262 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



publics, whose hills were the birthplace of freedom? Greece, that 

 in the centuries of her existence as a republic had risen to the high- 

 est plane of learning, art, science and literature. Nothing remains 

 of that once powerful republic except the imperishable thought that 

 has come down to us from her poets, her philosophers, her states- 

 men, her sages, and through which those brainy old Greeks are to- 

 day in this twentieth century the 



"Sceptered sovereigns that rule our spirits from their urns." 



And Home, great and mighty Rome, what of her? Rome whose 

 transformation from a republic into an empire, was one of the great- 

 est crises in human events. Her history is recorded under the 

 heading of "Republics that have been." Is it possible that the 

 record of those republics is to be the record of the republic of the 

 United States of America? Aye, friends, it is possible, but let us 

 hope not probable, and that our old ship of State may take warn- 

 ing, and avoid the rocks upon which they were wrecked. 



One of these, to which was largely due the downfall of Rome, 

 was what in these days would be termed her "territorial expansion." 

 As Rome grew older she became ambitious to rule the world, and 

 began reaching out after this kingdom and that kingdom, until in 

 the end, it might be truly said that she fell by her own weight. 

 Rome learned too late that the difficulty in maintaining a republican 

 government is largely in proportion to the extent of the area over 

 which it is established. 



Another cause for the downfall of these great republics, was the 

 decay of those peculiar virtues so necessary in upholding a popular 

 form of government. Patriotism and love of country, so dominant 

 in the older Greeks and Romans, became swallowed up by the gross 

 vices of lust for power, wealth, pleasure and personal ambition, and 

 for years before the end they were only Republics in name, in reality 

 an aristocracy of wealth, luxury and pride. Social and political 

 corruption ran riot while the rich became immensely rich and the 

 poor desperately poor. 



And so I say, friends, that in these days of greed and graft, when 

 great corporations are demonstrating most forcibly that they have 

 no souls, when millionaires are made in a night, when the wealth 

 of the land is being centered in the hands of a few, when fathers 

 and mothers will barter away their daughters to some scion of 

 royalty for his title, thus showing the aristocratic tendency of the 

 times, it is important that we stop and think; that every citizen 

 should, on this Memorial Day, ask himself the question, allowing his 

 conscience to answer him truly, whether or not he is living up to 

 the high ideals of true citizenship, and the words of the immortal 

 JL/incoln, "from these honored dead take increased devotion to the 

 cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion, and 

 highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that the 

 nation shall, under God, have a new birth of freedom, and that a 

 government of the people, by the people and for the people shall not 

 perish from the earth." 



And now to our soldier dead, farewell! To our soldier living all 

 hail! 



Professor Massey was next introduced, and coming as a native of 

 the South, and having fought in the Confederate army in the gi'eat 

 oonfliot, added interest to his remarks. 



