new awakening, a rededication to the
cause of Washington and Lincoln, a firmer conviction for the right.




XX

WRITTEN FOR THE SUNDAY ADVERTISER AND AMERICAN

SEPTEMBER 1, 1918


The man who seeks to stimulate and increase the production of materials
necessary for the conduct of the war by raising the price he pays is a
patriot. The man who refuses to sell at a fine price whatever he may
have that is necessary for the conduct of the war is a profiteer. One
man seeks to help his country at his own expense, the other seeks to
help himself at his country's expense. One is willing to suffer himself
that his country may prosper, the other is willing his country should
suffer that he may prosper.

In ordinary times these difficulties are taken care of by the operation
of the law of supply and demand. If the price is too high the buyer has
time to go elsewhere. In war the element of time is one of the chief
considerations. When what is wanted is once found it must be made
available at once. The principle of trusteeship also comes into more
immediate operation. It is recognized in time of peace that the public
may take what it may need of private property for the general welfare,
paying a fair compensation, and that the right to own property carries
with it the duty of using it for the welfare of our fellow man. The time
has gone by when one may do what he will with his own. He must use his
property for the general good or the very right to hold private property
is lost.

These are some of the rules to be observed in the relationship between
man and man. To see that these rules are properly enforced, governments
are formed. When they are not observed--when the strong refuse voluntary
justice to the weak--then it is time for the strong arm of the law
through the public officers to intervene and see that the weak are
protected. This can usually be done by the enactment of a law which all
will try to obey, but when this course has failed there is no remedy
save by the process of law to take from the wrong-doer his power in the
future to do harm.

America is built on faith in the individual, faith in his will and power
to do right of his own accord, but equally is the determination that the
individual shall be protected against whatsoever force may be brought
against him. We believe in him not because of what he has, but what he
is. But this is a practical faith. It does not rest on any silly
assumption that virtue is the reward of anything but effort or that
liberty can be secured at the price of anything but eternal vigilance.

It is in recognition of these principles and conditions that the General
Court of last year gave the Governor power to make rules for the use by
individuals of their property during the war for the general defence of
the Commonwealth, and on failure on their part so to use their property,
to take possession of it for such term as may be necessary. Up to the
present time it has not been necessary to take property. Our faith in
the patriotism of our citizens has been amply demonstrated. Of our four
millions of people few have failed voluntarily to use their every
resource for the defence of the Nation. But of late there have been some
complaints of too high charges for rent in war-material centres. In some
cases patriotic workmen engaged in labor most vital to our country's
salvation have been threatened with eviction by profiteering landlords
unless they paid exorbitant rents. No one is undertaking to say that
rents must on no account be raised. But the Executive Department of
Massachusetts is undertaking to say that in any case where rents are
unreasonably raised to the detriment of people who are just as essential
to our victory as the soldier in the field, if any one is to be evicted
from such premises it will be the persons who are raising rents and not
the persons who are asked to pay them. This action is taken to protect
the Nation. It is taken in our desire and determination here to
cooeperate with the Federal Government in every activity that is
necessary to the prosecution of the war. It is taken also for the
protection of the individual. We do not care how humble he may be, we do
not care how exalted the landlord may be, justice shall be done.

This is not to be taken as an offer on the part of the Commonwealth to
have unloaded on it a large amount of property at a high price.
Possession may be taken, but the ownership will not change. Unless
reasonable rents are charged, the tenant will stay in possession, but
the rent which the Commonwealth shall pay for occupation will be
determined by a jury. This means justice, nothing more, nothing
less--justice to the tenant, justice to the landlord. It is not to be
inferred that our real estate owners have lacked anything as a class in
patriotism. They are our most loyal, most self-sacrificing, most
commendable citizens. Massachusetts by its Homestead Commission is
encouraging its citizens to own real estate because such ownership is a
sheet anchor to self-government. But it is a proclamation of warning to
profiteers, of approbation and approval to patriots, and of assurance
and assistance to the working people and rent payers of our
Commonwealth.




XXI

ESSEX COUNTY CLUB, LYNNFIELD

SEPTEMBER 14, 1918


We meet here to-day as the inheritors of those principles which
preserved our Nation and extended its constitutional guaranties to all
its citizens. We come not as partisans but as patriots. We come to
pledge anew our faith in all that America means and to declare our firm
determination to defend her within and without from every foe. Above
that we come to pay our tribute of wonder and admiration at the great
achievements of our Nation and at the glory which they are shedding
around her. The past four years has shown the world the existence of a
conspiracy against mankind of a vastness and a wickedness that could
only be believed when seen in operation and confessed by its
participants. This conspiracy was promoted by the German military
despotism. It probably was encouraged by the results of three wars--one
against Denmark which robbed her of territory, one against Austria which
robbed her of territory, and one against France which robbed her of
territory and a cash indemnity of a billion dollars. These seemingly
easy successes encouraged their perpetrators to plan for the pillage and
enslavement of the earth.

To accomplish this, the German despotism began at home. By a systematic
training the whole German people were perverted. A false idea of their
own greatness was added to their contempt and hate of other nations,
who, they were taught, were bent on their destruction. The military
class were exalted and all else degraded. Thus was laid the foundation
for the atrocities which have marked their conduct of the war.

The vastness of the conquest planned has recently been revealed by
August Thyssen, one of the greatest steel men of the empire. He tells
of a calling together, in the years before the war, of the industrial
and banking interests of the Nation, when a plan of war was laid before
them, and their support secured by the promise of spoils. France, India,
Canada, Australia were to be given over to German satraps. His share was
30,000 acres in Australia, with $750,000 provided by the Government for
its development. This was the promise made by the Kaiser. Here was the
motive of the war.

How it was provoked is told by Prince Lichnowski, the Ambassador of
Germany to London. He shows how he had reached agreements for a treaty
which would show the good will of Great Britain. Berlin refused to sign
it unless it should be kept secret. He shows how Germany used Austria to
attack Serbia; how mediations were refused; when Austria was about to
withdraw, Germany sent an ultimatum to Russia one day and the next day
declared war.

This diplomat sums up the whole case when he says: "I had to support in
London a policy the heresy of which I recognized. That brought down
vengeance on me because it was a sin against the Holy Ghost." What an
indictment of Germany from her own confession! A plan to use the
revelations of science for the sack and slavery of the earth; the
degradation, perversion, corruption of a whole people, and by those who
should have been the wardens of their righteousness, done for the
temporal glory of a military caste, and all in the name of divine right.

Much of this was not known in America when we declared war. It is with
great difficulty we realize it now. We had seen Germany going from
infamy to infamy. We did know of the violated treaty of Belgium, of the
piracy, the murder of women and children, the destruction of the
property and lives of our neutral citizens, and finally the plain
declaration of the German Imperial Government that it would wantonly
and purposely destroy the property and lives of any American citizen who
exercised his undoubted legal right to sail certain portions of the sea.
This attempt to declare law for America by an edict from Potsdam we
resisted by the sword. We see at last not only the hideous wickedness
which perpetrated the war, we see that it is a world war, that Germany
struck not only at Belgium, she struck at us, she struck at our whole
system of civilization. A wicked purpose, which a vain attempt to
realize has involved its authors in more and more wickedness. We hear
that even among the civil population of Germany crime is rampant.

Looking now at this condition of Germany and her Allies, it is time to
inquire what America and her Allies have to offer as a remedy, and what
effect the application of such remedy has had upon ourselves. We have
drawn the sword, but is it only to

     "Be blood for blood, for treason treachery?"

Are we seeking merely to match infamy with infamy, merely to pillage
and destroy those who threatened to pillage and destroy us? No; we have
taken more than the sword, lest we perish by the sword; we have summoned
the moral power of the Nation. We have recognized that evil is only to
be overcome by good. We have marshalled the righteousness of America to
overwhelm the wickedness of Germany. A new spirit has come over the
nation the like of which was never seen before. We can see it not only
in the new purity of camp life, in the heroism of our soldiers as they
fight in the faith and for the faith of the fathers, but we see it in
the healing influences which a righteous purpose has had upon the evils
which beset us.

We entered the war a people of many nationalities. We are united now;
every one is first an American. We were beset with jealousies, and envy,
and class prejudice. Service in the camp has taught each soldier to
respect the other, whatever his source, and a mutual sympathy at home
has brought all into a common citizenship. The service flag is a great
leveller.

Our industrial life has been purified of prejudice. No one is
complaining now that any concern is too large, too strong. All see that
the great organizations of capital in industry are our salvation. Labor
has taken on a new dignity and nobility. When the idle see the necessity
of work, when we begin to recognize industry as essential, the working
man begins to have paid him the honor which is his due.

Invention, chemistry, medicine, surgery, have been stimulated and
improved. Even our agriculture has taken on more economical methods and
increased production.

The call for man power has given a new idea of the importance of the
individual, so that there has been brought to the humblest the knowledge
that he was not only important but his importance was realized.

And with this has come the discovery of new powers, not only in the
slouch whom military drill has transformed into a man, but to labor that
has found a new joy, satisfaction and efficiency in its work. The entire
activities of the Nation are tuned up.

The spirit of charity has been aroused. Hundreds of millions have been
provided by voluntary gifts for the Red Cross, Knights of Columbus,
Hebrew Charities, and Christian Associations. The people are turning to
their places of worship with a new religious fervor. Everywhere
selfishness is giving way to service, idleness to industry, wastefulness
to thrift.

The war is being won. It is being overwhelmingly won. A righteous
purpose has not only strengthened our arms abroad but exalted the Nation
at home.

The great work before us is to keep this new spirit in the right path.
The opportunity for a military training, the beneficial results of its
discipline, must be continued for the youth of our country. The
sacrifice necessary for national defence must hereafter never be
neglected. The virtues of war must be carried into peace. But this must
not be done at the expense of the freedom of the individual. It must be
the expression of self-government and not the despotism of a German
military caste or a Russian Bolshevik state. We are in this war to
preserve the institutions that have made us great. The war has revealed
to us their true greatness. All argument about the efficiency of
despotism and the incompetence of republics was answered at the Marne
and will be hereafter answered at the Rhine. We are not going to
overcome the Kaiser by becoming like him, nor aid Russia by becoming
like her.

We see now that Prussian despotism was the natural ally of the Russian
Bolshevik and the I.W.W. here. Both exist to pervert and enslave the
people; both seek to break down the national spirit of the world for
their own wicked ends. Both are doomed to failure. By taking our place
in the world, America is to become more American, as by doing his duty
the individual develops his own manhood. We see now that when the
individual fails, whether it be from a despotism or the dead level of a
socialistic state, all has failed.

A new vision has come to the Nation, a vision that must never be
obscured. It is for us to heed it, to follow it. It is a revelation, but
a revelation not of our weakness but of our strength, not of new
principles, but of the power that lies in the application of old
doctrines. May that vision never fade, may America inspired by a great
purpose ever be able to say,

     "Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord."




XXII

TREMONT TEMPLE

NOVEMBER 2, 1918


To the greatest task man ever undertook our Commonwealth has applied
itself, will continue to apply itself with no laggard hand. One hundred
and ninety thousand of her sons already in the field, hundreds of
millions of her treasure contributed to the cause, her entire
citizenship moved with a single purpose, all these show a determination
unalterable, to prosecute the war to a victory so conclusive, to a
destruction of all enemy forces so decisive, that those impious
pretentions which have threatened the earth for many years will never be
renewed. There can be no discussion about it, there can be no
negotiation about it. The country is united in the conviction that the
only terms are unconditional surrender.

This determination has arisen from no sudden impulse or selfish motive.
It was forced upon us by the plan and policy of Germany and her methods
of waging war upon others. The main features of it all have long been
revealed while each day brings to light more of the details. We have
seen the studied effort to make perverts of sixty millions of German
people. We know of the corrupting of the business interests of the
Empire to secure their support. We know that war had been decreed before
the pretext on which it was declared had happened. We know Austria was
and is the creature of Germany. We have beheld the violation of innocent
Belgium, the hideous outrages on soldier and civilian, the piracy, the
murder of our own neutral citizens, and finally there came the notice,
which as an insult to America has been exceeded only by the recent
suggestion that we negotiate a peace with its authors,--the notice
claiming dominion over our citizens and authority to exclude our ships
from the sea. The great pretender to the throne of the earth thought
the time had come to assert that we were his subjects. Two millions of
our men already in France, and each day ten thousand more are hastening
to pay their respects to him at his court in Berlin in person. He has
our answer.

It would be a mistake to suppose we have already won the war. It is not
won yet, but we have reached the place where we know how to win it, and
if we continue our exertions we shall win it fully, completely, grandly,
as becomes a great people contending for the cause of righteousness.

We entered the war late and without previous military preparation. The
more clearly we discern the beginning and the progress of the struggle,
the more we must admire the great spirit of those nations by whose side
we fight. The more we know of the terrible price they paid, the
matchless sacrifices they magnificently endured--the French, the
Italians, the British, the Belgians, the Serbians, the Poles, and the
misgoverned, misguided people of Russia--the bravery of their soldiers
in the field, the unflinching devotion of their people at home, and
remember that in no small sense they were doing this for us, that we
have been the direct beneficiaries of peoples who have given their all,
the less disposition we have to think too much of our own importance.
But all this should not cause us to withhold the praise that is due our
own Army and Navy, or to overlook the fact that our people have met
every call that patriotism has made. The soldiers and sailors who fight
under the Stars and Stripes are the most magnificent body of men that
ever took up arms for defence of a great cause. Man for man they surpass
any other troops on earth.

We must not forget these things. We must not neglect to record them for
the information of generations to come. The names and records of boards
and commissions, relief societies, of all who have engaged in financing
the cause of government and charity, and other patriotic work, should be
preserved in the Library of the Commonwealth, and with these, our
military achievements. These will show how American soldiers met and
defeated the Prussian Guard. They will show also that in all the war no
single accomplishment, on a like scale, excelled the battle of St.
Mihiel, carried out by American troops, with our own Massachusetts boys
among them, and that the first regiment to be decorated as a regiment
for conspicuous service and gallantry in our Army in France was the
104th, formerly of the old Massachusetts National Guard. Such is our
record and it cannot be forgotten.

In reaching the great decision to enter the war, in preparing the answer
which speaks with so much authority, in the only language that despotism
can understand, America has arisen to a new life. We have taken a new
place among the nations. The Revolution made us a nation; the Spanish
War made us a world power, the present war has given us recognition as a
world power. We shall not again be considered provincial. Whether we
desired it or not this position has come to us with its duties and its
responsibilities.

This new position should not be misunderstood. It does not mean any
diminution of our national spirit. It rather means that it should be
intensified. The most outstanding feature of the war has been the
assertion of the national spirit. Each nationality is contending for the
right to have its own government, and in that is meeting with the
sanction of the free peoples of the earth. We are discussing a league of
nations. Such a league, if formed, is not for the purpose, must not be
for the purpose, of diminishing the spirit or influence of our Nation,
but to make that spirit and influence more real and more effective.
Believing in our Nation thoroughly and unreservedly, confident that the
evidence of the past and present justifies that belief, it is our one
desire to make America more American. There is no greater service that
we can render the oppressed of the earth than to maintain inviolate the
freedom of our own citizens.

Under our National Government the States are the sheet-anchors of our
institutions. On them falls the task of administering local affairs and
of supporting the National Government in peace and war. The success with
which Massachusetts has met her local problems, the efficiency with
which she has placed her resources of men and materials at the disposal
of the Nation, has been unsurpassed. The efficient organization of the
Commonwealth, which has proved itself in time of stress, must be
maintained undiminished. On the States will largely fall the task of
putting into effect the lessons of the war that are to make America more
truly American.

One of our first duties is military training. The opportunity hereafter
for the youth of the Nation to receive instruction in the science of
national defence should be universal. The great problem which our
present experience has brought is the development of man power. This
includes many questions, but especially public health and mental
equipment. Sanitation and education will require more attention in the
future.

America has been performing a great service for humanity. In that
service we have arisen to a new glory. The people of the nation without
distinction have been performing a great service for America. In it they
have realized a new citizenship. Prussianism fails. Americanism
succeeds. Education is to teach men not what to think but how to think.
Government will take on new activities, but it is not more to control
the people, the people are more to control the Government.

We have come to the realization of a new brotherhood among nations and
among men. It came through the performance of a common duty. A
brotherhood that existed unseen has been recognized at last by those
called to the camp and trenches and those working for their victory at
home. This spirit must not be misunderstood. It is not a gospel of ease
but of work, not of dependence but of independence, not of an easy
tolerance of wrong but a stern insistence on right, not the privilege of
receiving but the duty of giving.

"Man proposes but God disposes." When Germany lit up her long toasted
day with the lurid glare of war, she thought the end of freedom for the
peoples of the earth had come. She thought that the power of her sword
was hereafter to reign supreme over a world in slavery, and that the
divine right of a king was to be established forever. We have seen the
drama drawing to its close. It has shown the victory of justice and of
freedom and established the divine rights of the people. Through it is
shining a new revelation of the true brotherhood of man. As we see the
purpose Germany sought and the result she will secure, the words of Holy
Writ come back to us--"The wrath of man shall praise Him."




XXIII

FANEUIL HALL

NOVEMBER 4, 1918


We need a word of caution and of warning. I am responsible for what I
have said and what I have done. I am not responsible for what my
opponents say I have said or say I have done either on the stump or in
untrue political advertisements and untrue posters. I shall not deal
with these. I do not care to touch them, but I do not want any of my
fellow citizens to misunderstand my ignoring them as expressing any
attitude other than considering such attempts unworthy of notice when
men are fighting for the preservation of our country.

Our work is drawing to a close--our patriotic efforts. We have had in
view but one object--the saving of America.

We shall accomplish that object first by winning the war. That means a
great deal. It means getting the world forever rid of the German idea.
We can see no way to do this but by a complete surrender by Germany to
the Allies.

We stand by the State and National Governments in the prosecution of
this object. I have reiterated that we support the Commander-in-Chief in
war work. He says that is so.

We want no delay in prosecuting the war. The quickest way is the way to
save most lives and treasure. We want to care for the soldiers and their
dependents. That has been the recognized duty of the Government for
generations.

To save America means to save American institutions, it means to save
the manhood and womanhood of our country. To that we are pledged.

There will be great questions of reconstruction, social, industrial,
economic and governmental questions, that must be met and solved. They
must be met with a recognition of a new spirit.

It is a time to keep our faith in our State, our Nation, our
institutions, and in each other. Doing that, the war will be won in the
field and won in civil life at home.




XXIV

FROM INAUGURAL ADDRESS AS GOVERNOR

JANUARY 2, 1919


You are coming to a new legislative session under the inspiration of the
greatest achievements in all history. You are beholding the fulfilment
of the age-old promise, man coming into his own. You are to have the
opportunity and responsibility of reflecting this new spirit in the laws
of the most enlightened of Commonwealths. We must steadily advance. Each
individual must have the rewards and opportunities worthy of the
character of our citizenship, a broader recognition of his worth and a
larger liberty, protected by order--and always under the law. In the
promotion of human welfare Massachusetts happily may not need much
reconstruction, but, like all living organizations, forever needs
continuing construction. What are the lessons of the past? How shall
they be applied to these days of readjustment? How shall we emerge from
the autocratic methods of war to the democratic methods of peace,
raising ourselves again to the source of all our strength and all our
glory--sound self-government?

It is your duty not only to reflect public opinion, but to lead it.
Whether we are to enter a new era in Massachusetts depends upon you. The
lessons of the war are plain. Can we carry them on into peace? Can we
still act on the principle that there is no sacrifice too great to
maintain the right? Shall we continue to advocate and practise thrift
and industry? Shall we require unswerving loyalty to our country? These
are the foundations of all greatness.

Let there be a purpose in all your legislation to recognize the right of
man to be well born, well nurtured, well educated, well employed, and
well paid. This is no gospel of ease and selfishness, or class
distinction, but a gospel of effort and service, of universal
application.

Such results cannot be secured at once, but they should be ever before
us. The world has assumed burdens that will bear heavily on all peoples.
We shall not escape our share. But whatever may be our trials, however
difficult our tasks, they are only the problems of peace, and a
victorious peace. The war is over. Whatever the call of duty now we
should remember with gratitude that it is nothing compared with the
heavy sacrifice so lately made. The genius and fortitude which conquered
then cannot now fail.




XXV

STATEMENT ON THE DEATH OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT


The people of our Commonwealth have learned with profound sorrow of the
death of Theodore Roosevelt. No other citizen of the Nation would have
brought in so large a degree the feeling of a common loss. During the
almost eight years he was President, the people came to see in him a
reflection of their ideals of the true Americanism.

He was the advocate of every good cause. He awakened the moral purpose
of the Nation and raised the standard of public service. He appealed to
the imagination of youth and satisfied the judgment of maturity. In him
Massachusetts saw an exponent of her own ideals.

In token of the love and reverence which all the people bore him, I urge
that the national and state flags be flown at half-mast throughout the
Commonwealth until after his funeral, and that, when next the people
gather for public worship, his loss be marked with proper ceremony.




XXVI

LINCOLN DAY PROCLAMATION

JANUARY 30, 1919


_The Commonwealth of Massachusetts By His Excellency Calvin Coolidge,
Governor_

A PROCLAMATION


Fivescore and ten years ago that Divine Providence which infinite
repetition has made only the more a miracle sent into the world a new
life, destined to save a nation. No star, no sign, foretold his coming.
About his cradle all was poor and mean save only the source of all great
men, the love of a wonderful woman. When she faded way in his tender
years, from her deathbed in humble poverty she dowered her son with
greatness. There can be no proper observance of a birthday which forgets
the mother. Into his origin as into his life men long have looked and
wondered. In wisdom great, but in humility greater, in justice strong,
but in compassion stronger, he became a leader of men by being a
follower of the truth. He overcame evil with good. His presence filled
the Nation. He broke the might of oppression. He restored a race to its
birthright. His mortal frame has vanished, but his spirit increases with
the increasing years, the richest legacy of the greatest century.

Men show by what they worship what they are. It is no accident that
before the great example of American manhood our people stand with
respect and reverence. And in accordance with this sentiment our laws
have provided for a formal recognition of the birthday of Abraham
Lincoln, for in him is revealed our ideal, the hope of our country
fulfilled.

Now, therefore, by the authority of Massachusetts, the 12th day of
February is set apart as

LINCOLN DAY

and its observance recommended as befits the beneficiaries of his life
and the admirers of his character, in places of education and worship
wherever our people meet one with another.

     Given at the Executive Chamber, in Boston, this 30th day of
     January, in the year of Our Lord one thousand nine hundred and
     nineteen, and of the independence of the United States of America
     the one hundred and forty-third.

  CALVIN COOLIDGE

  By his Excellency the Governor,

  ALBERT P. LANGTRY,

  _Secretary of the Commonwealth_.

  God save the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.




XXVII

INTRODUCING HENRY CABOT LODGE AND A. LAWRENCE LOWELL AT THE DEBATE ON
THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS SYMPHONY HALL

MARCH 19, 1919


We meet here as representatives of a great people to listen to the
discussion of a great question by great men. All America has but one
desire, the security of the peace by facts and by parchment which her
brave sons have wrought by the sword. It is a duty we owe alike to the
living and the dead.

Fortunate is Massachusetts that she has among her sons two men so
eminently trained for the task of our enlightenment, a senior Senator of
the Commonwealth and the President of a university established in her
Constitution. Wherever statesmen gather, wherever men love letters, this
day's discussion will be read and pondered. Of these great men in
learning, and experience, wise in the science and practice of
government, the first to address you is a Senator distinguished at home
and famous everywhere--Henry Cabot Lodge.

[After Senator Lodge spoke he introduced President Lowell:]

The next to address you is the President of Harvard University--an
educator renowned throughout the world, a learned student of
statesmanship, endowed with a wisdom which has made him a leader of men,
truly a Master of Arts, eminently a Doctor of Laws, a fitting
representative of the Massachusetts domain of letters--Abbott Lawrence
Lowell.




XXVIII

VETO OF SALARY INCREASE


TO THE HONORABLE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES:


In accordance with the duty imposed by the Constitution, a bill
entitled, "An act to establish the compensation of the members of the
General Court," being House No. 1629, is herewith returned without
approval.

This bill raises the salaries of members from $1000 to $1500, an
increase of fifty per cent, and is retroactive. It is necessary to
decide whether the Commonwealth can well afford this additional tax and
whether any public benefit would accrue from it.

These are times that require careful scrutiny of public expenditure. The
burden of taxes resulting from war is heavy. The addition of $142,000 to
the expense of the Commonwealth in perpetuity is not to be undertaken
but upon proven necessity.

Service in the General Court is not obligatory but optional. It is not
to be undertaken as a profession or a means of livelihood. It is a
voluntary public service. In accord with the principles of our
democratic institutions a compensation has been given in order that
talent for service rather than the possession of property might be the
standard of membership. There is no man of sufficient talent in the
Commonwealth so poor that he cannot serve for a session, which averages
about five months, and five days each week, at a salary of $1000--and
travel allowance of $2.50 for each mile between his home and the State
House. This is too clear for argument. There is no need to consider
those who are too rich to serve for this sum. It would be futile to
discuss whether their services are worth more or less than this, as that
is not here the question. Membership in the General Court is not a job.
There are services rendered to the Commonwealth by senators and
representatives that are priceless. For the searching out of great
principles on which legislation is based there is no adequate
compensation. If value for services were the criterion, there would be
280 different salaries. When membership is sought as a means of
livelihood, legislation will pass from a public function to a private
enterprise. Men do not serve here for pay. They seek work and places of
responsibility and find in that seeking, not in their pay, their honor.

The realities of life are not measured by dollars and cents. The skill
of the physician, the divine eloquence of the clergyman, the courage of
the soldier, that which we call character in all men, are not matters of
hire and salary. No person was ever honored for what he received. Honor
has been the reward for what he gave. Public acclaim and the ceremonious
recognition paid to returning heroes are not on account of their
government pay but of the service and sacrifice they gave their country.
The place each member of the General Court will hold in the estimation
of his constituents will never depend on his salary, but on the ability
and integrity with which he does his duty; not on what he receives, but
on what he gives; and only out of the bountifulness of his own giving
will his constituents raise him to power. Not by indulging himself, but
by denying himself, will he reach success.

It is because the General Court has recognized these principles in its
past history that it has secured its high place as a legislative body.
This act disregards all this and will ever appear to be an undertaking
by members to raise their own salaries. The fact that many were thinking
of the needs of others will remain unknown. Appearances cannot be
disregarded. Those in whom is placed the solemn duty of caring for
others ought to think of themselves last or their decisions will lack
authority. There is apparent a disposition to deny the
disinterestedness and impartiality of government. Such charges are the
result of ignorance and an evil desire to destroy our institutions for
personal profit. It is of infinite importance to demonstrate that
legislation is used not for the benefit of the legislator, but of the
public.

The General Court of Massachusetts is a legislative body noted for its
fairness and ability. It has no superior. Its critics have for the most
part come from the outside and have most frequently been those who have
approached it with the purpose of securing selfish desires of their
clients or themselves. A long familiarity with it increases respect for
it. It is charged with expressing the abiding convictions and conscience
of the people of the Commonwealth. The most solemn obligation placed by
the Constitution on the Executive is the power to veto its actions. In
all matters affecting it the General Court is entitled to his best
judgment and carefully considered opinion. Anything less would be a
mark of disrespect and disloyalty to its members. That judgment and
opinion, arrived at after a wide counsel with members and others, is
here expressed, in the light of an obligation which is not personal,
"faithfully and impartially to discharge and perform" the duties of a
public office.




XXIX

FLAG DAY PROCLAMATION

MAY 26, 1919


Works which endure come from the soul of the people. The mighty in their
pride walk alone to destruction. The humble walk hand in hand with
Providence to immortality. Their works survive. When the people of the
Colonies were defending their liberties against the might of kings, they
chose their banner from the design set in the firmament through all
eternity. The flags of the great empires of that day are gone, but the
Stars and Stripes remain. It pictures the vision of a people whose eyes
were turned to the rising dawn. It represents the hope of a father for
his posterity. It was never flaunted for the glory of royalty, but to be
born under it is to be a child of a king, and to establish a home under
it is to be the founder of a royal house. Alone of all flags it
expresses the sovereignty of the people which endures when all else
passes away. Speaking with their voice it has the sanctity of
revelation. He who lives under it and is loyal to it is loyal to truth
and justice everywhere. He who lives under it and is disloyal to it is a
traitor to the human race everywhere. What could be saved if the flag of
the American Nation were to perish?

In recognition of these truths and out of a desire born of a purpose to
defend and perpetuate them, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has by
ordinance decreed that for one day of each year their importance should
be dwelt upon and remembered. Therefore, in accordance with that
authority, the anniversary of the adoption of the national flag, the
14th day of June next, is set apart as

FLAG DAY

and it is earnestly recommended that it be observed by the people of
the Commonwealth by the display of the flag of our country and in all
ways that may testify to their loyalty and perpetuate its glory.




XXX

AMHERST COLLEGE COMMENCEMENT

JUNE 18, 1919


To the son of any college, although he does not make his connection with
his college a profession, a return of Commencement Day recalls many
memories. It is likely also, after nearly a quarter of a century, to
cause some reflections. It is, I suppose, to give tongue to such
memories and reflections that after-dinner speaking is provided. After
all due allowance for change of perspective, going to college was a
greater event twenty-five years ago than it is to-day. My own memories
are not yet ancient enough to warrant their recalling. The greater
events of that day are too recent to need to be related.

But I should fail in my duty and neglect my deep conviction if I did not
declare that in my day there was no better place to educate a young
man. Most of them came with a realization that their coming meant a
sacrifice at home. They may have lacked a proficiency in the arts of the
drawing room which sometimes brought a smile; but no competitor met the
Amherst men of that day on the athletic field or in the postgraduate
school with a smile that did not soon come off. They had their pranks
and sprees, but they had the ideals of a true manhood. They were moved
with a serious purpose. He who had less lacked place among them. They
are come and gone from the campus, those men of the early nineties, and
with them went the power to command.

Those were days that represented especially the spirit of President
Seelye. Under his brilliant and polished successor the Faculty changes
were few. There was Professor Wood, the most accomplished intellectual
hazer of freshmen. There was Professor Gibbons, who was strong enough in
Greek derivation so that every second-year man soon had a clear
conception of the meaning of sophomore. After demonstrating clearly that
on the negative side the derivation of "contiguity" was not "con" and
"tiguity," he advised those who could not with equal clearness
demonstrate its derivation on the positive side to look it up. There
were Morse and Frink, Richardson, Hitchcock, Estey, Crowell, Tyler, and
Garman. All these and more are gone. The living, no less eminent, I need
not recall. As a teaching force, as an inspirer of youth, for training
men how to think, that faculty has had and will have nowhere any
superior.

     "So passed that pageant."

The college of to-day has taken on a new life, a new activity. Military
training then was a spectacle for the Massachusetts Agricultural
College. To-day Amherst welcomes its returning soldiers, and but a
little time since divested itself of the character of a military camp to
resume the wonted garb of peace. Yet it is and has been the same
institution,--a college of the liberal arts. In this so-called practical
age Amherst has chosen for her province the most practical of all,--the
culture and the classics of all time.

Civilization depends not only upon the knowledge of the people, but upon
the use they make of it. If knowledge be wrongfully used, civilization
commits suicide. Broadly speaking, the college is not to educate the
individual, but to educate society. The individual may be ignorant and
vicious. If society have learning and virtue, that will sustain him. If
society lacks learning and virtue, it perishes. Education must give not
only power but direction. It must minister to the whole man or it fails.

Such an education considered from the position of society does not come
from science. That provides power alone, but not direction. Give a
savage tribe firearms and a distillery, and their members will
exterminate each other. They have science all right, but misuse it.
They lack ideals. These young men that we welcome back with so much
pride did not go forth to demonstrate their faith in science. They did
not offer their lives because of their belief in any rule of mathematics
or any principle of physics or chemistry. The laws of the natural world
would be unaffected by their defeat or victory. No; they were defending
their ideals, and those ideals came from the classics.

This is preeminently true of the culture of Greece and Rome. Patriotism
with them was predominant. Their heroes were those who sacrificed
themselves for their country, from the three hundred at Thermopylae to
Horatius at the bridge. Their poets sang of the glory of dying for one's
native land. The orations of Demosthenes and Cicero are pitched in the
same high strain. The philosophy of Plato and Aristotle and the Greek
and Latin classics were the foundation of the Renaissance. The revival
of learning was the revival of Athens and Sparta and of the Imperial
City. Modern science is their product. To be included with the classics
are modern history and literature, the philosophers, the orators, the
statesmen, and poets,--Milton and Shakespeare, Lowell and Whittier,--the
Farewell Address, the Reply to Hayne, the Speech at Gettysburg,--it is
all these and more that I mean by the classics. They give not only power
to the intellect, but direct its course of action.

The classic of all classics is the Bible.

I do not underestimate schools of science and technical arts. They have
a high and noble calling in ministering to mankind. They are important
and necessary. I am pointing out that in my opinion they do not provide
a civilization that can stand without the support of the ideals that
come from the classics.

The conclusion to be derived from this position is that a vocational or
technical education is not enough. We must have every American citizen
well grounded in the classical ideals. Such an education will not unfit
him for the work of the world. Did those men in the trenches fight any
less valiantly, did they shrink any more from the hardships of war, when
a liberal culture had given a broader vision of what the great conflict
meant? The discontent in modern industry is the result of a too narrow
outlook. A more liberal culture will reveal the importance and nobility
of the work of the world, whether in war or peace. It is far from enough
to teach our citizens a vocation. Our industrial system will break down
unless it is humanized. There is greater need for a liberal culture that
will develop the whole man in the whole body of our citizenship. The day
when a college education will be the portion of all may not be so far
distant as it seems.

We live in a republic. Our Government is exercised through
representatives. Their course of action is a very accurate reflection
of public opinion. Where shall that be formed and directed unless from
the influences, direct and indirect, that come from our institutions of
learning. The laws of a republic represent its ideals. They are founded
upon public opinion, and public opinion in America up to the present
time has drawn its inspiration from the classics. They tell us that
Waterloo was won on the football fields of Rugby and Eton. The German
war was won by the influence of classical ideals. As a teacher of the
classics, as a maker of public opinion, as a source of wise laws, as the
herald of a righteous victory,--Amherst College stands on a foundation
which has remained unchanged through the ages. May there be in all her
sons a conviction that with her abides Him who changes not.




XXXI

HARVARD UNIVERSITY COMMENCEMENT

JUNE 19, 1919


No college man who has ever glanced at the Constitution of Massachusetts
is likely to miss or forget the generous references there made to
Harvard University. It may need a closer study of that instrument, which
is older than the American Constitution, to realize the full
significance of those most enduring of guaranties that could then be
imposed in behalf of Massachusetts institutions.

The convention which framed our Constitution has as its president James
Bowdoin, a son of Harvard. He was a man of great strength of character
and cast an influence for good upon the deliberations of his day worthy
of a place in history more conspicuous than is generally accorded to
him. He had as his colleague on the floor no less a person than John
Adams. It is not necessary in this presence to designate his alma mater.
There were others of importance, but these represented the type of
thought that prevailed.

In that noble Declaration of Rights the principles of freedom and
equality were first declared. Following this is set forth the right of
religious liberty and the duty of citizens to support places of
religious worship and instruction; and in the Frame of Government, after
establishing the University, there is given to legislators and
magistrates a mandate forever to cherish and support the cause of
education and institutions of learning. These were the declaration of
broad and liberal policies. They are capable of being combined, for in
fact they declare that teaching, whether it be by clergy or laity, is of
an importance that requires it to be surrounded with the same safeguards
and guaranties as freedom and equality. In fact the Constitution
declares that "wisdom and knowledge, as well as virtue, diffused
generally among the body of the people, are necessary for the
preservation of their rights and liberties." John Adams and James
Bowdoin knew that freedom was the fruit of knowledge. Their conclusions
were drawn from the directions of Holy Writ--"Come, know the truth, and
it shall make you free."

These principles there laid down with so much solemnity have now the
same binding force as in those revolutionary days when they were
recognized and proclaimed. I am not unaware that they are old. Whatever
is, is old. It is but our own poor apprehension of it that is new. It
would be well if they were re-apprehended. It is not well if the great
diversity of modern learning has made the truth so little of a novelty
that it lacks all reverence.

The days of the Revolution were days of reverence and of applied
reverence. Teaching was to a considerable extent in the hands of the
clergy. Institutions of learning were presided over by clergymen. The
teacher spoke with the voice of authority. He was treated with
deference. He held a place in the community that was not only secure but
high. The rewards of his services were comparatively large. He was a
leader of the people. From him came the inspiration of liberty. It was
in the meeting-houses that the Revolution was framed.

This dual character little exists now, but the principle is the same.
Teaching is the same high calling, but how lacking now in comparative
appreciation. The compensation of many teachers and clergymen is far
less than the pay of unskilled labor. The salaries of college professors
are much less than like training and ability would command in the
commercial world. We pay a good price to bank men to guard our money. We
compensate liberally the manufacturer and the merchant; but we fail to
appreciate those who guard the minds of our youth or those who preside
over our congregations. We have lost our reverence for the profession of
teaching and bestowed it upon the profession of acquiring.

This will have such a reaction as might be expected. Some of the clergy,
seeing their own rewards are disproportionate, will draw the conclusion
that all rewards are disproportionate, that the whole distribution of
wealth is unsound; and turn to a belief in and an advocacy of some kind
of a socialistic state. Some of our teachers, out of a like discontent,
will listen too willingly to revolutionary doctrines which have not
originated in meeting-houses but are the importations of those who lack
nothing but the power to destroy all that our civilization holds dear.
Unless these conditions are changed, these professions will not attract
to their services young men of the same comparative quality of ability
and character that in the past they commanded.

In our pursuit of prosperity we have forgotten and neglected its
foundations. It is true that many of our institutions of learning are
well endowed and have spacious buildings, but the plant is not enough.
Many modern schoolhouses put to shame any public buildings that were
erected in the Colonies. I am directing attention to the comparative
position of the great mass of teachers and clergymen. They are not
properly appreciated or properly paid. They have provided the
foundations of our liberties. The importance of their position cannot be
overestimated. They have been faithful though neglected; but a state
which neglects or refuses to support any class will soon find that such
class neglects and refuses to support it. The remedy lies in part with
private charity, in part with government action; but it lies wholly with
public opinion. Private charity must worthily support its clergymen and
the faculty and instructors of our higher institutions of learning; and
the Government must adequately reward the teachers in its schools. In
the great bound forward which has been taken in a material way, these
two noble professions, the pillars of liberty and equality, have been
neglected and left behind. They must be reestablished. They must be
restored to the place of reverence they formerly held.

The profession of teaching has come down to us with a sanction of
antiquity greater than all else. So far back as we can peer into human
history there has stood a priesthood that has led its people
intellectually and morally. Teaching is leading. The fundamental needs
of humanity do not change. They are constant. These influences so potent
in the development of Massachusetts cannot be exchanged for a leadership
that is bred of the market-place, to her advantage. We must turn our
eyes from what is to what ought to be. The men of the day of John Adams
and James Bowdoin had a vision that looked into the heart of things.
They led a revolution that swept on to a successful conclusion. They
established a nation that has endured until its flag is the ancient
among the banners of the earth. Their counsel will not be mocked. The
men of that day almost alone in history brought a Revolution to its
objective. Not only that, they reached it in such a condition that it
there remained. The counterattack of disorder failed entirely to
dislodge it. Their success lay entirely in the convictions they had. No
nation can reject these convictions and remain a republic. Anarchy or
despotism will overwhelm it.

Massachusetts established Harvard College to be a defender of righteous
convictions, of reverence for truth and for the heralds of truth. The
purpose set forth in the Constitution is clear and plain. It recognizes
with the clear conviction of men not thinking of themselves that the
cause of America is the cause of education, but of education with a
soul, a trained intellect but guided ever by an enlightened conscience.
We of our day need to recognize with the same vision that when these
fail, America has failed.




XXXII

PLYMOUTH, LABOR DAY

SEPTEMBER 1, 1919


The laws of our country have designated the first Monday of each
September as Labor Day. It is truly an American day, for it was here
that for the first time in history a government was founded on a
recognition of the sovereignty of the citizen which has irresistibly led
to a realization of the dignity of his occupation. It is with added
propriety that this day is observed this year. For the first time in
five years it comes at a time when the issue of world events makes it no
longer doubtful whether the American conception of work as the crowning
glory of men free and equal is to prevail over the age-old European
conception that work is the badge of the menial and the inferior. The
American ideal has prevailed on European battle-fields through the
loyalty, devotion, and sacrifice of American labor.

The duty of citizenship in this hour is to strive to maintain and
extend that ideal at home.

The past five years have been a time of rapid change and great progress
for the American people. Not only have the hours and conditions of labor
been greatly improved, but wages have increased about one hundred per
cent. There has been a great economic change for the better among all
wage-earners.

We have known that political power was with the people, because they
have the votes. We have generally supposed that economic power was not
with the people, because they did not own the property. This
supposition, probably never true, is growing more and more to be
contrary to the facts. The great outstanding fact in the economic life
of America is that the wealth of the Nation is owned by the people of
the Nation. The stockholders of the great corporations run into the
hundreds of thousands, the small tradesmen, the thrifty householders,
the tillers of the soil, the depositors in savings banks, and the now
owners of government bonds, make a number that includes nearly our
entire people. This would be illustrated by a few Massachusetts examples
from figures which were reported in 1918:

_Number of Stockholders_

Railroads                        40,485
Street railways                  17,527
Telephone                        49,688
Western Union Telegraph           9,360
                                -------
                                117,060

_Number of Employees_

Railroads                        20,604
Street railways                  25,000
Telephone                        11,471
Western Union Telegraph           2,065
                                 ------
                                 59,140

Savings bank depositors       2,491,646

Railroad, street railway, and
telephone bonds held by
savings banks and savings
departments of trust companies
                           $267,795,636

Savings bank deposits    $1,022,342,583

Money is pouring into savings banks at the rate of $275,000 each
working day.

Comment on these figures is unnecessary. There is, of course, some
reduplication, but in these four public service enterprises there are in
Massachusetts almost twice as many direct owners as there are employees.
Two persons out of three have money in the savings bank--men, women, and
children. There is this additional fact: more than one quarter of the
stupendous sum of over a billion dollars of the savings of nearly two
and a half million savings depositors is invested in railroad, street
railway, and telephone securities.

With these examples in mind it would appear that our problem of economic
justice in Massachusetts, where we live and for which alone we can
legislate, is not quite so simple as assuming that we can take from one
class and give to another class. We are reaching and maintaining the
position in this Commonwealth where the property class and the employed
class are not separate, but identical. There is a relationship of
interdependence which makes their interests the same in the long run.
Most of us earn our livelihood through some form of employment. More and
more of our people are in possession of some part of the wages of
yesterday, and so are investors. This is the ideal economic condition.

The great aim of our Government is to protect the weak--to aid them to
become strong. Massachusetts is an industrial State. If her people
prosper, it must be by that means in some of its broad avenues. How can
our people be made strong? Only as they draw their strength from our
industries. How can they do that? Only by building up our industries and
making them strong. This is fundamental. It is the place to begin. These
are the instruments of all our achievement. When they fail, all fails.
When they prosper, all prosper. Workmen's compensation, hours and
conditions of labor are cold, consolations, if there be no employment.
And employment can be had only if some one finds it profitable. The
greater the profit, the greater the wages.

This is one of the economic lessons of the war. It should be remembered
now when taxes are to be laid, and in the period of readjustment. Taxes
must be measured by the ability to meet them out of surplus income.
Industry must expand or fail. It must show a surplus after all payments
of wages, taxes, and returns to investors. Conscription can call once,
then all is over. Just requirements can be met again and again with
ever-increasing ability.

Justice and the general welfare go hand in hand. Government had to take
over our transportation interests in order to do such justice to them
that they could pay their employees and carry our merchandise. They have
been so restricted lest they do harm that they became unable to do good.
Their surplus was gone, and we New Englanders had to go without coal.
Seeing now more clearly than before the true interests of wage-earner,
investor, and the public, which is the consumer, we shall hereafter be
willing to pay the price and secure the benefits of justice to all these
cooerdinate interests.

We have met the economic problem of the returning service men. They have
been assimilated into our industrial life with little delay and with no
disturbance of existing conditions. The day of adversity has passed. The
American people met and overcame it. The day of prosperity has come. The
great question now is whether the American people can endure their
prosperity. I believe they can. The power to preserve America is in the
same hands to-day that it was when the German army was almost at the
gates of Paris. That power is with the people themselves; not one class,
but all classes; not one occupation, but all occupations; not one
citizen, but all citizens.

During the past five years we have heard many false prophets. Some were
honest, but unwise; some plain slackers; a very few were simply public
enemies. Had their counsels prevailed, America would have been
destroyed. In general they appealed to the lower impulses of the people,
for in their ignorance they believed the most powerful motive of this
Nation was a sodden selfishness. They said the war would never affect
us; we should confine ourselves to making money. They argued for peace
at any price. They opposed selective service. They sought to prevent
sending soldiers to Europe. They advocated peace by negotiation. They
were answered from beginning to end by the loyalty of the American
workingmen and the wisdom of their leaders. That loyalty and that wisdom
will not desert us now. The voices that would have lured us to
destruction were unheeded. All counsels of selfishness were unheeded,
and America responded with a spirit which united our people as never
before to the call of duty.

Having accomplished this great task, having emerged from the war the
strongest, the least burdened nation on earth, are we now to fail before
our lesser task? Are we to turn aside from the path that has led us to
success? Who now will set selfishness above duty? The counsel that
Samuel Gompers gave is still sound, when he said in effect, "America may
not be perfect. It has the imperfections of all things human. But it is
the best country on earth, and the man who will not work for it, who
will not fight for it, and if need be die for it, is unworthy to live in
it."

Happily, the day when the call to fight or die is now past. But the day
when it is the duty of all Americans to work will remain forever. Our
great need now is for more of everything for everybody. It is not money
that the nation or the world needs to-day, but the products of labor.
These products are to be secured only by the united efforts of an entire
people. The trained business man and the humblest workman must each
contribute. All of us must work, and in that work there should be no
interruption. There must be more food, more clothing, more shelter. The
directors of industry must direct it more efficiently, the workers in
industry must work in it more efficiently. Such a course saved us in
war; only such a course can preserve us in peace. The power to preserve
America, with all that it now means to the world, all the great hope
that it holds for humanity, lies in the hands of the people. Talents and
opportunity exist. Application only is uncertain. May Labor Day of 1919
declare with an increased emphasis the resolution of all Americans to
work for America.




XXXIII

WESTFIELD

SEPTEMBER 3, 1919


We come here on this occasion to honor the past, and in that honor
render more secure the present. It was by such men as settled Westfield,
and two hundred and fifty years ago established by law a chartered and
ordered government, that the foundations of Massachusetts were laid. And
it was on the foundations of Massachusetts that there began that
training of the people for the great days that were to come, when they
were prepared to endorse and support the principles set out in the
Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States of
America, and the Emancipation Proclamation of Abraham Lincoln. Here were
planted the same seeds of righteousness victorious which later
flourished with such abundance at Saratoga, at Gettysburg, and at the
second battle of the Marne. Stupendous results, the product of a people
working with an everlasting purpose.

While celebrating the history of Westfield, this day has been set apart
to the memory of one of her most illustrious sons, General William
Shepard. To others are assigned the history of your town and the
biography of your soldier. Into those particulars I shall not enter. But
the principles of government and of citizenship which they so well
represent, and nobly illustrate, will never be untimely or unworthy of
reiteration.

The political history of Westfield has seen the success of a great
forward movement, to which it contributed its part, in establishing the
principle, that the individual in his rights is supreme, and that
"governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed."
It is the establishment of liberty, under an ordered form of government,
in this ancient town, by the people themselves, that to-day draws us
here in admiration of her achievements. When we turn to the life of her
patriot son we see that he no less grandly illustrated the principle,
that to such government, so established, the people owe an allegiance
which has the binding power of the most solemn obligation.

There is such a disposition in these days to deny that our Government
was formed by, or is now in control of, the people, that a glance at the
history of the days of General Shepard is peculiarly pertinent and
instructive.

The Constitution of Massachusetts, with its noble Declaration of Rights,
was adopted in 1780. Under it we still live with scarce any changes that
affect the rights of the people. The end of the Revolutionary War was
1783. Shays's Rebellion was in 1787. The American Constitution was
ratified and adopted in 1788. These dates tell us what the form of
government was in this period.

If there are any who doubt that our institutions, formed in those days,
did not establish a peoples' government, let them study the action of
the Massachusetts Convention which ratified the Federal Constitution in
1788. Presiding over it was the popular patriot Governor John Hancock.
On the floor sat Samuel Adams, who had been the father of the
Revolution, preeminent champion of the liberty of the people. Such an
influence had he, that his assertion of satisfaction, was enough to
carry the delegates. Like a majority of the members he came opposed to
ratification. Having totally thrown off the authority of foreign power,
they came suspicious of all outside authority. Besides there were
eighteen members who had taken part in Shays's Rebellion, so hostile
were they to the execution of all law. Mr. Adams was finally convinced
by a gathering of the workingmen among his constituents, who exercised
their constitutional right of instructing their representatives. Their
opinion was presented to him by Paul Revere. "How many mechanics were at
the Green Dragon when these resolutions were passed?" asked Mr. Adams.
"More, sir, than the Green Dragon could hold." "And where were the
rest?" "In the streets, sir." "And how many were in the streets?" "More
than there are stars in the sky." This is supposed to have convinced the
great Massachusetts tribune that it was his duty to support
ratification.

There were those, however, who distrusted the Constitution and
distrusted its proponents. They viewed lawyers and men of means with
great jealousy. Amos Singletary expressed their sentiments in the form
of an argument that has not ceased to be repeated in the discussion of
all public affairs. "These lawyers," said he, "and men of learning and
moneyed men that talk so finely and gloss over matters so smoothly, to
make us poor illiterates swallow the pill, expect to get into Congress
themselves. They mean to be managers of the Constitution. They mean to
get all the money into their hands and then they will swallow up us
little folk, like the great Leviathan, Mr. President: yes, just like the
whale swallowed up Jonah." In the convention sat Jonathan Smith, a
farmer from Lanesboro. He had seen Shays's Rebellion in Berkshire. There
had been no better example of a man of the people desiring the common
good.

"I am a plain man," said Mr. Smith, "and am not used to speak in public,
but I am going to show the effects of anarchy, that you may see why I
wish for good government. Last winter people took up arms, and then, if
you went to speak to them, you had the musket of death presented to your
breast. They would rob you of your property, threaten to burn your
houses, oblige you to be on your guard night and day. Alarms spread from
town to town, families were broken up; the tender mother would cry,
'Oh, my son is among them! What shall I do for my child?' Some were
taken captive; children taken out of their schools and carried away....
How dreadful was this! Our distress was so great that we should have
been glad to snatch at anything that looked like a government.... Now,
Mr. President, when I saw this Constitution, I found that it was a cure
for these disorders. I got a copy of it, and read it over and over.... I
did not go to any lawyer, to ask his opinion; we have no lawyer in our
town, and we do well enough without. My honourable old daddy there
(pointing to Mr. Singletary) won't think that I expect to be a
Congressman, and swallow up the liberties of the people. I never had any
post, nor do I want one. But I don't think the worse of the Constitution
because lawyers, and men of learning, and moneyed men are fond of it. I
am not of such a jealous make. They that are honest men themselves are
not apt to suspect other people.... Brother farmers, let us suppose a
case, now. Suppose you had a farm of 50 acres, and your title was
disputed, and there was a farm of 5000 acres joined to you that belonged
to a man of learning, and his title was involved in the same difficulty;
would you not be glad to have him for your friend, rather than to stand
alone in the dispute? Well, the case is the same. These lawyers, these
moneyed men, these men of learning, are all embarked in the same cause
with us, and we must all sink or swim together. Shall we throw the
Constitution overboard because it does not please us all alike? Suppose
two or three of you had been at the pains to break up a piece of rough
land and sow it with wheat: would you let it lie waste because you could
not agree what sort of a fence to make? Would it not be better to put up
a fence that did not please every one's fancy, rather than keep
disputing about it until the wild beasts came in and devoured the crop?
Some gentlemen say, Don't be in a hurry; take time to consider. I say,
There is a time to sow and a time to reap. We sowed our seed when we
sent men to the Federal Convention, now is the time to reap the fruit of
our labour; and if we do not do it now, I am afraid we shall never have
another opportunity."

There spoke the common sense of the common man of the Commonwealth. The
counsel of the farmer from the country, joined with the resolutions of
the workingmen from the city, carried the convention and the
Constitution was ratified. In the light of succeeding history, who shall
say, that it was not the voice of the people, speaking with the voice of
Infinite Authority?

The attitude of Samuel Adams, William Shepard, Jonathan Smith and the
workingmen of Boston toward government, is worthy of our constant
emulation. They had not hesitated to take up arms against tyranny in the
Revolution, but having established a government of the people they were
equally determined to defend and support it. They hated the usurper
whether king, or Parliament, or mob, but they bowed before the duly
constituted authority of the people.

When the question of pardoning the convicted leaders of the rebellion
came up, Adams opposed it. "In monarchies," he said, "the crime of
treason and rebellion may admit of being pardoned or lightly punished;
but the man who dares to rebel against the laws of a republic ought to
suffer death." We are all glad mercy prevailed and pardon was granted.
But the calm judgment of Samuel Adams, the lover of liberty, "the man of
the town meeting" whose clear vision, taught by bitter experience, saw
that all usurpation is tyranny, must not go unheeded now. The authority
of a just government derived from the consent of the governed, has back
of it a Power that does not fail.

All wars bring in their trail great hardships. They existed in the day
of General Shepard. They exist now. Having set up a sound government in
Massachusetts, having secured their independence, as the result of a
victorious war, the people expected a season of easy prosperity. In that
they were temporarily disappointed. Some rebelling, were overthrown. The
adoption of the Federal Constitution brought relief and prosperity.

Success has attended the establishment here of a government of the
people. We of this day have just finished a victorious war that has
added new glory to American arms. We are facing some hardships, but they
are not serious. Private obligations are not so large as to be
burdensome. Taxes can be paid. Prosperity abounds. But the great promise
of the future lies in the loyalty and devotion of the people to their
own Government. They are firm in the conviction of the fathers, that
liberty is increased only by increasing the determination to support a
government of the people, as established in this ancient town, and
defended by its patriotic sons.




XXXIV

_The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

By His Excellency Calvin Coolidge, Governor_

A PROCLAMATION


The entire State Guard of Massachusetts has been called out. Under the
Constitution the Governor is the Commander-in-Chief thereof by an
authority of which he could not if he chose divest himself. That command
I must and will exercise. Under the law I hereby call on all the police
of Boston who have loyally and in a never-to-be-forgotten way remained
on duty to aid me in the performance of my duty of the restoration and
maintenance of order in the city of Boston, and each of such officers is
required to act in obedience to such orders as I may hereafter issue or
cause to be issued.

I call on every citizen to aid me in the maintenance of law and order.

     Given at the Executive Chamber, in Boston, this eleventh day of
     September, in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and
     nineteen, and of the Independence of the United States of America
     the one hundred and forty-fourth.

     CALVIN COOLIDGE

     By His Excellency the Governor,

     ALBERT P. LANGTRY

     _Secretary of the Commonwealth_

God save the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.




XXXV

AN ORDER

  BOSTON, _September_ 11, 1919

To EDWIN U. CURTIS,

As you are Police Commissioner of the City of Boston,

_Executive Order No. 1_

You are hereby directed, for the purpose of assisting me in the
performance of my duty, pursuant to the proclamation issued by me this
day, to proceed in the performance of your duties as Police Commissioner
of the city of Boston under my command and in obedience to such orders
as I shall issue from time to time, and obey only such orders as I may
so issue or transmit.

  CALVIN COOLIDGE
  _Governor of Massachusetts_




XXXVI

A TELEGRAM

  BOSTON, MASS., _Sept_. 14, 1919

MR. SAMUEL GOMPERS

_President American Federation of Labor, New York City, N.Y._

Replying to your telegram, I have already refused to remove the Police
Commissioner of Boston. I did not appoint him. He can assume no position
which the courts would uphold except what the people have by the
authority of their law vested in him. He speaks only with their voice.
The right of the police of Boston to affiliate has always been
questioned, never granted, is now prohibited. The suggestion of
President Wilson to Washington does not apply to Boston. There the
police have remained on duty. Here the Policemen's Union left their
duty, an action which President Wilson characterized as a crime against
civilization. Your assertion that the Commissioner was wrong cannot
justify the wrong of leaving the city unguarded. That furnished the
opportunity, the criminal element furnished the action. There is no
right to strike against the public safety by anybody, anywhere, any
time. You ask that the public safety again be placed in the hands of
these same policemen while they continue in disobedience to the laws of
Massachusetts and in their refusal to obey the orders of the Police
Department. Nineteen men have been tried and removed. Others having
abandoned their duty, their places have, under the law, been declared
vacant on the opinion of the Attorney-General. I can suggest no
authority outside the courts to take further action. I wish to join and
assist in taking a broad view of every situation. A grave responsibility
rests on all of us. You can depend on me to support you in every legal
action and sound policy. I am equally determined to defend the
sovereignty of Massachusetts and to maintain the authority and
jurisdiction over her public officers where it has been placed by the
Constitution and law of her people.

  CALVIN COOLIDGE
  _Governor of Massachusetts_




XXXVII

_The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

By His Excellency Calvin Coolidge, Governor_

A PROCLAMATION


There appears to be a misapprehension as to the position of the police
of Boston. In the deliberate intention to intimidate and coerce the
Government of this Commonwealth a large body of policemen, urging all
others to join them, deserted their posts of duty, letting in the enemy.
This act of theirs was voluntary, against the advice of their well
wishers, long discussed and premeditated, and with the purpose of
obstructing the power of the Government to protect its citizens or even
to maintain its own existence. Its success meant anarchy. By this act
through the operation of the law they dispossessed themselves. They went
out of office. They stand as though they had never been appointed.

Other police remained on duty. They are the real heroes of this crisis.
The State Guard responded most efficiently. Thousands have volunteered
for the Guard and the Militia. Money has been contributed from every
walk of life by the hundreds of thousands for the encouragement and
relief of these loyal men. These acts have been spontaneous,
significant, and decisive. I propose to support all those who are
supporting their own Government with every power which the people have
entrusted to me.

There is an obligation, inescapable, no less solemn, to resist all those
who do not support the Government. The authority of the Commonwealth
cannot be intimidated or coerced. It cannot be compromised. To place the
maintenance of the public security in the hands of a body of men who
have attempted to destroy it would be to flout the sovereignty of the
laws the people have made. It is my duty to resist any such proposal.
Those who would counsel it join hands with those whose acts have
threatened to destroy the Government. There is no middle ground. Every
attempt to prevent the formation of a new police force is a blow at the
Government. That way treason lies. No man has a right to place his own
ease or convenience or the opportunity of making money above his duty to
the State. This is the cause of all the people. I call on every citizen
to stand by me in executing the oath of my office by supporting the
authority of the Government and resisting all assaults upon it.

     Given at the Executive Chamber, in Boston, this twenty-fourth day
     of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and
     nineteen, and of the Independence of the United States of America
     the one hundred and forty-fourth.

  CALVIN COOLIDGE

By His Excellency the Governor,

HERBERT H. BOYNTON

_Deputy, Acting Secretary of the Commonwealth_

God save the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.




XXXVIII

HOLY CROSS COLLEGE

JUNE 25, 1919


To come from the press of public affairs, where the practical side of
life is at its flood, into these calm and classic surroundings, where
ideals are cherished for their own sake, is an intense relief and
satisfaction. Even in the full flow of Commencement exercises it is
apparent that here abide the truth and the servants of the truth. Here
appears the fulfillment of the past in the grand company of alumni,
recalling a history already so thick with laurels. Here is the hope of
the future, brighter yet in the young men to-day sent forth.

    "The unarmed youth of heaven. But o'er their heads
    Celestial armory, shield, helm and spear,
    Hung bright, with diamond flaming and with gold."

In them the dead past lives. They represent the college. They are the
college. It is not in the campus with its imposing halls and temples,
nor in the silent lore of the vast library or the scientific instruments
of well-equipped laboratories, but in the men who are the incarnation of
all these, that your college lives. It is not enough that there be
knowledge, history and poetry, eloquence and art, science and
mathematics, philosophy and ethics, ideas and ideals. They must be
vitalized. They must be fashioned into life. To send forth men who live
all these is to be a college. This temple of learning must be translated
into human form if it is to exercise any influence over the affairs of
mankind, or if its alumni are to wield the power of education.

A great thinker and master of the expression of thought has told us:

"It was before Deity, embodied in a human form, walking among men,
partaking of their infirmities, leaning on their bosoms, weeping over
their graves, slumbering in the manger, bleeding on the cross, that the
prejudices of the Synagogue, and the doubts of the Academy, and the
pride of the Portico, and the fasces of the Lictor, and the swords of
thirty Legions, were humbled in the dust."

If college-bred men are to exercise the influence over the progress of
the world which ought to be their portion, they must exhibit in their
lives a knowledge and a learning which is marked with candor, humility,
and the honest mind.

The present is ever influenced mightily by the past. Patrick Henry spoke
with great wisdom when he declared to the Continental Congress, "I have
but one lamp by which my feet are guided and that is the lamp of
experience." Mankind is finite. It has the limits of all things finite.
The processes of government are subject to the same limitations, and,
lacking imperfections, would be something more than human. It is always
easy to discover flaws, and, pointing them out, to criticize. It is not
so easy to suggest substantial remedies or propose constructive
policies. It is characteristic of the unlearned that they are forever
proposing something which is old, and, because it has recently come to
their own attention, supposing it to be new. Into this error men of
liberal education ought not to fall. The forms and processes of
government are not new. They have been known, discussed, and tried in
all their varieties through the past ages. That which America
exemplifies in her Constitution and system of representative government
is the most modern, and of any yet devised gives promise of being the
most substantial and enduring.

It is not unusual to hear arguments against our institutions and our
Government, addressed particularly to recent arrivals and the sons of
recent arrivals to our shores. They sometimes take the form of a claim
that our institutions were founded long ago; that changed conditions
require that they now be changed. Especially is it claimed by those
seeking such changes that these new arrivals and men of their race and
ideas had no hand in the making of our country, and that it was formed
by those who were hostile to them and therefore they owe it no support.
Whatever may be the condition in relation to others, and whatever
ignorance and bigotry may imagine, such arguments do not apply to those
of the race and blood so prominent in this assemblage. To establish this
it were but necessary to cite eleven of the fifty-five signers of the
Declaration of Independence and recall that on the roll of Washington's
generals were Sullivan, Knox, Wayne, and the gallant son of Trinity
College, Dublin, who fell at Quebec at the head of his troops,--Richard
Montgomery. But scholarship has answered ignorance. The learned and
patriotic research of men of the education of Dr. James J. Walsh and
Michael J. O'Brien, the historian of the Irish American Society, has
demonstrated that a generous portion of the rank and file of the men who
fought in the Revolution and supported those who framed our institutions
was not alien to those who are represented here. It is no wonder that
from among such that which is American has drawn some of its most
steadfast defenders.

In these days of violent agitation scholarly men should reflect that the
progress of the past has been accomplished not by the total overthrow of
institutions so much as by discarding that which was bad and preserving
that which was good; not by revolution but by evolution has man worked
out his destiny. We shall miss the central feature of all progress
unless we hold to that process now. It is not a question of whether our
institutions are perfect. The most beneficent of our institutions had
their beginnings in forms which would be particularly odious to us now.
Civilization began with war and slavery; government began in absolute
despotism; and religion itself grew out of superstition which was
oftentimes marked with human sacrifices. So out of our present
imperfections we shall develop that which is more perfect. But the
candid mind of the scholar will admit and seek to remedy all wrongs with
the same zeal with which it defends all rights.

From the knowledge and the learning of the scholar there ought to be
developed an abiding faith. What is the teaching of all history? That
which is necessary for the welfare and progress of the human race has
never been destroyed. The discoverers of truth, the teachers of science,
the makers of inventions, have passed to their last rewards, but their
works have survived. The Phoenician galleys and the civilization which
was born of their commerce have perished, but the alphabet which that
people perfected remains. The shepherd kings of Israel, the temple and
empire of Solomon, have gone the way of all the earth, but the Old
Testament has been preserved for the inspiration of mankind. The ark of
the covenant and the seven-pronged candlestick have passed from human
view; the inhabitants of Judea have been dispersed to the ends of the
earth, but the New Testament has survived and increased in its influence
among men. The glory of Athens and Sparta, the grandeur of the Imperial
City, are a long-lost memory, but the poetry of Homer and Virgil, the
oratory of Demosthenes and Cicero, the philosophy of Plato and
Aristotle, abide with us forevermore. Whatever America holds that may be
of value to posterity will not pass away.

The long and toilsome processes which have marked the progress of the
past cannot be shunned by the present generation to our advantage. We
have no right to expect as our portion something substantially different
from human experience in the past. The constitution of the universe
does not change. Human nature remains constant. That service and
sacrifice which have been the price of past progress are the price of
progress now.

This is not a gospel of despair, but of hope and high expectation. Out
of many tribulations mankind has pressed steadily onward. The
opportunity for a rational existence was never before so great.
Blessings were never so bountiful. But the evidence was never so
overwhelming as now that men and nations must live rationally or perish.

The defenses of our Commonwealth are not material but mental and
spiritual. Her fortifications, her castles, are her institutions of
learning. Those who are admitted to the college campus tread the
ramparts of the State. The classic halls are the armories from which are
furnished forth the knights in armor to defend and support our liberty.
For such high purpose has Holy Cross been called into being. A firm
foundation of the Commonwealth. A defender of righteousness. A teacher
of holy men. Let her turrets continue to rise, showing forth "the way,
the truth and the light"--

    "In thoughts sublime that pierce the night like stars,
    And with their mild persistence urge man's arch
    To vaster issues."




XXXIX

REPUBLICAN STATE CONVENTION, TREMONT TEMPLE, BOSTON

OCTOBER 4, 1919


Ancient custom crystallized to law has drawn us here. We come to renew
our pledge publicly at the altar of our country. We come in the light of
history and of reason. We come to take counsel both from experience and
from imagination. Over us shines a glorious past, before us lies a
promising future. Around us is a renewed determination deep and solemn
that this Commonwealth of ours shall endure.

The period since our last election has been one of momentous events.
Within its first week the victorious advance of America and her allies
terminated in the armistice of November eleventh. The power of organized
despotisms had been proven to be inferior to the power of organized
republics. Reason had again triumphed over absolutism. The "still small
voice" of the moral law was seen to be greater than the might of kings.
The world appeal to duty triumphed over the world appeal to selfishness.
It always will. There will be far-reaching results from all this which
no one can now foresee. But some things are apparent. The power of the
people has been revealed. The worth of the individual man shines forth
with an increased glory. But most significant of all, for it lies at the
foundation of all civilization and all progress, was the demonstration
that the citizens of the great republics of the earth possess the power
which they dare to use, of maintaining among all men the orderly
processes of revealed law.

These are no new doctrines in Massachusetts. For nearly three hundred
years she has laid her course according to these principles, extending
the blessings which arise from them to her citizens, ever ready to
defend them with her treasure and her blood. In this the past year has
been no exception.

In recognition of the long-established policy of making this
Commonwealth first in humanitarian legislation, the General Court
enacted a law providing for reducing a fifty-four hour week for women
and minors to a forty-eight hour week. It passed the weavers'
specification bill. The allowance under the workmen's compensation law
was increased. Local option was provided on the question of a
twelve-hour day for firemen. Authority was granted corporations to give
their employees a voice in their management. Representatives of the
employees have been appointed to the Board of Trustees of great public
service corporations. Profiteering has been made a crime. A special
commission of which the chairman is Brigadier-General John H. Sherburne
was established to deal with the problem of the high cost of
living--with power which has been effective in reducing the prices of
the necessaries of life. No other State has taken any effective measure.
The compensation of public employees has been increased. The entire
public service of the Commonwealth has been reorganized in accordance
with the constitutional amendment into twenty departments. In caring for
her service men Massachusetts led all the States of the Nation in relief
and in assistance, besides voting the stupendous sum of twenty million
dollars, not as compensation, but as recognition of the gratitude due
those who had represented us in the great war. The educational
opportunities of the youth of the State have been improved. All of these
acts of great importance, which are of course only representative of the
character of current legislation, had the executive approval. There has
been not only a sympathetic but a very practical attitude toward the
ideal expressed in my inaugural address, that there is a right to be
well born, well reared, well educated, well employed, and well paid. We
shall not be shaken in the mature determination to promote these
policies. The ancient faith of Massachusetts in the worth of her
citizens, the cause of great solicitude for the welfare of each
individual, will remain undiminished.

The many uncertainties in transportation which are State, Nation, and
world wide, sent our street railway problems to an expert commission
which will report to a special session of the General Court. It is
recognized that the rate of fare necessary to pay for the service
rendered has in some instances become prohibitive. Some roads and
portions of roads have been closed down. There must be relief. But such
relief must be in accord with sound economic principles. What the public
has the public must pay for. From this there is no escape. Under
private, or public, ownership or operation this rule will be the same.
We must face the facts and restore this necessary service to the people
in such a form that they can meet its costs. In meeting this issue, not
hysterically, not with demagogy, but calmly, with candor, applying an
adequate remedy to ascertained facts, Massachusetts, as usual, will lead
all the other States of the Nation.

That agitation and unrest which has been characteristic of the whole
world since the close of the war has had some manifestations here. There
is a natural desire in every human mind to seek better conditions. Such
a desire is altogether praiseworthy. There must, however, be
discrimination in the methods employed. Wholesale criticism of everybody
and everything does not necessarily exhibit statesmanlike qualities, and
may not be true. Not all those who are working to better the condition
of the people are Bolsheviki or enemies of society. Not all those who
are attempting to conduct a successful business are profiteers. But
unreasonable criticism and agitation for unreasonable remedies will
avail nothing. We, in common with the whole world, are suffering from a
shortage of materials. There is but one remedy for this, increased
production. We need to use sparingly what we have and make more. No
progress will be made by shouting Bolsheviki and profiteers. What we
need is thrift and industry. Let everybody keep at work. Profitable
employment is the death blow to Bolshevism and abundant production is
disaster to the profiteer. Our salvation lies in putting forth greater
effort, in manfully assuming our own burdens, rather than in
entertaining the pleasing delusion that they can be shifted to some
other shoulders. Those who attempt to lead people on in this expectation
only add to their burdens and their dangers.

The people of Boston have recently seen the result of agitation and
unrest in its police force. The policy of that department, established
by an order of former Commissioner O'Meara and adopted by a rule which
has the force of law by the present Commissioner Curtis, prohibited a
police union from affiliating with an outside union. In spite of this
such a union was formed and persisted in with acknowledged and open
defiance of the rules and of the counsel and almost entreaties of the
officers of the department. Such disobedience continuing, the leaders
were cited for trial on charges and heard with their counsel before the
Commissioner. After thorough consideration, and opportunity again to
obey the rules, they were found guilty. In order to give a chance to
recant sentence was suspended. Shortly after, three fourths of the
police force abandoned their posts and refused further to perform their
duties. During the next few hours, there was destruction of property in
the city but happily no loss of life.

Meantime there had been various efforts to save the situation. Some
urged me to remove the Commissioner, some to request him to alter his
course. To all these I had to reply that I had no authority whatever
over his actions and could not lawfully interfere with him. It was my
duty to support him in the execution of the law and that I should do. I
was glad to confer with any one and give my help where it was sought.
The Commissioner was appointed by my predecessor in office for a term of
years. I could with almost equal propriety interfere in the decisions of
the Supreme Court.

To restore order, I at once and by pre-arrangement with him and the
Commissioner, offered to the Mayor to call out the State Guard. At his
request I did so, immediately beginning restoring obedience to the law.
On account of the public danger, I called on the Commissioner to aid me
in the execution of my duties of keeping order, and issued a
proclamation to that effect.

To various suggestions that the police be permitted to return I replied
that the Attorney-General had ruled that by law that could not be done
and while I had no power to appoint, discharge, or reinstate, I was
opposed to placing the public security again in the keeping of this body
of men. There is an obligation to forgive but it does not extend to the
unrepentant. To give them aid and comfort is to support their evil doing
and to become what is known in law as an accessory after the fact. A
government which does that is a reproach to civilization and will soon
have on its hands the blood of its citizens.

The response to the appeal to support the Government of Massachusetts in
sustaining law and order was instantaneous. It came from the State
Guard, from volunteers for police, and the militia, from contributions
gathered among all classes now reaching hundreds of thousands of
dollars, from the loyal police of Boston, from all quarters of the
Commonwealth and beyond. These forces may all be dissipated, they may be
defeated, but while I am entrusted with the office of their
Commander-in-Chief they will not be surrendered. Over them and over
every other law-abiding citizen has gone up the white flag of
Massachusetts. Who is there that by compromising the authority of her
laws dares to haul down that flag? I have resisted and propose to
continue in resistance to such action.

This issue is perfectly plain. The Government of Massachusetts is not
seeking to resist the lawful action or sound policy of organized labor.
It has time and again passed laws for the protection and encouragement
of trade unions. It has done so under my administration upon my
recommendation to a greater extent than in any previous year. In that
policy it will continue. It is seeking to prevent a condition which
would at once destroy all labor unions and all else that is the
foundation of civilization by maintaining the authority and sanctity of
the law. When that goes all goes. It costs something but it is the
cheapest thing that can be bought; it causes some inconvenience but it
is the foundation of all convenience, the orderly execution of the laws.

The people understand this thoroughly. They know that the laws are their
laws and speak their voice. They know that this Government is their
Government founded on their will, administered by their representatives.
Disobedience to it is disobedience to the people. They know that the
property of the Commonwealth is their property. Destruction of it
destroys their substance. The public security is their security. When
that is gone they are in deadly peril. And knowing this the people have
a determination to support the Government with a resolution that is
unchanging.

It is my purpose to maintain the Government of Massachusetts as it was
founded by her people, the protector of the rights of all but
subservient to none. It is my purpose to maintain unimpaired the
authority of her laws, her jurisdiction, her peace, her security. This
ancient faith of Massachusetts which became the great faith of America,
she reestablished in her Constitution before the army of Washington had
gained our independence, declaring for "a government of laws and not of
men." In that faith she still abides. Let him challenge it who dares.
All who love Massachusetts, who believe in America, are bound to defend
it. The choice lies between living under coercion and intimidation, the
forces of evil, or under the laws of the people, orderly, speaking with
their settled convictions, the revelation of a divine authority.




XL

WILLIAMS COLLEGE

OCTOBER 17, 1919


There speaks here with the voice of immortality one who loved
Massachusetts. On every side arise monuments to that enduring affection
bred not of benefits received but of services rendered, of sacrifices
made, that the province of Massachusetts Bay might live enlightened and
secure. A bit of parchment has filled libraries. A few hundred dollars
has enriched generations. The spirit of a single liberty-loving soldier
has raised up a host that has shaken the earth with its martial tread,
laying low the hills but exalting the valleys. Here Colonel Ephraim
Williams still executes his will, still disposes of his patrimony, still
leads the soldiers of the free to an enduring victory, and with a power
greater than the sword stands guard on the frontier marches of the
Commonwealth.

Honor compels that honor be recognized. In compliance with that
requirement this day has been set apart by this institution of letters
in testimony of the merit of her sons. Nearly one half of her living
alumni were under the direct service of the Nation in the great war.
Into all branches of the service, civil and military, they went from the
alumni, from the class rooms, from the faculty, up to President Garfield
himself, who served as Director of the Fuel Administration. From America
and her allies has come the highest of recognition, conferred by
citation, awards, and decorations. Their individual deeds of valor I
shall not relate. They are known to all. Advisedly I say that they have
not been surpassed among men. Their heroism was no less heroic because
it was unconscious there or because of befitting modesty it is
unostentatious here. There was yet a courage unequaled by the most
momentous dangers which were met by those now marked with fame and a
capacity in the others which would have matched equal events with equal
fortitude. In the most grateful recognition of all this, to the living
and the dead, by their Alma Mater the Commonwealth of Massachusetts
reverently joins.

But this day, if it is truly to represent the spirit of this college,
means more than a glorification of the past. It was by a stern
determination to discharge the duties of the present that Ephraim
Williams provided for a future filled with a glory that must not yet be
termed complete. His thoughts were not on himself nor on material
things. Had he chosen to inscribe his name upon a monument of granite or
of bronze it would have gone the way of all the earth. Enlightening the
soul of his fellow man he made his mark which all eternity cannot erase.
A soldier, he did not

         "put his trust
    In reeking tube and iron shard"

to save his countrymen, but like Solomon chose first knowledge and
wisdom and to his choice has likewise been added a splendor of material
prosperity.

Earth's great lesson is written here. In it all men may read the
interpretation of the founder of this college, of the meaning of
America, of the motive high and true which has inspired her soldiers.
Not unmindful of a desire for economic justice but scorning sordid gain,
not seeking the spoils of war but a victory of righteousness, they came,
subordinating the finite to the infinite, placing their trust in that
which does not pass away. This precept heretofore observed must not be
abandoned now. A desire for the earth and the fullness thereof must not
lure our people from their truer selves. Those who seek for a sign
merely in a greatly increased material prosperity, however worthy that
may be, disappointed through all the ages, will be disappointed now. Men
find their true satisfaction in something higher, finer, nobler than
all that. We sought no spoils from war; let us seek no spoil from peace.
Let us remember Babylon and Carthage and that city which her people,
flushed with purple pride, dared call Eternal.

This college and her sons have turned their eyes resolutely toward the
morning. Above the roar of reeking strife they hear the voice of the
founder. Their actions have matched their vision. They have seen. They
have heard. They have done. I thank you for receiving me into their
company, so romantic, so glorious, and for enrolling me as a soldier in
the legion of Colonel Ephraim Williams.




XLI

CONCERNING TEACHERS' SALARIES

OCTOBER 29, 1919


_A Letter to the Mayor of Boston_


MY DEAR MR. MAYOR:

It will be with a good deal of satisfaction that I cooeperate with you
and any other cities of Massachusetts for the purpose of increasing the
pay of those engaged in the teaching of the youth of our Commonwealth.
It has become notorious that the pay for this most important function is
much less than that which prevails in commercial life and business
activities.

Roger Ascham, the teacher to Queen Elizabeth, about 1565, in discussing
this question, wrote: "And it is pity that commonly more care is had,
yea and that among very wise men, to find out rather a cunning man for
their horse than a cunning man for their children. They say nay in word,
but they do so in deed. For to the one they will gladly give a stipend
of two hundred crowns by the year and are loath to offer to the other
two hundred shillings. God that sitteth in Heaven laugheth their choice
to scorn and rewardeth their liberality as it should. For he suffereth
them to have tame and well-ordered horses, but wild and unfortunate
children, and therefore in the end they find more pleasure in their
horse than comfort in their children."

In an address which I made at a Harvard College Commencement I undertook
to direct attention to the inadequate compensation paid to our teachers,
whether in the universities, public schools, or the pulpits of the land.
It is perfectly clear that more money must be provided for these
purposes, which surpass in their importance all our other public
activities, both by government appropriation and by private charity.

It is significant that the number of teachers who are in training in our
normal schools has decreased in the past twelve or fifteen years from
three thousand to two thousand, while the number of students in colleges
and technical schools has increased. The people of the Commonwealth
cannot support the Government unless the Government supports them.

The condition which was described by the teacher of Queen Elizabeth,
that greater compensation is paid for the unimportant things than is
paid for training the intellectual abilities of our youth, might exist
in the sixteenth century, but it ought not to exist in the twentieth
century.

Fortunately for us, the sterling character of teachers of all kinds has
kept them at their task even though we have failed to show them due
appreciation, and up to the present time the public has suffered little.

But unless a change is made and a new policy adopted, the cause of
education will break down. It will either become a trade for those
little fitted for it or be abandoned altogether, instead of remaining
the noblest profession, which it has been and ought to be.

There are some things that are fundamental. In the sixteenth century the
voice of the people was little heard. If the sovereign had wisdom, that
might suffice. But in the twentieth century the people are sovereign.
What they think determines every question of civilization. Unless they
are well trained, well informed, and well instructed, unless a proper
value is put on knowledge and wisdom, the value of all material things
will be lost.

There is now no pains too great, no cost too high, to prevent or
diminish the duty enjoined by the Constitution of the Commonwealth that
wisdom and knowledge, as well as virtue, be generally diffused among the
body of the people.

This important subject ought to be considered and a remedy provided at
the special session of the General Court.




XLII

STATEMENT TO THE PRESS

ELECTION DAY, NOVEMBER 4, 1919


My thanks are due to the millions of my fellow citizens of
Massachusetts. I offer them freely, without undertaking to specify, to
all who have supported the great cause of the supremacy of the law. The
heart of the people has proven again sound and true. No
misrepresentation has blinded them, no sophistry has turned them. They
have listened to the truth and followed it. They have again disappointed
those who distrusted them. They have turned away from those who sought
to play upon their selfishness. They have justified those who trusted
them. They have justified America. The attempt to appeal to class
prejudice has failed. The men of Massachusetts are not labor men, or
policemen, or union men, or poor men, or rich men, or any other class
of men first; they are Americans first. The wage-earners have
vindicated themselves. They have shown by their votes that they resent
trying to use them for private interests, or to employ them to resist
the operation of the Government. They are for the Government. They are
against those who are against the Government. American institutions are
safe in their hands. Some of those who have posed as their leaders and
argued that the wage-earners were patriotic because those leaders told
them to be may well now inquire whether the case did not stand the other
way about. It begins to look as if those who attempt to lead the
wage-earners must first show that they themselves are patriotic if they
are to have any following. The patriotism of some alleged leaders was
not the cause but the effect of the patriotism of the wage-earners.

Three words tell the result. Massachusetts is American. The election
will be a welcome demonstration to the Nation and to people everywhere
who believe that liberty can only be secured by obedience to law.




XLIII

SPEECH AT TREMONT TEMPLE

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 1919, 8 P.M.


Revelation has not ceased. The strength of a righteous cause has not
grown less. The people of Massachusetts are patriotic before they are
partisan, they are not for men but for measures, not for selfishness but
for duty, and they will support their Government. Revelation has not
ceased and faith in men has not failed. They cannot be intimidated, they
cannot be coerced, they cannot be deceived, and their sovereignty is not
for sale.

When this campaign is over it will be a rash man who will again attempt
to further his selfish interests by dragging a great party name in the
mire and seeking to gain the honor of office by trafficking with
disorder. The conduct of public affairs is not a game. Responsible
office does not go to the crafty. Governments are not founded upon an
association for public plunder but on the cooeperation of men wherein
each is seeking to do his duty.

The past five years have been like an earthquake. They have shaken the
institutions of men to their very foundations. It has been a time of
searchings and questionings. It has been a time of great awakenings.
There has been an overpowering resolution among men to make things
better. Despotisms have been falling. Republics have been rising. There
has been rebellion everywhere against usurped authority. With all that
America has been entirely sympathetic. There has been bred in the blood
through generations a great sympathy for all peoples struggling to be
free. We have a deep conviction that "resistance to tyranny is obedience
to law." And on that conviction we have stood for three centuries. Time
and experience have but strengthened our belief that it is sound.

But like all rules of action it only applies to the conditions it
describes. All authority is not usurped authority. Any government is not
tyranny. These are the counterfeits. There are no counterfeits of the
unreal. It is only of the real and true that men seek to pass spurious
imitations.

There are among us a great mass of people who have been reared for
generations under a government of tyranny and oppression. It is
ingrained in their blood that there is no other form of government. They
are disposed and inclined to think our institutions partake of the same
nature as these they have left behind. We know they are wrong. They must
be shown they are wrong.

There is a just government. There are righteous laws. We know the
formula by which they are produced. The principle is best stated in the
immortal Declaration of Independence to be "the consent of the
governed." It is from that source our Government derives its just
powers and promulgates its righteous laws. They are the will of the
people, the settled conviction derived from orderly deliberation, that
take on the sanctity ascribed to the people's voice. Along with the
binding obligation to resist tyranny goes the other admonition, that
"obedience to law is liberty,"--such law and so derived.

These principles, which I have but lightly sketched, are the foundation
of American institutions, the source of American freedom and the faith
of any party entitled to call itself American. It constitutes truly the
rule of the people. It justifies and sanctifies the authority of our
laws and the obligation to support our Government. It is democracy
administered through representation.

There are only two other choices, anarchy or despotism--Russia, present
and past. For the most part human existence has been under the one or
the other of these. Both have failed to minister to the highest welfare
of the people. Unless American institutions can provide for that welfare
the cause of humanity is hopeless. Unless the blessings of prosperity,
the rewards of industry, justice and liberty, the satisfaction of duty
well done, can come under a rule of the people, they cannot come at all.
We may as well abandon hope and, yielding to the demands of selfishness,
each take what he can.

We had hoped these questions were settled. But nothing is settled that
evil and selfish men can find advantage for themselves in overthrowing.
We must eternally smite the rock of public conscience if the waters of
patriotism are to pour forth. We must ever be ready to point out the
success of our country as justification of our determination to support
it.

No one can deny that we are in the midst of an abounding prosperity. No
one can deny that this prosperity is well distributed; especially is
this true of the wage-earner. Industrially, commercially, financially,
America has been a success. The wealth of Massachusetts is increasing
rapidly. There are large deposits going into her savings institutions,
during banking hours with each tick of the clock more than $12.50, with
each minute more than $750, with each day over $270,000. Wages and hours
of labor were never so favorable. We have attained a standard of living
among our people the like of which never before existed on earth.

Intellectually our progress compares with our prosperity. The
opportunity for education is not only large, but it is well used. The
school is everywhere. Ignorance is a disgrace. The turrets of college
and university dot the land. Their student bodies were never so large.
Science and invention, literature and art flourish.

There is higher standard of justice in all the affairs of life than in
the past. Our commercial transactions are on a higher plane. There is a
moral standard that runs through all the avenues of our life that has
lifted it into a new position and gives to men a keener sense of honor
in all things. There has come to be a new realization of the brotherhood
of man, a new significance to religion. The war aroused a new
patriotism, and revealed the strength of our moral power.

The issue in Massachusetts is whether these conditions can endure. Will
men realize their blessing and exhibit the resolution to support and
defend the foundation on which they rest? Having saved Europe are we
ready to surrender America? Having beaten the foe from without are we to
fall a victim to the foe from within?

All of this is put in question by the issue of this campaign. That one
fundamental issue is the support of the Government in its determination
to maintain order. On that all of these opportunities depend.

There can be no material prosperity without order. Stores and banks
could not open. Factories could not run, railways could not operate.
What was the value of plate glass and goods, the value of real estate in
Boston at three o'clock, A.M., September 10? Unless the people vote to
sustain order that value is gone entirely. Business is ended.

On order depends all intellectual progress. Without it all schools
close, libraries are empty, education stops. Disorder was the forerunner
of the Dark Ages.

Without order the moral progress of the people would be lost. With the
schools would go the churches. There could be no assemblages for
worship, no services even for the departed, piety would be swallowed up
in viciousness.

I have understated the result of disorder. Man has not the imagination,
the ability to overstate it. There are those who aim to bring about
exactly this result. I propose at all times to resist them with all the
power at the command of the Chief Executive of Massachusetts.

Naturally the question arises, what shall we do to defend our
birthright? In the first place everybody must take a more active part in
public affairs. It will not do for men to send, they must go. It is not
enough to draw a check. Good government cannot be bought, it has to be
given. Office has great opportunities for doing wrong, but equal chance
for doing right. Unless good citizens hold office bad citizens will.
People see the office-holder rather than the Government. Let the worth
of the office-holder speak the worth of the government. The voice of the
people speaks by the voice of the individual. Duty is not collective, it
is personal. Let every inhabitant make known his determination to
support law and order. That duty is supreme.

That the supremacy of the law, the preservation of the Government itself
by the maintenance of order, should be the issue of this campaign was
entirely due to circumstances beyond my control. That any one should
dare to put in jeopardy the stability of our Government for the purpose
of securing office was to me inconceivable. That any one should attempt
to substitute the will of any outside organization for the authority
conferred by law upon the representatives of the people had never
occurred to me. But the issue arose by action of some of the police of
Boston and it was my duty to meet it. I shall continue to administer the
law of all the people.

I should have been pleased to make this campaign on the record of the
past year. I should have been pleased to show what the march of progress
had been under the people's government, what action had been taken for
the relief of those who toil with their hands as well as their
heads,--and the record was never more alluring,--what has been done to
advance the business and commercial interests of this great industrial
Commonwealth, what has promoted public health, what has assisted in
agricultural development, the progress made in providing transportation,
the increased opportunity given our youth for education. In particular I
should have desired to point out the great pride Massachusetts has in
her war record and the abundant way she has shown her gratitude for her
service men and women, surpassing every other State. All this is a
record not of promises, but of achievement. It is one in which the
voters of the Commonwealth may well take a deep satisfaction. It is
there, it stands, it cannot be argued away. No deception can pervert it.
It endures.

All these are the result of ordered liberty--the result of living under
the law. It is the great desire of Massachusetts to continue such
legislation of progress and humanity. Those who are attempting to wrench
the scepter of authority from the representatives of the people, to
subvert the jurisdiction of her laws, are the enemies not only of
progress, but of all present achievement, not only of what we hope for,
but of what we have.

This is the cause of all the people, especially of the weak and
defenseless. Their only refuge is the protection of the law. The people
have come to understand this. They are taking the deciding of this
election into their own hands regardless of party. If the people win who
can lose? They are awake to the words of Daniel Webster, "nothing will
ruin the country if the people themselves will undertake its safety; and
nothing can save it if they leave that safety in any hands but their
own."

My fellow citizens of Massachusetts, to you I commend this cause. To you
who have added the glory of the hills and plains of France to the glory
of Concord and Bunker Hill, to you who have led when others faltered,
to you again is given the leadership. Grasp it. Secure it. Make it
decisive. Make the discharge of the great trust you now hold an example
of hope for righteousness everywhere, a new guaranty that the Government
of America shall endure.







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by Calvin Coolidge

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