So this town has had a long and interesting history, and has done its part in building up Massachusetts and giving her strength to take her part in the history of this great Nation.  And it is pleasant to see how the work that the fathers have done before us is bearing fruit in these times of ours.  It is interesting to see this beautiful building.  It is interesting to know that you have a town planning committee who are placing this building in a situation where it will contribute to the physical beauty of this historic town.  We have not given the time and the attention and the thought that we should have given to things of that kind in Massachusetts.  We have been too utilitarian.  We have thought that if a building was located in some place where we could have access to it, where it could be used, where it could transact the business of the town, that was enough.  We are coming to see in these modern days that that is not enough; that we need not only utilitarian motives, but that we need to give some time, some thought and attention to the artistic in life; that we need to concern ourselves not only with the material but give some thought to the spiritual; that we need to pay some attention to the beautiful as well as to that which is merely useful.

These things are appreciated.  Weston is doing something along these lines and building her public buildings and laying out her public square or her common (as it was known in the old days) so they will be things of beauty as well as things of use.  Let us dedicate this building to these new purposes.  Let us dedicate it to the glorious history of the past.  Let us dedicate it to the sacrifice that is required in these present days.  Let us dedicate it to the hope of the future.  Let us dedicate it to New England ideals—­those ideals that have made Massachusetts one of the strong States of the Nation; strong enough so that in Revolutionary days we contributed far in excess of our portion of men and money to that great struggle; strong enough so that the whole Nation has looked to Massachusetts in days of stress for comfort and support.

We are very proud of our democracy.  We are very proud of our form of government.  We believe that there is no other nation on earth that gives to the individual the privileges and the rights that he has in America.  The time has come now when we are going to defend those rights.  The time has come when the world is looking to America, as the Nation has looked to Massachusetts in the past, to stand up and defend the rights of the individual.  Sovereignty, it is our belief, is vested in the individual; and we are going to protect the rights of the individual.  It is an auspicious moment to dedicate here in New England one of our town halls, an auspicious moment in which to dedicate it to the supremacy of those ideals for which the whole world is fighting at the present time; that the rights of the individual as they were established here in the past may be maintained by us now and carried to a yet greater development in the future.