When the government of the United States was finally organized under the God-inspired Constitution, it was the result of toil and blood; and faith in the providences of God. The age-long barriers of class were done away with, and those founders declared that here in this nation, there should be no slave; there should be no king; nor master; nor subject. The fathers of the republic said to us : “We are all children of God, free and equal.”

Are we going to abandon our heritage? Shall we “look unto the rock whence we were hewn?” It was a wise piece of advice when the ancient psalmist wrote : “Remove not the ancient land-mark which thy fathers have set.” Have we come to the time when we shall have to guarantee payment in silver before our citizens will go to war to protect the ideals of our government? If we have, then our citizenry have lost the ideals of the founders, and have forfeited their rights and the finer feelings of what we call patriotism. When the American Revolution and the Civil War were fought, men went to war because of their love of country. They believed it a divine duty to die for their country. They were reared in the belief that sacrifice for truth is a divine injunction of God. Many of us recall the words of Garibaldi, the Italian liberator, when he spoke to the youth of Italy. Said he :

Fortune, who betrays us today, will smile on us tomorrow. I am going out from Rome. Let those who wish to continue the war against the stranger, come with me. I offer neither pay nor quarters, nor provision. I offer hunger, thirst, battles and death. Let him who loves his country with his heart and not with his lips only, follow me.

Please note: Selecting “Read the full address” will load a pdf document of the relevant conference report. Some pdf document viewers will not automatically position to the correct page within the document, so you may need to scroll to the page listed above.