Have faith in Massachusetts Part 7

Let there be a purpose in all your legislation to recognize the right of man to be well born, well nurtured, well educated, well employed, and well paid. This is no gospel of ease and selfishness, or cla.s.s distinction, but a gospel of effort and service, of universal application.

Such results cannot be secured at once, but they should be ever before us. The world has a.s.sumed burdens that will bear heavily on all peoples.

We shall not escape our share. But whatever may be our trials, however difficult our tasks, they are only the problems of peace, and a victorious peace. The war is over. Whatever the call of duty now we should remember with grat.i.tude that it is nothing compared with the heavy sacrifice so lately made. The genius and fort.i.tude which conquered then cannot now fail.

XXV

STATEMENT ON THE DEATH OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT

The people of our Commonwealth have learned with profound sorrow of the death of Theodore Roosevelt. No other citizen of the Nation would have brought in so large a degree the feeling of a common loss. During the almost eight years he was President, the people came to see in him a reflection of their ideals of the true Americanism.

He was the advocate of every good cause. He awakened the moral purpose of the Nation and raised the standard of public service. He appealed to the imagination of youth and satisfied the judgment of maturity. In him Ma.s.sachusetts saw an exponent of her own ideals.

In token of the love and reverence which all the people bore him, I urge that the national and state flags be flown at half-mast throughout the Commonwealth until after his funeral, and that, when next the people gather for public worship, his loss be marked with proper ceremony.

XXVI

LINCOLN DAY PROCLAMATION

JANUARY 30, 1919

_The Commonwealth of Ma.s.sachusetts By His Excellency Calvin Coolidge, Governor_

A PROCLAMATION

Fivescore and ten years ago that Divine Providence which infinite repet.i.tion has made only the more a miracle sent into the world a new life, destined to save a nation. No star, no sign, foretold his coming.

About his cradle all was poor and mean save only the source of all great men, the love of a wonderful woman. When she faded way in his tender years, from her deathbed in humble poverty she dowered her son with greatness. There can be no proper observance of a birthday which forgets the mother. Into his origin as into his life men long have looked and wondered. In wisdom great, but in humility greater, in justice strong, but in compa.s.sion stronger, he became a leader of men by being a follower of the truth. He overcame evil with good. His presence filled the Nation. He broke the might of oppression. He restored a race to its birthright. His mortal frame has vanished, but his spirit increases with the increasing years, the richest legacy of the greatest century.

Men show by what they worship what they are. It is no accident that before the great example of American manhood our people stand with respect and reverence. And in accordance with this sentiment our laws have provided for a formal recognition of the birthday of Abraham Lincoln, for in him is revealed our ideal, the hope of our country fulfilled.

Now, therefore, by the authority of Ma.s.sachusetts, the 12th day of February is set apart as

LINCOLN DAY

and its observance recommended as befits the beneficiaries of his life and the admirers of his character, in places of education and worship wherever our people meet one with another.

Given at the Executive Chamber, in Boston, this 30th day of January, in the year of Our Lord one thousand nine hundred and nineteen, and of the independence of the United States of America the one hundred and forty-third.

CALVIN COOLIDGE

By his Excellency the Governor,

ALBERT P. LANGTRY,

_Secretary of the Commonwealth_.

G.o.d save the Commonwealth of Ma.s.sachusetts.

XXVII

INTRODUCING HENRY CABOT LODGE AND A. LAWRENCE LOWELL AT THE DEBATE ON THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS SYMPHONY HALL

MARCH 19, 1919

We meet here as representatives of a great people to listen to the discussion of a great question by great men. All America has but one desire, the security of the peace by facts and by parchment which her brave sons have wrought by the sword. It is a duty we owe alike to the living and the dead.

Fortunate is Ma.s.sachusetts that she has among her sons two men so eminently trained for the task of our enlightenment, a senior Senator of the Commonwealth and the President of a university established in her Const.i.tution. Wherever statesmen gather, wherever men love letters, this day's discussion will be read and pondered. Of these great men in learning, and experience, wise in the science and practice of government, the first to address you is a Senator distinguished at home and famous everywhere--Henry Cabot Lodge.

[After Senator Lodge spoke he introduced President Lowell:]

The next to address you is the President of Harvard University--an educator renowned throughout the world, a learned student of statesmanship, endowed with a wisdom which has made him a leader of men, truly a Master of Arts, eminently a Doctor of Laws, a fitting representative of the Ma.s.sachusetts domain of letters--Abbott Lawrence Lowell.

XXVIII

VETO OF SALARY INCREASE

TO THE HONORABLE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES:

In accordance with the duty imposed by the Const.i.tution, a bill ent.i.tled, "An act to establish the compensation of the members of the General Court," being House No. 1629, is herewith returned without approval.

This bill raises the salaries of members from $1000 to $1500, an increase of fifty per cent, and is retroactive. It is necessary to decide whether the Commonwealth can well afford this additional tax and whether any public benefit would accrue from it.

These are times that require careful scrutiny of public expenditure. The burden of taxes resulting from war is heavy. The addition of $142,000 to the expense of the Commonwealth in perpetuity is not to be undertaken but upon proven necessity.

Service in the General Court is not obligatory but optional. It is not to be undertaken as a profession or a means of livelihood. It is a voluntary public service. In accord with the principles of our democratic inst.i.tutions a compensation has been given in order that talent for service rather than the possession of property might be the standard of membership. There is no man of sufficient talent in the Commonwealth so poor that he cannot serve for a session, which averages about five months, and five days each week, at a salary of $1000--and travel allowance of $2.50 for each mile between his home and the State House. This is too clear for argument. There is no need to consider those who are too rich to serve for this sum. It would be futile to discuss whether their services are worth more or less than this, as that is not here the question. Membership in the General Court is not a job.

There are services rendered to the Commonwealth by senators and representatives that are priceless. For the searching out of great principles on which legislation is based there is no adequate compensation. If value for services were the criterion, there would be 280 different salaries. When membership is sought as a means of livelihood, legislation will pa.s.s from a public function to a private enterprise. Men do not serve here for pay. They seek work and places of responsibility and find in that seeking, not in their pay, their honor.

The realities of life are not measured by dollars and cents. The skill of the physician, the divine eloquence of the clergyman, the courage of the soldier, that which we call character in all men, are not matters of hire and salary. No person was ever honored for what he received. Honor has been the reward for what he gave. Public acclaim and the ceremonious recognition paid to returning heroes are not on account of their government pay but of the service and sacrifice they gave their country.

The place each member of the General Court will hold in the estimation of his const.i.tuents will never depend on his salary, but on the ability and integrity with which he does his duty; not on what he receives, but on what he gives; and only out of the bountifulness of his own giving will his const.i.tuents raise him to power. Not by indulging himself, but by denying himself, will he reach success.

It is because the General Court has recognized these principles in its past history that it has secured its high place as a legislative body.