WHAT FOURTH OF JULY STANDS FOR.
By G.
THERE was a time when the Fourth of July stood for solid sentiment, and its annual recurrence meant the reiteration of the rights of all the people, a restatement of the fundamental principles of liberty and free government. But there has been such a departure from republican simplicity in the government, and there has crept in such a marked degree of social caste among the people, such a disregard of the principle of individual or minority rights, such a notable extent of official infidelity and corporate dishonesty, and such a multiplicity of antagonistic combinations in support of conflicting interests, that the old-time idea of "equal and exact justice to all men, of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political," has been well-nigh obliterated. When there was no oppression of the masses by the classes; when there was no tyranny of official authority; when there was no conflict between capital and labor; when men were considered more than mere objects of exploit; when republican government meant separation of church and state; then the Fourth of July was a day of mutual good-will and of rejoicing in mutual privileges and prospects. The rehearsal of the Declaration of Independence was not deemed a perfunctory ordeal with an obsolete meaning; but it was a reiteration of fidelity to principles that gave good cheer all over the land. The annual orations were more than spread-eagle oratory or political illusion. There is need to-day of that spirit of high regard for human rights, that love of neighbor as of self, that would make the national anniversary of independence a rejuvenation of the principles for which it stood a century ago. The Fourth of July celebration needs a new impartation of the spirit of 1776. It is hardly to the point that we have the mere tinsel. The nerve-racking cannon and bomb, the pestering fire-cracker, and the hilarious debauch, are ill-befitting an occasion which all would like to enjoy, and have a right to enjoy. Is it not time that a civilized people should be so rapt in appreciation of liberty and equal rights that their sentiments could be expressed in more humane and refined ceremonials than some of those that occupy the most conspicuous place on that day? It is time to have a Fourth of July celebration that means more than an extravagant waste of means upon a superfluity of noise and a momentary flash in the pan. The Declaration of Independence stood for a firm planting of principle, and so ought its anniversary.