Jasper County Democrat, Volume 21, Number 25, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 June 1918 — WEDNESDAY, JUNE 26, 1918 [ARTICLE]

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 26, 1918

PRINCIPLES OF 177 6 AS APPLIED TO OUR PRESENT WAR The United States is the only country whose government was constructed upon the principles of hm man rights and human liberty. The governments or European countries grew up by degrees as extensions and consolidations of the feudusystem. They were autocratic, opposed to the individual freedom, and any advance in liberty for the body of the people had to be wrung from them by bitter conflict. ; The United States government,' on the contrary, <jjame into being l as a guarantee of the liberty of the people. The first statement in the Declaration of Independence acknowledges -man’s right to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,’’ and the formation of a new country is baseo upon the offenses of the king againstthis right. The men wh > signed tne Declaration did so as a proUrt against arbitrary .power. They bad little to gain and much to lose by the separation from the mother country. American tfoops were few and undisciplined, American resources undeveloped. The outcome of the struggle for independence seemed at the time more than doubtful. Yet these men, with hundreds of their followers, chose to hazard their property, their homes and . A

families and. their very lives in defense of the principles of human liberty. America was victorious in the war, and came to a position whefe she could develop her own power and resources. The United States became one of the great and 'prosperous nations of the world. But the circumstances of her inception

(have laid a peculiar obligation upon her. She must stand as the champion of freedom or be recreant to her own traditions. Our entrance into the war witn Germany is the logical outcome of this (position. We were predestined to it. The United States could not watch unmoved the spectacle of a great arbitrary power, utterly unscrupulous as to means, using its mighty resources and its strong military system toward the enslavement of Europe. Our national holiday this year will be both a celebration and a solemnity. We are giving' our money power and our man power toward the prosecution of a great war, in order to ensure to the fre« of this country and the oppressed of Europe the right to ‘life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” not only for today, but for generations to come. On this anniversary o» the birth of our nation let us feel more than ever that in such a cause no sacrifice can be too great—-that the love of country and the love of humanity are not mere phrases but a living reality to us all.