Kankakee Valley Post, Volume 18, Number 32, DeMotte, Jasper County, 9 July 1948 — Lauds Courage And Spirit Of The Colonists [ARTICLE]

Lauds Courage And Spirit Of The Colonists

Congressman Stirs Home Town Citizens With Independence Day Address Back in Rensselaer for the summer while Congress recesses, Congressman Charles A; Halleck thrilled a home town audience Monday afternoon as the headliner of the American Legion's Fourth of July celebration staged at Tourists’ Park. Congressman Halleck in a chummy manner delivered an address of Independence day tone that paid particular tribute to those forefathers of our nation who declared this to be a free nation and made their declaration stick. He extolled those Colonists as he traced the nation’s History from that eventful July 4, 1776. At times the speaker localized his address as he spoke of earlier Fourth of Julys here in his native Jasper county. His address aside from the local allusions which preluded his talk follows: One hundred and seventy-two years ago today this great free country of ours was born. In every city, village, town and hamlet—North, South, East and West—the liberty-loving people of these U»ited States of America are celebrating this day, the most glorious in human history. It was on this day that a small group of willful, courageous men, representing thirteen struggling colonies, —men who loved liberty more than life itself—publicly proclaimed to the world: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, 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—that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed ...” , And for the support of that declaration, our forbears mutually pledged to eaeh other their lives, their fortunes ‘and their sacred honor, “with firm reliance on the protection of divine providence.” They had no real government for unified leadership. They had no army or navy. They had no treasury upon which to draw. They had no factories to commandeer in the forging of muskets and cannon balls. In all material things they were weak and seemingly helpless. While lacking and weak in a material sense, they were strong in a spiritual sense. They were united in their determination to be free. They had faith—faith in the cause of freedom they espoused, faith in other and faith in the God of all men. Out of this faith there was thus born a nation destined, to become the strongest and greatest in all the w r orld. In the brief period of one hundred and seventytwo years our country has grown from thirteen little colonies to become the one great citadel of freedom to which liberty-loving people everywhere look for assistance. To these men of unconquerable faith we owe our rich heritage of freedom and opportunity. To day we do homage to them and the principles of “Life, Liberty and Pursuit of Happiness’ and “the greatest happiness for the greatest number” to which they gave meaning. When I pause to look abroad and see the starvation, poverty and tyranny over much of the

world, I sometimes marvel that so many of us forget how much we enjoy in this blessed land as compared to other nations. Oh, yes, we do need more j schools, more houses, more automobiles, more bridges, more harbors, more hospitals, more doctors, more nurses, more teachers. That is simply part of the American spirit. We are never, through building, never through expanding and developing. Let us ask ourselves: Why is the United States of America the richest and most powerful in the world? Why do we Americans receive every year per capita quantity of consumer goods far above that obtained by the people of any other nation? We have 46 per cent of the world’s electric power, 48 per cent of , its radios, 54 per cent of its telephones, 59 per cent of its steel capacity, 85 per cent of its automobiles and 92 per cent of its modern bathtubs. In normal times we consume 50 per cent of the world’s coffee, over 50 per cent of the rubber, 35 per cent of all the tanned leather. We consume 65 per cent of the world’s silk, 35 per cent of the wool and 24 per cent of the cotton. What is the explanation for this high standard of living in America? What is the answer to this great productive power? It is not because we have a large population. Actually we constitute only 6 per cent of the total world population, and there are countries that are larger. It is not because of the size of our land area. Actually we comprise only about 7 per cent of the total land area of the world, and there are countries that are larger. It is not because we are overly endowed with natural resources. There are other countries with rich natural resources, including raw materials we do not even have.

The answer to what has been achieved in America in these brief one hundred and seventy-two years is not population, land or resources. They are factors, to be sure. But the real reason for our great national progress, our high stand-, ard of living, and our strength in War and in peace, is the simple but all important fact, that here, in America, we have had freedom and opportunity. Here in America we have emphasized the individual. We have encouraged individual initiative and ingenuity. And we have a private economic system which, if allowed to function properly without unnecessary restraints, furnishes the incentive that makes for strength. In World War I, and again in World War If, we clearly demonstrated to all who are not blinded by fanaticism that a nation of free men is far stronger than a nation of enslaved men. We out produced every dictatorship. We proved that only the free can be productive and only the productive can be strong. America is the land of opportunity that freedom brings. Each and every one of us has a chance to prove his worth and improve himself. We individually progress acj cording to our ability, our ca- | parity for self-discipline, hard work, and our willingness to w&erifice. Every* boy has the right to aspire to be president of the United States, and every boy has a chance to be president. I Abraham Lincoln once said: “I , happen temporarily to occupy this big white house. I am a living 'witness that any one of your children may look to come here, as my father’s child has.” And ,he Went ott to express the hope | that we would never lose his i birthright. I As each of us individually ! strives to improve himself, each t of us contributes to the improve-

ment of all. It is the hustle of. the unit that makes for national progress. It is only in the soil of freedom and opportunity that initiative and enterprise can clourish. The American people still hold aloft the beacon light of freedom, in a world darkened by tyranny and the rule of want and fear. But one by one the lights are going on again all over the world—now dim, and now brightthe faith that is in America reasserts itself again in the hearts and energies of new millions of people the w'orld around. So long as that precious flame burns in the heart and spirit of America, all other things will be added to us. Today, on this the one hundred and seventy-second anniversary of our birth fts a free nation, we here resolve that w r e w r ill prove ourselves worthy of our great heritage. We here, as our fathers before us, pledge our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor that America will continue to be the land of freedom and opportunity. Mrs. Ora Stevenson and Mr. and Mrs. Ivan Robbins and daughter, Mary of Wheatfield spent Sunday at Michigan City.