FOURTH OF JULY ORATION.

BY W. A. HYDE, PRESIDENT OF THE POCATELLO STAKE OF ZION.

Peoples and nations live to a great extent in their traditions as well as in their written histories.

Their early glories and accomplishments, as handed down from father to son, influence their lives today, as their written history assists in the moulding of their national character. We would not be without these treasures-they are part of our make-up, and one of the sources of our patriotism. I treasure highly, as a choice jewel which is mine to wear personally, that my greatgrand-father, with other sturdy patriots in the village of New York, sat round a cauldron of molten lead and made bullets which should hum the requiem of soldiers of his majesty in the American struggle for freedom-and that later they fired these same bullets in that cause. Some of you may have similar traditions, and some of your forefathers are now lying under the green sod of England or among the hills of Sweden; but they may have fought under Cromwell or Charles the Twelfth in the same cause for which the American patriots battled-the betterment of the condition of mankind.

The Germans delight in the traditions of their fatherland, and these traditions furnish inspiration for the policies of their nation. They will not soon forget the great Frederick nor the Man of Iron, and their youth today partake to some extent of the prevailing characteristics of these great men: sturdy and indomitable, they will stand aided and inspired by their heroic example. The Frenchman's heart swells with pride at the mention of his country's martial heroes; and the dashing and impetuous character of the French

is in no small extent due to that masterpiece of audacity-the world's great genius of arms--the wonderful Napoleon.

The newer nations look with common interest and common enthusiasm on the struggles on the early battlefields of advancing civilization, and, by right of benefit in their results, claim common pride. And so the whole wide world is linked to the past by memories, by words and deeds of the great and the deserving.

Today we meet on our Nation's birthday to awaken old thoughts, and to revive pleasant memories of our young country. It is pleasant to feel patriotic: the heart thrills at the sight of our flag, the symbol of our country, and its greatness is a sensation akin to love of parentage and home.

True patriotism, then, I think, is of God. It is good to think lovingly of our country's past, and hopefully of its future-to search the gems of character among our great-to draw inspiration from their unselfish labors for our good, and to resolve, under that inspiration, to be great ourselves in the things that go to make worthy citizenship of so grand a country.

Americans by birth and by adoption, are one today--we share with you, as you accepted by oath, the work of the past, and for today we forget all fatherlands but this, and turn to its treasures of history and tradition for new hope and energy.

Philadelphia was the birth-place of liberty; the East was the cradle in which it was rocked; it grew to maturity in sight of the Atlantic Ocean. To what, then, can the West, which now sits under its sheltering mantle, lay claim? How have we aided in our country's greatness? Must we wait some future peril to prove our loyalty, or has the past some evidence of our devotion? have we conquered in liberty's name?

What

Not alone in the cannon's roar, nor in the smoke of conflict, are civilization's battles fought; but by the plow, by the pen guided by the tired brain, by the skilled mechanic's hand, by the keeneyed searcher after the secrets of the arts-in these fields are great victories won for you and for me; and, I think today of a sturdy band of Westerners-patriots every one-who dared the wild mountain wilderness, with its perils of beast and savageas our forefathers braved the anger of George the Third, for principle who carried our flag not in conquest of men, but of the

earth, who climbed the rugged sides of Ensign peak and unfurled its folds to the breezes of heaven, and, as Columbus proclaimed the New World a colony to his king, proclaimed this mighty Western empire to be always and forever a part of our beloved Union. They pitched their camps in the desert; they fought not man, but the earth. They wrested from its begrudging breast the fruits of husbandry--they won the battle of bread. They established themselves as firmly as the surrounding granite hills. The tide of a western life flowed to them, and through them, and around them, and the feeders and feelers of this western land branched from this main root and support, until these valleys resounded with the song of labor.

With wisdom and forbearance, they dealt with their savage foes, and made them friends. Their leader beckoned to the eastern railway hesitating on the verge of the desert, and said, "Come, and we will bridge the continent," and a span rested on this rock in the waste, and swift commerce, with its advantages, was at our command. Villages, communities, territories, states, grew under our government's fostering care, all following the courageous leadership of these patriots. Are not these victories? yes; won by privation, in poverty, sometimes in blood, often in pain; and the barefooted soldiers at Valley Forge deserve no greater meed of praise.

And then, I see another band who shouldered muskets at their country's call, marched, dragged and hewed their way across a continent in the greatest march recorded. Into and through a hostile country-their lives a continued offering to their land— to finally sift themselves among their surroundings and to be lost and forgotten, except by a people which ever will hold them sacred in their hearts.

This is our history, these are our traditions. Sometime, a grateful land will accept them as a national property, and place our heroes among the founders and defenders of our republic.

Treasuring these events as distinct to ourselves, we have also great pride that the West in common with the East met with decision the new crisis in our history, and brought renown to our arms and fame to our land. The war with Spain was to the honor of a united nation. "No East, no West, no North, no South" in

this issue between despotism and liberty. If there had been sectional feelings, they were forgotten: animosities, however occasioned, were done away, and every city and village sent its man, its company, or its regiment, not so much to avenge a national wrong as to strike a blow for the liberty of our brother man.

But not without serious consideration was the call to arms sounded. Our martyr president debated, hesitated and prayed; the thoughtless multitude clamored, while the patient and considerate called for peace. The taunting old world looked on and laughed; but, humane and forbearing, we withheld until Prudence stayed her hand, and Mercy and Justice said, strike! and we arose to battle in the might of an unanswerable cause. We all shared alike in the fears, the successes, and the triumphs of that memorable struggle. At every cross-road and congregating place throughout our land, men and women talked of the day's incidents as of their very personal lives and hopes. We almost worshiped for the time and made everlasting heroes of our Deweys, and Hobsons and Schleys; and when the development of the conflict carried us across the world into another sphere, though we watched with apprehension, it was nevertheless with pride that we saw our statesmen and warriors meet each coming emergency as became so great and humane a people. A nation, infantile in experience, was thrown into our arms by fate; like an untamed tiger it fought, and bit the hand that would have caressed it, and a mission, not often known before in history, fell to us-that of convincing by cruelty that we were kind. Thep followed the task of subduing this misguided people.

Though a hemisphere divided us, we watched our Western boys in the marshes of Luzon, and saw them stand the peers of the East in valor, and their superiors in the hardihood, to face those trying conditions. Their labors, their sacrifices, their blood, ever an increasing argument, if any were needed, that in patriotism we yielded the palm to no state throughout our union.

The past year has witnessed the consummation of our hopes. Though at great cost, yet have we conquered, but not as mercenaries for blood-money, but for principle; and the world's history must record a magnificent stride for the betterment of mankind; and the credit is ours-it is yours, and mine, and every man's

whose sympathies and hopes went out in this struggle that civilization might win, and enlightenment triumph.

Fathers, brothers and sons, are lying under the sod of Cuba and the Philippines, the nation's gift to the world's advancement; and when the first bitterness of weeping is over, mother's and sisters and sweethearts shall know that a nation's sympathy is theirs. A nation's? Yes; it shall sometime be the world's!

The old world stands in wonderment before a new diplomacy and statesmanship such as this nation has shown in the birth of the new republic, Cuba, in which man's inherent rights were considered before national advantage. Such public policy shows in its originators a high type of national perfection. And, too, when a nation may rise above feelings of revenge, and, though smitten may forgive, it is a morally strong nation far removed from the pettishness and low ideals of the common. Fortunate were we that at this critical time, when the circumstances justified new precedents, we had men who could make them so broad and strong as to forever settle the question as to our position when great moral issues of international importance shall arise. From an influence narrowed and confined to our own sphere, we have entered into the world's threatre of action where we may predict, by the past events, that our efforts shall always be righteous, humane and restraining.

We have accepted a great responsibility; the forces of the world look our way, and behold our strength, and see the slumbering power that may arise at necessity's call. They see the mighty depths of our stream of commerce-the tide of an immense internal development-they see us entering new fields of industry, conquering and to conquer our goods going to every mart, our influence growing on every sea. They see us arising as a powerful athlete, and they ask the question, "What will this young giant do?" Though fortified by hundreds of years of martial training and soldierly traditions, they yet stand in awe of that born soldier who comes from the ranch, the plow, the shop, the store or the counting room, strong in high resolve-instinct in daring, quick in energy, forceful in action, having always breathed the air of liberty-the type of the world's great freeman! Before such as these, aggression must always stand amazed.