TWENTY-FIRST ANNUAL YEAR BOOK-PART V 429 



Very soon there came limping along a little dapper fellow about my size 

 v/ith dark complexion (Laughter), and the poor fellow had had the small- 

 pox in his day and generation and it left its marks all over his face, and 

 I said to my friend "There's another republican," and I called him over 

 and said "My friend, are you a republican?" and he said "Lord, no, boss; 

 I ain't no republican; I just had the smallpox." (Laughter). 



Well, after all, my friends, as I travel over this great country of ours 

 and look into the faces of the men and women that make up these splen- 

 did and inspiring audiences, I have about reached the conclusion that 

 our differences in politics don't amount to a great deal; that the one big 

 thing that moves us, and the one big thing that should move us, is that 

 we are all Americans, believing in the same general purposes of the in- 

 stitutions of the American government, and honoring and loving the same 

 old flag. (Applause). 



The world is in a state of flux. The debris of empires and dynasties 

 are floating upon the troubled seas. The institutions of our country alone 

 have withstood unimpaired the terrific impact of the recent world de- 

 bacle. These debris must unite again if civilization is to continue, and 

 the future of the world depends upon the manner in which they reunite, 

 upon the kind of cement that is to be used to hold them together for all 

 future time. This is certain, that the old order of things is passing away, 

 and that a new standard as between man and man has arisen out of the 

 great catastrophe of the past four years. This new standard has as its 

 basis Justice as between man and man, and as between class and class. It 

 has as a basis of it a better understanding of the relationship which each 

 of us bears to the other, and which each class of our country bears to 

 every other class of our country. 



With this as a basis, I want to direct your attention briefly to a few 

 facts that have grown out of the old order of things, that have resulted 

 from the old system, which we hope may be supplanted by a better sys- 

 tem. 



First: More than one-third of the agricultural population of the LTnited 

 States is classed as tenant farmers. More than one-third of the farmers 

 of the United States have no ownership in the roof which protects them 

 from sunshine and shadow; no ownership in the hearth around which is 

 gathered that little family for evening prayer. The great agnostic, Robert 

 G. Ingersoll, on one occasion in one of his great lectures said, in sub- 

 stance, that "Patriots may be born in twelve-story apartment houses, but 

 it is much easier to incubate them upon the free ranges of the American 

 continent." And if the institutions of this country should ever be in dan- 

 ger, as God forbid that they should, it will be due to the fact that a too 

 large percentage of our people are not the owners of the home in which 

 they live. And I doubt tonight if there is a more vital problem before the 

 American people than the problem of a more universal home-ownership 

 among our population. 



Second: I am brieflng this, gentlemen; I am not going to read you any- 

 thing. I just use this because I liken myself to a horse, if I don't put a 

 bridle on me I may stray out on the road, and I don't want to do that. 



