What I desire especially to impress upon you this morning is the value of this right and the failure of our people to take advantage of the privilege granted. This being a government by the people and the laws being made by their agents, these agents of the people, members of Congress and of the State legislatures, cannot carry out the will of the people unless they know what the people want. Ask your father when you go home whether or not he has ever written to the member of Congress from this district telling him about some law he would like to have passed or about some proposed law he would like to see defeated. The truth is that there are large numbers of people in this city who do not even know the name of their congressman, or representative in the legislature of the State. They do not pay any attention to such things, yet when the legislature or Congress passes a law they are always ready to criticise and condemn, despite the fact that before it was passed they did not take interest enough to give an expression of their views to those who were trying to follow the wishes of the people. From time to time the people should assemble in every community to talk over government matters, their matters, the things that come most close to them in life. You will find men and women meeting every month in their lodges and clubs, discussing all sorts of things, music, art, and literature, but we find hardly any organized meetings for the discussion of the big things in life, our liberties, our rights, and our duties as citizens of this free republic. I hope to see the time when there will be community centers and regular assemblies, not for amusement but for serious discussion, serious thought, and earnest coöperation in the affairs of the city, State, and Nation. There is so much complaint in these days that it would be of great value at these assemblies to allow every person who has a grievance against the government or any branch of the government to present it for discussion. The rights and duties of each individual in government are of importance to every other person, and there should be frankness, honesty, and earnestness in every discussion of grievance and remedies, so that public sentiment may be developed. Government in a democracy is government by the sentiment of the people; and the sentiment of the people can only be created and manifested by talking over the things in which all people are interested—the problems of life, liberty, and happiness. ELEMENTARY QUESTIONS 1. Which colonists came to America to avoid religious persecution? 2. Why do people fight and die for their religious beliefs? 3. In what ways were people persecuted for their religious beliefs? 4. Where was the first statute granting absolute freedom of worship passed? 5. Why is it a good thing to have freedom of speech? 6. Name some famous Americans who have been outspoken in saying what they thought.