1 88 Carson: Franklin 



When principle is at stake, let resistance to wrong be 

 unyielding; let laws be just and oppressions and dis- 

 criminations perish; let men be faithful to their trusts 

 and learn that the wealth and power committed to their 

 hands are stewardships for which they must account. 

 Let men be kindly one to another, not backbiting, revil- 

 ing, nor bitter in enmity. Let our youth learn that a 

 good name is better than riches, which can not be dissi- 

 pated by heirs or lost by misfortune; that character 

 should not be like the willow or the poplar, brittle and 

 frangible, but like the oak, tough and enduring: that 

 lives, to be useful, should be active, not passive, and that 

 liberty, to be precious, should be real, not speculative. 

 I see long centuries opening their vistas and emancipated 

 peoples revolving like planets about the central sun of 

 American freedom. I hear nation calling to nation, 

 and shouting like morning stars for joy over their libera- 

 tion. And for you, my children, trustees in this genera- 

 tion of the rights of the individual and of the larger 

 rights of humanity, I pray that all things may be so 

 ordered and settled by your endeavors upon the best 

 and surest foundations that peace and happiness, truth 

 and justice, religion and piety may be established among 

 you for all generations." 



