Almost every important case covers a group of facts which are different from any other recorded case. Analogies, settled principles, cases nearly similar, may help, but they neither satisfy the mind nor meet the real issue. If it be a constitutional question, there are probably included in that group new facts or circumstances which represent national growth and changed social relations. These are the important things to consider in reaching a proper conclusion, if the law is to be kept in harmony with civilization.

So, too, a case may arise which includes in its group of facts new commercial or industrial conditions. In the determination of such a case society demands that these new elements receive recognition, that the law may conform to the actual business of life.

It is by grappling with the great living realities that legal conclusions are reached which meet social necessities. Laws should be interpreted and decisions rendered in the spirit of the present, not of the past. Logic and due regard for precedent should be combined with the statesman's breadth of vision. Consistency may be extended too far; it is sometimes a doubtful virtue. Had Jefferson been consistent, we should have lost the Louisiana purchase. Had Lincoln been consistent, slavery would not have been abolished. The obligation we owe is not to the past, but to the present. Ancient civilization looked to the

past; Christian civilization looks to the future. The ancient idea of a perfect primitive society is a poetic fiction; the modern idea of a society growing more humane, more just, more reasonable, is a reality.

In this spirit let us carry on the work which society has largely committed to our hands. Recognizing the usefulness of legal forms and precedents, may we ever hold fast to the great truth that reason is the life and soul of the law. May we rise to the lofty conceptions of the Law of Nature, -harmony, simplicity, uniformity, and may we call to our aid her precepts of universal reason; and, extending our vision to law as the order of the universe, may we draw inspiration from Hooker's sublime words: "Her seat is the bosom of God, her voice the harmony of the world, all things in Heaven and Earth do her homage, — the very least as feeling her care, and the greatest as not exempted from her power."

CONTRIBUTIONS OF RHODE ISLAND TO THE AMERICAN UNION

Address delivered at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition at St. Louis on Rhode Island Day, October 5, 1904.

MR. PRESIDENT, YOUR EXCELLENCY,

T

LADIES, AND GENTLEMEN:

HE magnitude and character of this commemoration of a national event, next only in importance to the Declaration of Independence, the adoption of the Constitution, and the Civil War, are in harmony with the lofty sentiment which inspired it. Fifteen years after the adop tion of the Constitution, the United States acquired the vast domain embraced within the Louisiana Purchase. Under the Federal system then established, this wilderness has been transformed into twelve flourishing States, with a residue of territory soon to become States.

The marvellous spectacle which is here presented is simply the expression in material form of the patriotic gratitude of the great people who now dwell within these boundaries, gratitude for the providential circumstances which led to the acquisition of this territory, for a form of government under whose

fostering care and protecting arm the people were enabled to organize into self-governing communities and become incorporated into this sisterhood of States; gratitude for the liberty and enlightenment and all the countless blessings which have flowed from a hundred years of membership in the American Union. Surely the grandeur of this celebration rises no higher than the sentiment which gave it birth.

It is the spirit of nationality that pervades and animates this scene. Beneath the energy and daring which converted this tract of forest into a moving world of civilization and art, beneath the magnitude and comprehensiveness of this undertaking and the splendor of its execution, beneath this gathering of nations, States, and congresses, we see only the reflection of the love of America and her institutions.

These structures of imposing architecture, with their wealth of statue and column; these landscapes and gardens, cascades and fountains; this object-lesson of man's handiwork, progress, and achievements; this assemblage of the world's products, processes, and resources, of the best works in every department of human activity, art, science, invention, industry, agriculture, education, — all these wonderful creations of form and color, harmony and beauty, were conceived in the spirit of patriotism

and dedicated to the education and advancement of all nations, tribes, and races.

In the promotion of material progress, the evolution of new ideas, the elevation of artistic and industrial standards, through this commingling of different peoples in friendly competition; in the portrayal of the steps by which nations may advance through this object-lesson of all grades of civilization; in the attainment of a higher and broader culture through the educational forces which are here gathered; in the unity and coincidence of thought and development of the human race which these exhibits inculcate; in the common brotherhood of man and universal peace of which this Exposition is the exponent and herald, — we behold teachings and results which are in harmony with the lofty conception they represent, -the American Union.

In the making of that Union which inspired this commemoration, Rhode Island has borne a distinguished part. It required two pilgrimages to solve the problem of free government. The compact on board the Mayflower must be supplemented by the compact on the shores of Narragansett Bay, before we reach the foundations on which rests the union of these States. To a democratic theocracy clothed with civil power, Rhode Island added the vital and saving element of untrammelled religious freedom, the absolute separation of Church and State, the