The Evening Star THURSDAY, JULY 4, 1918.

Evening Star, Issue 16777, 4 July 1918, Page 4

The Evening Star THURSDAY, JULY 4, 1918.

" We hold these truths to be self-evident—-that all moa aro created Tha Glorious equal: that they are en- " Fourth." dowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." So wrote Thomas Jefferson, the author of that Declaration of Independence which, on •luly 4, 1776, was reported to the Continental Congress, and which from that day on has remained, as Gladstone once said, the finest expression of human achievement in the sphere of political and individual liberty to tar recorded. Therefore a day and an occasion worthy of all the honor that it >s possible to give, not only by the countrymen (if Jefferson, but by ■£{ men, whatever their lot and condition in life, who ere seeking, each in his own way, to k-avo this, world a better world than they fv.'uud it »ud a safer place in which to live. It was inevitable with the passing of the years, and with the cordial welcome extruded by the Government of the United States, to the peoples of all nationalities, thnt the original conception of the authors and rounders of American Independence should le departed from. Within our own time the due celebration of Independence -Pay has, Leu sometimes more honored in the hrcMch than the observance, and frequently u: ways of which none ore more ashamed than those who stand for what is truest, uuc! ;;ici-t representative in the America!). ch:u;u:ter. To-day we havo largely forg-.;t-v.i these passing ebullitions of misdirected patriotism, and in the presence of ina g:e. t dread thai has ccmo upon us all v.e i:~?.u\ taru to the country and people who, '.viieu tlio world was painfully

and slowly- shaking oi? tho shackles of an outworn medievalism, struck a. blow for ihnso "certain ui>. ilienable rights" which from that day on has resounded through tho world, nerving and cheering tho hearts of tho weary and oppressed everywhere, though never in greater strength or mightier volume or clearer tones than to-

Twenty-five years later, when President Jefferson delivered his first initusnral address, lie reaffirmed his own political faith and that of his countrymen: "Equal and exact justice to all men of whatsoever state of persuasion, religious or political; peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations. . . . Theso principles form the bright constellation which has gone before us and guided our steps through an age of revolution and reformation." The words were spoken 117 years ago : they might.. th 1 itlv a i hangs in their phraseology, 1 \o bttn -1 Alii by President Wilson toi Lh i hj ill t 1 oil 1 political, and ionic c i ire —-to i\ thing of the t ei ii e f u idin. ci s wrought by it i —i t n > c tden ih since the j i t t i > ti unite i'h century, tho 1 ut tl -v i i n. } pit. ha 3 remained I \ 1 tj tl tn i' ei titi o that Decl i)i hi hj H ptx'iuiiei in unior- „ > t iii ii t i Ito mankind, fl i t. c i i i u t' it this is so. A i n i pit t i lul oinlict which t i i hj i m d the earth, tho hi ii ii < < \il it on would have iti \ ii reasserted. £i t ' t nd ue the truths r i li n in u i hj nearly a i»i 'ill! i it rred her 1 < '•> not care II t 1 i it i ncr nd now to I r ' ■" I \ un we have a ii (t i i t c i t Jefferson. \h it i i i\ i ' i n l. Inst ot eran<_ 'til ii n restraints c c i i 1 T id hen President 1 i .- i tl t a state of t- i 1 b> \ i \n i and Geriii Y 1 0 i i> e t i to vindie t ] 1 i c ud justice in | it i i Mi t_, unst selfish t u r i ' t i> amongst I ti 1 lil,i iriel peoples of n -u 1 t r tot urpose and i % u th no the ob- % n r i l i; a i ' 1 it i c tl e American He i i n lin i den i not improi 1 c i it ■n no hei landmark in man's history. In the far-off days when it had its origin the thirteen. American States were English colonies, and the day itself that en which the colonists —bone of our bone and tiesh of our flesh—declared their independence of the Zdother Laud. One hundred and fifty-six years earlier than that, on a bleak day in December, ii hundred men, women, and children, emigrants from England, landed at L'ipe Lud. 'ih. l name of their ship was the -Mayflower. Truly, we east our bread upnn tl e waters, and it has" letimied to us auer many days. ''After three centuries and thiee irreat wars for freedom," says Pioie^-of 1 Gilueit -Muiray. "having established their nationhood and built up the laijjs-t and nee society in the woild ti c\ h",i. ittuined to strike again >.t the njiiLod fit.it of trie same tyrannies, tne sine laugh; of evil from \ n eh they themselves iled when the May- £ ti ~i kd tiom IV m utii. ' It is the lilt - n'i", i. ih uuure v. ho will perhaps II L i ,i -' th* jaar.'ellous transformation mhi v i i' "_hi tint tnis "leturn of the .hj i, ! ' l> ;., , n.,i , j to humanity at large, x o us. it '- to Luow, in spite of kiii.;=, „' I'Uju j ami the principalities iij pj .ti i t ii'iknio.. that the truth is milieu ■ 1.. ui all or tnem—that it alone p.I-'- -■ \ hen .'ll i!-p is hut dust and ki - - [hi .it,it V\ .'.-on, the representain uii' ,it ipiot'i ot that spirit which 1 pt ah- ti ■ founders of the republic t. * '. - i i ■ a.>cl ii> fli» men who signed tne i->e '".Mia o: Irdtptndcnce, utters • n'\ the! and desiies when ho ,ui->"ii-. b-i.h the men who set 1 ',! iI) ' .. t; the I'utions iiiid to destroy l'tint' .''i ii > 111 In 111 words that stir t-. '...e 1, turn pit taU "Ihcie is thereinl l 'it <ii' n ;jou->e possible from us—nut, join to the utmost, iorco without sum o' 1 nut, tie nghtn.as <Uid triumphant to.ee '..J nh -hall 1 lake Kight the law of tie world and cast every selfish doI mi' mi 1! •-i 1,1 tho cm t. This and none otj.fi- ~-. An ci cas to the world to-day.