Class r 'iO Book -^ "t? Copyright N". COFjDRIGHT DEPOSm HAVE FAITH IN MASSACHUSETTS HAVE FAITH IN MASSACHUSETTS A Collection of Speeches and Messages BY CALVIN COOLEDGE Governor of Massachiisetts BOSTON AND NEW YORK HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY The Riverside Press Cambridge 1019 ■.an COPYRIGHT, I9I9, BY CALVIN COOLIDGB ALL RIGHTS RESERVED /,So ULI I D l^lt^ ©CI.A536i73 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 ac- curate phrase that President Meiklejohn used when, in conferring the degree of Doctor of Laws on him at Amherst Col- lege 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 vi INTRODUCTORY NOTE * might be rendered by making a careful selection from the best of the speeches and issuing them in an attractive and conven- ient 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 "In- dustry, thrift, character are not conferred by act or resolve. Government cannot re- lieve 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 right- eousness which will endure." The Editors Boston, September, 1919 CONTENTS I. To the State Senate on Being Elected its President, January 7, 1914 3 II. Amherst College Alumni Association, Boston, February 4, 1916 10 III. Brockton Chamber of Commerce, April 11, 1916 15 IV. At the Home of Daniel Webster, Marsh- field, July 4, 1916 21 V. Riverside, August 28, 1916 38 VI. At the Home of Augustus P. Gardner, Hamilton, September, 1916 42 VII. Lafayette Banquet, Fall River, Septem- ber 4, 1916 47 VIII. Norfolk Republican Club, Boston, Octo- ber 9, 1916 51 IX. Public Meeting on the High Cost of Liv- ing, Faneuil Hall, December 9, 1916 55 X. One Hundredth Anniversary Dinner of the Provident Institution for Savings, December 13, 1916 59 XL Allied Industries Dinner, Boston, Decem- ber 15, 1916 63 XII. On the Nature of Politics 69 viii CONTENTS XIII. Tremont Temple, November 3, 1917 85 XIV. Dedication of Town-House, Weston, November 27, 1917 91 XV. Amherst Alumni Dinner, Springfield, March 15, 1918 102 XVI. Message for the Boston Post, April 22, 1918 108^ XVII. Roxbury Historical Society, Bunker Hill Day, June 17, 1918 109 XVIII. Fairhaven, July 4, 1918 122 XIX. Somerville Repubhcan City Commit- tee, August 7, 1918 126 XX. Written for the Sunday Advertiser and American, September 1, 1918 132 XXI. Essex County Club, Lynnfield, Sep- tember 14, 1918 138 XXII. Tremont Temple, November 2, 1918 148 XXIII. Faneuil Hall, November 4, 1918 158 XXIV. From Inaugural Address as Gover- nor, January 2, 1919 161 XXV. Statement on the Death of Theodore Roosevelt 164 XXVI. Lincoln Day Proclamation, January 30, 1919 166 XXVII. Introducing Henry Cabot Lodge and A. Lawrence Lowell at the Debate on the League of Nations, Sym- phony Hall, March 19, 1919 , 169 CONTENTS ix XXVIII. Veto of Salary Increase 171 XXIX. Flag Day Proclamation, May 26, 1919 177 XXX. Amherst College Commencement, June 18, 1919 180 XXXI. Harvard University Commence- ment, June 19, 1919 188 XXXII. Plymouth, Labor Day, September 1, 1919 197 XXXIII. Westfield, September 3, 1919 207 A Proclamation 219 An Order 221 A Telegram HAVE FAITH IN MASSACHUSETTS 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 obHga- tions 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 power- ful are inseparably bound together. In- dustry cannot flourish if labor languish. Transportation cannot prosper if manu- factures decline. The general welfare can- not 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 4 TO THE STATE SENATE of one man's dividends is the suspension of another man's pay envelope. Men do not make laws. They do but dis- cover them. Laws must be justified by something more than the will of the major- ity. They must rest on the eternal founda- tion 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 near- est 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 na- tion has discarded it and retained liberty. Representative government must be pre- served. Courts are established, not to determine the popularity of a cause, but to adjudi- cate and enforce rights. No litigant should ON BEING ELECTED ITS PRESIDENT 5 be required to submit his case to the haz- ard and expense of a poHtical campaign. No judge should be required to seek or receive pohtical 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 re- solve. 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 distin- guished merit. The normal must care for themselves. Self-government means self- support. Man is born into the universe with a 6 TO THE STATE SENATE 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 per- sonal rights are the same thing. The one cannot be preserved if the other be vio- lated. 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 edu- cated 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 com- mon 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 ON BEING ELECTED ITS PRESIDENT 7 of large aggregations of wealth are the only foundation on which to build the prosper- ity 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 aggrega- tions 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 corpora- tion better to serve the people, whatever the opposition, do that. Expect to be 8 TO THE STATE SENATE 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 multi- plication table. Don't expect to build up the weak by pulling down the strong. Don't hurry to legislate. Give administra- tion 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 wel- fare, representing their deep, silent, abid- ing convictions. Statutes must appeal to more than ma- terial welfare. Wages won't satisfy, be they never so large. Nor houses; nor lands; ON BEING ELECTED ITS PRESIDENT 9 nor coupons, though they fall thick as the leaves of autumn. Man has a spiritual na- ture. Touch it, and it must respond as the magnet responds to the pole. To that, not to selfishness, let the laws of the Common- wealth 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 recog- nition 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 founda- tion of liberty under the law. Such is the sublime revelation of man*s relation to man — Democracy. 10 AMHERST COLLEGE II AMHERST COLLEGE ALUMNI ASSOCLV- TION, BOSTON February 4, 1916 We live in an age which questions every- thing. The past generation was one of reh- gious 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 sel- fish and greedy and not to be trusted. ALUMNI ASSOCIATION, BOSTON 11 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 reli- gious 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 devel- opment 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 aristoc- racy, of limited monarchies and of parlia- ments, 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 12 AMHERST COLLEGE the stone age to the iron age and no nation ever passed directly from depotism to de- mocracy. Each advance has been made only when a previous stage was approach- ing 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 ma- terialistic. 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 des- potism. The hope of to-morrow lies in the development of the instruments of to-day. The prospect of advance lies in maintain- ing 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. ALUMNI ASSOCIATION, BOSTON 13 The only hope for peace Hes in the per- fection 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 civili- zation 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 com- mercial standards that were false or low and that an awakened humanity has de- creed that the working and living condition 14 AMHERST COLLEGE 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 com- merce is only selfishness, and that our citi- zens, 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. BROCKTON CHAMBER OF COMMERCE 15 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 calHng him on to "replenish the earth and subdue it." It may be of little importance to deter- mine 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 ulti- mate goal. We are living in a commercial age. It is often designated as selfish and materialis- tic. We are told that everything has been commercialized. They say it has not been enough that this spirit should dominate 16 BROCKTON 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 criti- cism of commercialism as to advocate the destruction of all enterprise and the aboli- tion of all property. Destructive criticism is always easy be- cause, despite some campaign oratory, some of us are not yet perfect. But con- structive 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 com- merce has flourished there civilization has CHAMBER OF COMMERCE 17 increased. It has not sufficed that men should tend their jflocks, and maintain themselves in comfort on their industry alone, however great. It is only when the exchange of products begins that de- velopment 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 ad- vance of our own land has been due to our trade, and the comfort and happi- ness 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 accu- mulated, there the arts and sciences have 18 BROCKTON flourished, there education has been dif- fused, and of contemplation Hberty has been born. The progress of man has been measured by his commercial prosperity. I believe that these considerations are suffi- cient 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 be- cause by that process man is to find him- self and thereby realize his highest destiny. Men must work for more than wages, fac- tories must turn out more than merchan- CHAMBER OF COMMERCE 19 dise, 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 ma- terial 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 inci- dental, 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 concep- tions of the spirit of our age; that com- merce is the foundation of human progress and prosperity and the great artisan of human character. Let us dismiss the gen- 20 BROCKTON CHAMBER OF COMMERCE eral indictment that has all too long hung over business enterprise. While we con- tinue to condemn, unsparingly, selfishness and greed and all traflScking 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 re- ward. Then shall we see in our industrial army, from the most exalted captain to the humblest soldier in the ranks, a pur- pose worthy to minister to the highest needs of man and to fulfil the hope of a fairer day. AT HOME OF DANIEL WEBSTER 21 IV AT THE HOME OF DANIEL WEBSTER MARSHFIELD July 4, 1916 History is revelation. It is the manifesta- tion in human affairs of a "power not our- selves that makes for righteousness." Sav- ages 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 hu- man 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 natural- ist tells of the animal kingdom, or the geol- ogist relates of the formation of the crust of the earth. It takes men of larger vision and higher inspiration, with a power to im- part a larger vision and a higher inspira- 22 AT THE HOME OF tion to the people, to make history. It is not a negative, but a positive achievement. It is unconcerned with idolatry or despot- ism or treason or rebellion or betrayal, but bows in reverence before Moses or Hamp- den 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 Dec- laration of Independence were new; they are older than the Christian religion, or Greek philosophy, nor was it because his- tory is made by proclamation or declara- tion; history is made only by action. But it was an historic day because the repre- sentatives 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 na- tion, on the theory that "all men are created equal; that they are endowed DANIEL WEBSTER, MARSHFIELD 23 by their Creator with certain inaHenable rights; that among these are hfe, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." The won- der 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 be- ginnings of a government that was to rec- ognize 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 24 AT THE HOME OF 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 gov- ernment, to the spirit of which all the na- tions 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 main- tain themselves. They knew that they there declared a purpose which would be resisted by the forces, on land and sea, of DANIEL WEBSTER, MARSHFIELD 25 the mightiest empire of the earth. Without the resolution of the people of the Colo- nies 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 doc- trinaires, 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 ex- perience have increased the admiration of 26 AT THE HOME OF it. Time and critcism 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 rev- erence and admiration, however preemi- nent, 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 prin- ciples of government, and for self-govern- ment. 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 Mos- DANIEL WEBSTER, MARSHFIELD 27 cow, 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 dark- ness; 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 28 AT THE HOME OF 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 nour- ished, 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 politi- cal 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 exhib- iting itself in the Continental Congress of America, carried her arms to victory, through the sacrifice of a seven years' rev- olutionary war, and wrote into the Treaty of Paris the recognition of the right of the DANIEL WEBSTER, MARSHFIELD 29 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 super- stition 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 out- look which he expressed in the opening de- bates 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, 30 AT THE HOME OF was it that the filhng of a vacancy sent Thomas Jefferson to the second Continental Congress, there to pen the immortal Dec- laration we this day celebrate? No other living man could have excelled him in prep- aration for, or in the execution of, that great task. What circumstance put the young George Washington under the mili- tary instruction of a former army ojBBcer, and then gave him years of training to lead the Continental forces? What settled Ethan Allen in the wilderness of the Green Moun- tains 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 nego- tiate the Treaty of Paris? What influence sent the miraculous voice of Daniel Web- ster from the outlying settlements of New Hampshire to rouse the land with his ap- peal for Liberty and Union? And finally DANIEL WEBSTER, MARSHFIELD 31 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 bar- barians 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 Provi- dence; we may know that our form of government must ultimately prevail upon earth; but what guaranty have we that it 32 AT THE HOME OF shall be maintained here? What proof that some unlineal hand, some barbarism, with- out 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 peo- ple has not yet marked a century and a half. There is no absolute proof, no positive guaranty, but there is hope and high ex- pectation, and the path is not uncharted. It may be some help to know that, how- ever much of glory, there is no magic in American democracy. Let us examine some more of this Declaration of ours, and exam- ine it in the light of the events of those sol- emn days in which it was adopted. Men of every clime have lavished much admiration upon the first part of the Dec- laration 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 dis- DANIEL WEBSTER, MARSHFIELD 33 puted its truth. It is the reaHzation 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 suflScient to live by. The signers knew that well; more impor- tant still, the people whom they repre- sented knew it. So they did not stop there. After asserting that man was to stand out in the universe with a new and supreme im- portance, and that governments were in- stituted to insure life, liberty, and the pur- suit 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 34 AT THE HOME OF 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 Hugue- nots, 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 Prov- idence, 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 Appo- mattox. The doctrine of the Declaration of In- DANIEL WEBSTER, MARSHFIELD 35 dependence, predicated upon the glory of man, and the corresponding duty of soci- ety, 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 ob- ligation 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 Ameri- canism. " 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, commer- cial prosperity, yes, and peace, all these and their accompanying blessings are worthy and commendable objects of attainment. 36 AT THE HOME OF But these are not the end, whether these come or no; the end hes in action — ac- tion 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 vision- aries may shudder at it. The privilege of birth may jeer at it. The practical politi- cian 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 Low- ell's lines: DANIEL WEBSTER, MARSHFIELD 37 ' 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." 38 RIVERSIDE V RIVERSIDE August 28, 1916 It may be that there would be votes for the Repubhcan 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 gov- ernment 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 refus- ing to keep our institutions up to the stand- ard in repairs, extensions, equipment, and accommodations. I refuse, and the Repub- lican Party refuses, to endorse that method RIVERSIDE 39 of sham and shoddy economy. New proj- ects can wait, but the commitments of the Commonwealth must be maintained. We cannot curtail the usual appropriations or the care of mothers with dependent chil- dren or the support of the poor, the insane, and the infirm. The Democratic programme of cutting the State tax, by vetoing appro- priations of the utmost urgency for im- provements and maintenance costs of in- stitutions 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 accommoda- tions — 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 40 RIVERSIDE a Republican administration would face an increasing State tax rather than not see them remedied. The Republican Party lit the fire of prog- ress 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 back- ward 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 princi- ples 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 popula- tion in manufacturing centres; but it must come from construction, not from destruc- RIVERSIDE 41 tion. 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 pros- perity 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. 42 AT THE HOME OF 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 over- look that issue; but I shall offer suggestions of another kind of "preparedness.'* Not that I shrink from full and free considera- tion 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 patriot- ism 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 " pre- paredness" of the State to care for its un- AUGUSTUS P. GARDNER, HAMILTON 43 fortunates. And I propose to do this with- out any party bias and without blame upon any particular individual, but in just criti- cism 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, be- cause 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 in- sane. Her institutions have been regarded as models throughout the world. We are falling from that proud estate; crowded housing conditions, corridors used for sleep- ing purposes, are not only not unusual, but are coming to be the accepted standard. The heads of asylums complain that main- tenance and the allowance for food supply and supervision are being skimped. On August 1 of this year, the institu- 44 AT THE HOME OF tlons throughout the State housed more than 700 patients above what they were de- signed 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 bud- get. I now repeat that declaration, in spite of contradiction, because I know the citi- zens of this State have no desire for econo- mies 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 con- fined in our institutions above the stated capacity as over 700. About August 1, Dan- vers had 1530 in an institution of 1350 ca- pacity. Northampton, my home town, had 913, in a hospital built for 819. In Boston State Hospital, there were 1572, where the AUGUSTUS P. GARDNER, HAMILTON 45 capacity was 1406. Westboro had 1260 in- mates, with capacity for 1161, and Medfield had 1615, where the capacity was 1542. These capacities are given from official re- corded accommodations. This was not the practice of the past, and there can be no question as to where the responsibihty 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 Met- ropolitan District, and an additional ap- propriation 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 46 AUGUSTUS P. GARDNER, HAMILTON 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 exem- plified 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 pre- pare 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. LAFAYETTE BANQUET, FALL RIVER 47 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 mas- ters to the most ancient of empires. VV^e 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 48 LAFAYETTE BANQUET, FALL RIVER of that message which claimed the atten- tion of him we this day honor, in the far-off fortress of the now famous Metz; it was because it roused in the hstener a sympa- thetic response that it was destined to hnk forever the events of Concord and Lex- ington and Bunker Hill and Dorchester Heights, in our Commonwealth, with the name of Lafayette. For there was a new tone in those Massa- chusetts guns. It was not the old lust of conquest, not the sullen roar of hatred and revenge, but a higher, clearer note of a peo- ple asserting their inalienable sovereignty. It is a happy circumstance that one of our native-born, Benjamin Franklin, was in- strumental in bringing Lafayette to Amer- ica; but beyond that it is fitting at this time to give a thought to our Common- wealth 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 con- LAFAYETTE BANQUET, FALL RIVER 49 elusion by the sacrifice of her treasure and her blood. It was not the able legal argu- ment of James Otis against the British Writs of Assistance, nor the petitions and remonstrances of the Colonists to the Brit- ish 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 exam- ple 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 Common- wealth. It was these principles in action which appealed to that young captain of dragoons and brought the sword and re- sources of the aristocrat to battle for de- 50 LAFAYETTE BANQUET, FALL RIVER mocracy. I love to think of his connection with our history. I love to think of him at the dedication of the Bunker Hill Monu- ment receiving the approbation of the Na- tion from the lips of Daniel Webster. I love to think of the long line of American citi- zens of French blood in our Commonwealth to-day, ready to defend the principles he fought for, "Liberty under the Law," citi- zens who, like him, look not with apology, but with respect and approval and admira- tion on that sentiment inscribed on the white flag of Massachusetts, '^Ense petit placidam sub lihertate quietem" (With a sword she seeks secure peace under liberty). NORFOLK REPUBLICAN CLUB, BOSTON 51 VIII NORFOLK REPUBLICAN CLUB, BOSTON October 9, 1916 Last night at Somerville I spoke on some of the fundamental differences between the RepubHcan and Democratic poHcies, and showed how we were dependent on Repub- Hcan principles as a foundation on which to erect any advance in our social and eco- nomic 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 atten- tion 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 52 NORFOLK REPUBLICAN CLUB, BOSTON fifty years, more progress has been made along the Hnes of humanitarian legislation than in any other State. We have felt free to call on our industries to make large out- lays along these lines because we have fur- nished them with the advantages of a pro- tective tariff and an honest and efficient state government. The consequences have been that in this State the hours and condi- tions of labor have been better than any- where else on earth. Those provisions for safety, sanitation, compensations for acci- dents, 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 insur- ance to cover losses. You will readily recall the different kinds. Formerly it was only used in commerce, by the well-to-do. Re- NORFOLK REPUBLICAN CLUB, BOSTON 53 cently it has been adapted to the use of all our people by the great industrial com- panies 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 require- ments of our times. It ought to be understood, however, that there can be no remedy for lack of in- dustry and thrift, secured by law. It ought to be understood that no scheme of insur- ance 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. 54 NORFOLK REPUBLICAN CLUB, BOSTON The Republican Party is proposing hu- manitarian 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. ON THE HIGH COST OF LIVING 55 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 pre- vention of a wrong which is threatened. V^e find our citizens, to-day, not so much suf- fering from the high cost of living, though that is grievous enough, as threatened with 56 OX THE HIGH COST OF LR'ES'G an increasing cost which will bring suffering and misery to a large body of our inhab- itants. So we come here not only to discuss pro\-iding a remedy for what is now exist- ing, but some protection to ward off what is threatening to be a worse calamity, \^'e 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 cus- tomers for a fair return for their service. We want their cooperation in our pursuit ol facts: we want to cvxiperate with them in proposing and securing a remedy. We do not denv the existence of economic laws, nor the right to profit by a change of con- ditions. But we do claim the right and duty of the Government to investigate and punish ON THE BSSEL CO?! OF UVrSG 37 any artificial creatioii of high jxicses by means of illegal mrnqpofies w restraints of trade. And aboTe aD. w^e daim the right (^ pdUicity. That is a reoaedy with an ..rzi - - ' : lian that of the 1^^. I - '^ '