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THE INDEBTEDNESS OF THE WEST 
 TO NEW ENGLAND 
 
 ADDRESS 
 
 Charles W. Fairbanks 
 
 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 
 
 FOUNDING OF LANCASTER, MASS. 
 
 JUNE 30, 1903 
 
 PRESS OF 
 
 LEVBY BRO'S & CO., INC. 
 
 INDIANAPOLIS 
 
I S'a3 
 
 f-,U 
 
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen — With 
 pleasure I have come to participate with you in this 
 interesting historical occasion, and to bear testimony 
 of our gratitude to New England for what she has 
 been, and is, to the West. I do not feel as though I 
 had come among strangers, or "enemies," to use a 
 phrase which has had much currency upon the hust- 
 ings, for the ashes of many of my ancestors rest in 
 your soil. They were among the pioneers who aided 
 in raising the torch of liberty upon the Atlantic 
 coast, and they were among those who carried beyond 
 the Appalachian mountains the fundamental princi- 
 ples of human freedom which were inculcated here. 
 
 We meet, not as strangers, but as friends, filled 
 with the love of liberty, and wuth pride in a common 
 ancestry. We are bound together by a common her- 
 itage, a common kinship, a common aspiration and a 
 common destiny. 
 
 We return to New England with filial affection. 
 We look to her as to a venerable mother, wise, noble- 
 minded and generous-hearted. She may have seemed 
 exacting and austere in her early days, but she has 
 mellowed and sweetened with age. If she has faults 
 they lean to virtue's side. We recognize and gladly 
 acknowledge our everlasting indebtedness to her for 
 the high ideals which the pioneers carried hence to 
 their hmnble homes in the West. They took with 
 them the love of religion, the love of learning, the 
 love of home. These have been the inspiration of 
 the West. They have been the sure foundation of 
 her development from small beginnings to her pres- 
 ent strength and power. 
 
 I rejoice with you in the two hundred and fiftieth 
 anniversary of the municipal birth of Lancaster. 
 Two and one-half centuries are but a brief period, 
 compared with the lives of some of the European 
 municipalities, but it is a long time when compared 
 with most of our American cities, with the national 
 Government, and with the eldest of our States. It 
 
is vast, indeed, when contrasted with the development 
 and growth of the West. 
 
 This old town, about which cluster so many splen- 
 did memories, has witnessed all that is most memor- 
 able and glorious in American history. She began 
 before our fathers had awakened to the mighty possi- 
 bilities of the Western continent ; before there was 
 any dream of Lexington and Concord ; before Phila- 
 delphia and 1776 ; before there was any thought of 
 Bunker Hill and before any seer foresaw Yorktown. 
 To write the history of the country since the charter 
 of Lancaster is to write the most inspiring and lumin- 
 ous story in all human experience. In her modest 
 way, through it all, she has borne well her part. It 
 is not for me to dwell upon the story of her career, 
 although it is most engaging. Orators and poets and 
 historians have long dwelt upon it, and it is all as 
 familiar as a thrice-told tale. 
 
 Where is the East and where is the West? Who 
 is able to delimit them upon the map of our coun- 
 try so that we may know where the one ends and the 
 other begins? Our modern development is such that 
 we lose sight of geographical divisions. We have 
 blended together into one vast homogeneous com- 
 munity, and it is impossible to mark a boundary to 
 the East or the West, the ISTorth or the South. The 
 time was when these general divisions had a signifi- 
 cance they do not now possess. The ISTorth and the 
 South were sharply divided by a curse ; but with the 
 priceless blood of the heroic youth of the republic it 
 was washed away forever. In the elder days the 
 West was not far from the Atlantic seaboard, but our 
 Western frontier has pushed farther and farther un- 
 til the West and the Middle West have become the 
 East within the lifetime of many who are here. The 
 old maps have become obsolete, and the old East and 
 the old West are but traditional divisions. 
 
 In the years that are passed, a time within the 
 memory of many who honor this historic occasion, 
 there was a well-defined East and an equally well- 
 
defined West. There was a line on one side of which 
 were years, wealth, culture and conservatism, and on 
 the other youth, small capital, some culture, a high 
 order of intelligence, and bold enterprise. 
 
 The East and the West, now somewhat vague gen- 
 eralizations, are not composed of people of different 
 bloods, of divergent racial tendencies, but they are 
 of the same blood; of the same races. They have 
 kindred sympathies and like aspirations. Their sons 
 laid down their lives upon the battlefields of the 
 South, to preserve for the present and future ages 
 our sacred institutions. They, together, yielded up 
 the last measure of their devotion, to vindicate the 
 national honor in the war with Spain — a war which 
 humanity commanded, and which drove across the 
 sea the Spanish flag, which had, for so many cen- 
 turies, contaminated the air of the Western hemi- 
 sphere. 
 
 Though many years have intervened since the 
 early pioneers of the East took up their march west- 
 ward, into the unbroken and hostile wilderness, we 
 have not been divided. We have been brought con- 
 tinually into closer communion. The bonds of at- 
 tachment have grown steadily stronger. "The mystic 
 cords of memory," of which the immortal Lincoln, of 
 New England ancestry, spoke, have stretched from 
 many an humble hearthstone in the great Mississippi 
 Valley and beyond, to the old homes in far-off New 
 England. 
 
 New England's sons, who have been an important 
 part of the progress of the West, and who are to be 
 found in every neighborhood, stretching westward 
 three thousand miles to where the Pacific breaks upon 
 the western shores of our continent, and beyond even 
 that, wherever American enterprise has established 
 dominion, have an affection for Plymouth Rock and 
 Fanueil Hall, and for Lancaster and for her sister 
 towns. 
 
 The West was fortunate in having back of it such 
 an East — an East filled with patriotic memories, with 
 
6 
 
 lessons of heroic devotion to home and country, an 
 East which has been, and which is today, the pride 
 of America. 
 
 The soil of New England reluctantly yielded a 
 livelihood, and no drone or spendthrift could make 
 his way here. A forbidding soil and a severe climate 
 were not hospitable either to ignorance or indolence. 
 Out of the earnest contest with nature came a splen- 
 did civilization, which, when transplanted to the 
 broader and richer fields of the West, resulted in a 
 development and growth which challenge our admira- 
 tion and command unstinted commendation every- 
 where. 
 
 The sons and daughters of New England carried 
 into the West their love of liberty, their devotion to 
 republican institutions, their frugality, their indom- 
 itable pluck, which defied adversity. If you would 
 know how we have so splendidly won our way, I 
 would point you to these influences in answer. 
 
 The West is indebted, as is the entire country, to 
 New England for many patriots and statesmen whose 
 lives and example are part of the imperishable glory 
 of the republic. From our earliest days until now 
 the stories of their lives have been daily told about 
 the fireside, and no one can measure the impetus 
 thereby given to higher and more patriotic effort. 
 What were American history without them? With 
 the most illustrious stand many of the sons of 
 Massachusetts. Among those upon the roll of 
 honor are Bradford, Endicott and Winthrop, Otis, 
 the Adamses, and Hancock, Webster, Andrew 
 Dawes, and Sumner, Devens, Hoar, Long, Lodge, 
 and Moody. Her contributions to the world of let- 
 ters have been no less conspicuous, and have brought 
 her high and lasting renown. Prescott and Motley, 
 Emerson, Longfellow, Lowell, Whittier and Bryant 
 have become familiar names wherever the English 
 tongue is spoken. 
 
 Among those whose patriotic fervor we are pleased 
 to acknowledge, is one who honors this interesting 
 
event. His name will long endure in the pure patri- 
 otic literature of the republic. It has been my good 
 fortune to be associated with him during a tragic and 
 forever memorable period of our national history. 
 He differed with many of his associates on important 
 matters of governniental policy, but it was an honest 
 difference, a difference that all respected and hon- 
 ored. His voice has always rung out clear in support 
 of exalted principles, which his conscience com- 
 manded. He has brought us many messages which 
 have burned with the patriotic fires of James Otis 
 and Samuel Adams. We all gratefully bring the 
 homage of our love and esteem, and lay it at the feet 
 of your great Senator, George F. Hoar. 
 
 There can be no doubt that among the most dis- 
 tinctive contributions to the West by the East, were 
 the Ordinance of 1787, and the Ohio Company. The 
 vast influence of the Ordinance of 1787 upon the 
 West, and upon the nation itself, will justify a some- 
 what special inquiry into the movement which led to 
 its adoption, and to the formation of the Ohio 
 Society. 
 
 Congress, in 1776, made an appropriation of lands 
 to the officers and soldiers of the army. The distri- 
 bution of lands to those who served during the war 
 was to be made according to their several grades. A 
 private soldier was to receive one hundred acres; a 
 lieutenant-colonel, four hundred and fifty, and so on. 
 Later, Congress provided that a brigadier-general 
 should receive eight hundred and fifty and a major- 
 general one thousand one hundred acres. 
 
 After the army of Washington had accomplished 
 its high and immortal mission, two hundred and 
 eighty-eight of his officers and soldiers turned their 
 eyes westward. In June, 1783, they petitioned Con- 
 gress to have the lands which had been voted to them, 
 located in that "tract of country, bounded north on 
 Lake Erie, east on Pennsylvania, southeast and south 
 on the River Ohio, west on a line beginning at that 
 part of the Ohio which lies twenty-four miles west of 
 
the mouth of the River Scioto, thence running north 
 on a meridian line until it intersects the River Miami, 
 which falls into Lake Erie, thence down the middle 
 of that river to the lake." 
 
 The petitioners further expressed the opinion that 
 this country is ''of sufficient extent, the land of such 
 quality, and situation such as may induce Congress 
 to assign and mark it out as a tract or territory suit- 
 able to form a distinct Government (or colony of the 
 United States), in time to be admitted one of the con- 
 federated States of America." 
 
 Of the signers, more than one-half were from the 
 State of Massachusetts. The remainder were from 
 the States of New Jersey, Connecticut, Maryland, 
 New York and New Hampshire. 
 
 The petition was put into the hands of Gen. Rufus 
 Putnam, of Massachusetts. It set forth the ad- 
 vantages to the entire country of the establishment of 
 such a colony. 
 
 "1 am, sir," said he, ''among those who consider the 
 cession of so great a tract of territory to the United 
 States in the western world as a very happy circum- 
 stance, and of great consequence to the American 
 empire. Nor have I the least doubt that Congress 
 will pay an early attention to securing the allegiance 
 of the natives, as well as provide for the defense of 
 that country in case of a war with Great Britain 
 or Spain. 
 
 "One great means of securing the allegiance of the 
 natives, I take to be," said he, "the furnishing them 
 such necessaries as they shall stand in need of, and in 
 exchange receiving their furs and skins. They are 
 become so accustomed to the use of firearms that I 
 doubt if they could gain a subsistence without them, 
 at least they will be very sorry to be reduced to the 
 disagreeable necessity of using the bow and arrow as 
 the only means for killing their game, and so habitu- 
 ated are they to the woolen blanket, etc., that an ab- 
 solute necessity alone will prevent their making use 
 of them. This consideration alone is, I think, to 
 
9 
 
 prove the necessity of establishing such factories as 
 may furnish an ample supply to these wretched crea- 
 tures; for unless they are furnished by the subjects 
 of the United States, they will undoubtedly seek else- 
 where, and like all other people, form their attach- 
 ment where they have their commerce, and then, in 
 case of a war, will always be certain to aid our ene- 
 mies. Therefore, if there were no advantages in view 
 but that of attaching them to our interest, I think 
 good policy will dictate the measure of carrying on a 
 commerce with these people," 
 
 He suggested a general chain of garrisons for the 
 protection of the frontier from the Ohio to the lake. 
 
 "The petitioners, at least some of them," said he, 
 in conclusion, "conceive that sound policy dictates 
 the measure, and that Congress ought to lose no time 
 in establishing some such chain of posts as has been 
 hinted at, and in procuring the tract of country peti- 
 tioned for, of the natives, for the moment this is 
 done, and agreeable terms offered to the settlers, 
 many of the petitioners are determined, not only to 
 become adventurers, but actually to remove them- 
 selves to this country ; and there is not the least doubt 
 but other valuable citizens will follow their example, 
 and the probability is that the country between Lake 
 Erie and the Ohio will be filled with inhabitants, and 
 the faithful subjects of these United States, so estab- 
 lished on the waters of the Ohio and the lakes as to 
 banish forever the idea of our Western territory fall- 
 ing under the dominion of any European power, the 
 frontier of the old States will be effectually secured 
 from savage alarms, and the new will have little to 
 fear from their insults." 
 
 General Putnam speaks in his petition of "the 
 faithful subjects of these United States," a term with 
 which the citizens of the new republic had become 
 quite familiar while they were subjects of Great 
 Britain ; a term, however, which has long since, hap- 
 pily, become obsolete. The loyal citizen has suc- 
 ceeded the faithful subject. The one is the stay and 
 
10 
 
 support of republican institutions; the other, of 
 monarchy. 
 
 The petition of General Putnam discloses the fact 
 that the petitioners, or at least some of them, were 
 much opposed to a monopoly of lands, and wished to 
 guard against large patents being granted to individ- 
 uals, as in their opinion such a mode would be very 
 injurious to the country, and would greatly retard its 
 settlement, as it would throw too much power into 
 the hands of a few. 
 
 George Washington gave his cordial assent to the 
 plan of colonization, because "it would connect our 
 governments with the frontier, extend our settle- 
 ments progressively, and plant a brave, a hardy and 
 respectable race of people as our advanced post, who 
 would be always ready and willing (in case of hos- 
 tility) to combat the savages and check their incur- 
 sions. A settlement formed by such men would give 
 security to our frontiers ; the very name of it would 
 awe the Indians, and more than probably prevent the 
 murder of many innocent families, which frequently 
 in the usual mode of extending our settlements and 
 encroachments on the hunting grounds of the natives, 
 fall the hapless victims to savage barbarity. * * * 
 I will venture to say it is the most rational and practi- 
 cable scheme which can be adopted bv a great propor- 
 tion of the officers and soldiers of our army, and 
 promises them more happiness than they can expect 
 in any other way. The settlers being in the prime 
 of life, inured to hardship, and taught by experience 
 to accommodate themselves in every situation, going 
 in a considerable body and under the patronage of 
 government, would enjoy in the first instance ad- 
 vantages in procuring subsistence, and all the neces- 
 saries for a comfortable beginning, superior to any 
 common class of emigrants, and quite unknown to 
 those who have heretofore extended themselves be- 
 yond the Appalachian mountains. They may expect, 
 after a little perseverance, competence and independ- 
 
11 
 
 ence for themselves, a pleasant retreat in old age, 
 and the fairest prospects for their children." 
 
 A meeting of the officers and soldiers of the Revo- 
 lutionary war was held in 178G, in Boston, pursuant 
 to a call by Gen. Rufus Putnam and Benjamin Tup- 
 per, to organize the Ohio Society. At this meeting 
 the Ohio company of associates was organized. Its 
 purpose was "to raise a fund in Continental certifi- 
 cates for the sole purpose of buying Western lands in 
 the Western territory and making a settlement." 
 
 Dr. Manasseh Cutler, of Massachusetts, was em- 
 ployed, in 1787, "to purchase of Congress land for 
 the company in the great Western Territory of the 
 Union," and the purchase of 1,500,000 acres was ef- 
 fected under an act of Congress, which was passed 
 in July of that year. 
 
 W^hat an important year that was in American his- 
 tory ! Seventeen hundred and eighty -seven will for- 
 ever mark some of the most important and notable 
 incidents in our national history. In addition 
 to the purchase of land by the Ohio company, 
 our national constitution was framed, and the Ordi- 
 nance for the government of the territorv northwest 
 of the Ohio river was enacted in that year. The Ohio 
 purchase and the Ordinance of 1787 were interde- 
 pendent incidents. It has been said that "the pur- 
 chase would not have been made without the Ordi- 
 nance; the Ordinance could not have been enacted ex- 
 cept as an essential condition of the purchase." 
 
 The Ordinance was next, in importance only to the 
 adoption of the Federal constitution. It was an act 
 in the fullest sense of constructive statesmanship. It 
 was among the foremost in its scope" and wisdom in 
 all the history of free government. What hio-her 
 praise than that given it by Mr. Webster? "We are 
 accustomed," said he, "to praise the law<nvers of an- 
 tiquity ; we help to perpetuate the fame of Solon and 
 Lycurgus ; but I doubt whether one single law of any 
 lawgiver, ancient or modern, has produced effects of 
 
12 
 
 more distinct, marked and lasting character than the 
 Ordinance of 1787." 
 
 "It approaches as near to absolute perfection," said 
 Judge Timothy Walker, "as anything to be found in 
 the legislation of mankind." 
 
 It has been said that it laid the foundations of na- 
 tional greatness. 
 
 To whom are we indebted for this incomparable 
 Ordinance? To whom shall we pay the tribute of 
 our grateful appreciation for this notable achieve- 
 ment in statecraft, so potent and far-reaching in its 
 beneficent influence, not only upon the great North- 
 west, but upon the entire nation? We must look to 
 New England for the author, and we must also look 
 to the pulpit for the one who laid us all under grate- 
 ful contribution. The one to whom we are largely 
 indebted was a graduate of Yale College ; a man of 
 high culture, "and a member of divers philosophical 
 societies. At that time he was pastor of a church in 
 Massachusetts," Dr. Manasseh Cutler. 
 
 Dr. Cutler gives an interesting account of the diffi- 
 culty of securing from Congress the lands acquired 
 by the Ohio company. "By this Ordinance," he in- 
 forms us, "we obtained the grant of near 5,000,000 
 of acres of land, amounting to three millions and a 
 half of dollars, one million and a half of acres for the 
 Ohio company, and the remainder for a private 
 speculation, in which many of the principal charac- 
 ters in America are concerned. Without connecting 
 this speculation, similar terms and advantages could 
 not have been obtained for the Ohio company." 
 
 It would appear from this that the art of "log roll- 
 ing," which has sometimes been practiced in the 
 West, finds its precedent in the early practices of our 
 virtuous fathers of the East. 
 
 The Ordinance of 1787 prohibited slavery in the 
 Northwest Territory. An effort had been made be- 
 fore its adoption to restrict the existence of slavery 
 in that Territorv to the vear 1800. Such an ordi- 
 
13 
 
 nance was reported by Mr. Jefferson's committee in 
 1784, but the restrictive clause was stricken out. 
 
 The Ordinance forever secured the Territory of 
 the Northwest, and, through force of example, the 
 territory beyond, from the crime of human slavery. 
 Its soil has never been contaminated by the foot of a 
 bondman. Its vast domain has been in the fullest 
 sense the home and habitation of the free. And when 
 the question of abolishing slavery in the United 
 States arose, its sword was tendered to wipe from 
 our institutions the great overmastering crime, the 
 one relic of barbarism, which unfortunately gained 
 a foothold in a land dedicated by God Ahnighty to 
 the exalted cause of human freedom. 
 
 Senator Hoar, speaking with historical accuracy 
 and characteristic grace, at Marietta, Ohio, in 1888, 
 said: 
 
 ''Here was the first human government where ab- 
 solute civil and religious liberty always prevailed. 
 Here no witch was ever hanged. Here no heretic 
 was ever molested. Here no slave was ever born or 
 dwelt. When older States and nations, where the 
 chains of human bondage have been broken, shall 
 utter the proud boast: 'With great cost I obtained 
 this freedom,' each sister of the imperial group — 
 Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin — 
 may lift up her queenly head with the yet prouder 
 answer: 'But I was free born!' " 
 
 Who can imagine the condition of the Northwest, 
 or that of the country itself, if slavery had been per- 
 mitted to gain a foothold in the Northwest Territory? 
 If it had ever taken root in that large domain, the 
 probabilities are that the historian of the future 
 would write a far different story of our country than 
 he will now be able to record. We know all too well 
 the tremendous cost of tearing from the throat of lib- 
 erty the merciless clutch of slavery. 
 
 The authors of the Ordinance kept in view the ne- 
 cessity of ample provision for "schools and acad- 
 emies." It was, indeed, a fortunate and wise fore- 
 
14 
 
 sight which made ample provision for the establish- 
 ment of "moral and educational influences" in con- 
 junction with provisions for securing and safeguard- 
 ing "human rights." They did not believe the sup- 
 port of the public schools was paternalistic and in- 
 imical to the public welfare. They well regarded the 
 system as fundamentally sound and promotive of the 
 best interests of society and of the Government it- 
 self. To this wholesome provision we are indebted 
 for many schools and colleges throughout the West, 
 which are doing a mighty work in the advancement 
 of our common interests. 
 
 "This Ordinance did that which was not so com- 
 mon," said Mr. Webster. "It set forth and declared 
 it to be a high and binding duty of government itself 
 to support schools and advance the means of educa- 
 tion, on the plain reason that religion, morality and 
 knowledge are necessary to good government and to 
 the happiness of mankind." 
 
 The jSTorthwest Territory, when the Ordinance of 
 1787 was established, was essentially a wilderness. 
 It extended from the Alleghany mountains to the 
 Father of Waters, north of the Ohio. From an early 
 day it had been regarded of a-reat promise. The cli- 
 matic condition, soil and mineral resources, lakes and 
 rivers were such that those who reflected saw there 
 a future of exceptional promise. Richard Cobden 
 predicted in 1835 that there "one day will be the 
 headquarters of agriculture and manufacturing in- 
 dustry. Here one day will center the wealth, the 
 power, the civilization of the entire world." 
 
 If this generous prophecy shall be fulfilled it will 
 be due not only to our natural advantages, but it 
 will be owing, in no inconsiderable degree, to the Or- 
 dinance of 1787, and to the fact that running through 
 the texture of our civilization is the strong thread of 
 ISTew England gold — conservatism, wisdom and pa- 
 triotism. 
 
 Out of the great j^orthwestern Territory, Ave pow- 
 erful and majestic States have been carved — Ohio, 
 Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin. Their 
 
combined population is about sixteen millions, or 
 some five times more than the population of the 
 Union when the constitution was adopted. They 
 have but fairly entered upon a career which is des- 
 tined in a large measure to verify the prediction of 
 the great English statesman. 
 
 We have sometimes heard it said by the passionate 
 and unreflecting that there will be no more trouble 
 between the North and the South ; that they are in- 
 dissolubly cemented together, and that if any do- 
 mestic division shall occur, it will be between the 
 East and the West ; that the line of cleavage, if it 
 shall come, will run north and south. Such senti- 
 ment is not well founded. It is contrary to good rea- 
 son, for there is no natural antagonism of interest be- 
 tween the East and the West. Their interests are en- 
 tirely mutual. They are concerned in a mighty com- 
 merce which flows back and forth between them, and 
 which binds them firmly together. They are of the 
 same blood. They have the same churches, kindred 
 ideals and like aspirations. Those who conceive that 
 there may be a conflict between them in the great 
 future, see with the disordered vision of pessimists. 
 
 Fate has decreed, and her decrees are forever ir- 
 reversible, that we shall dwell in perpetual unison. 
 Political demagogues, for selfish ends, and senseless 
 agitators, can not disturb the ties which bind us to- 
 gether Avith more than a Titan's power. I am not 
 unaware of the force of the subtle appeal to local 
 pride and local self-interest, and local prejudice, but 
 this would be lost in our larger pride and our larger 
 interest in our great national development. 
 
 Many of the constitutions of our Western States 
 are largely modeled upon those of the East. Many 
 of our laws and municipalities have been fashioned 
 after yours. What is best in yours we have freely 
 adopted. We have appropriated that which has 
 seemed best to promote the cause of American 
 freedom. 
 
16 
 
 We have built mighty highways of commerce. 
 Some of them stretch across the Mississippi Valley, 
 the Western plains, through the Kocky mountains to 
 the Pacific coast. We have erected great industries 
 and have joined with the States of the Atlantic sea- 
 board in establishing the industrial supremacy of our 
 country. Much of the capital for these gigantic and 
 far-reaching undertakings came from the Eastern 
 States. You manifested in full measure your faith 
 in your sons of the West, and we trust that our 
 development is a full justification of the confidence 
 you reposed in us. 
 
 ITew England was founded by those who were 
 enamored of freedom and who desired to secure lib- 
 erty for themselves and their posterity. They placed 
 the schoolhouse and the church side by side. These 
 were the essential and permanent foundations of free 
 institutions. They were carried into the West by the 
 pioneers, who made their tedious and arduous way 
 across the Appalachian chain to found new States. 
 The ISJ'ew England church and schoolhouse were the 
 companions of the log dwelling upon the frontier, 
 and they have continued down to this hour, like 
 mighty beacon lights, "casting afar the beams of a 
 higher civilization." 
 
 We have many years studied the rich literature of 
 New England. Your statesmen, publicists, histori- 
 ans, poets, novelists and scientists have long been 
 familiar to us. Many of our young men and women 
 have been instructed in your colleges and universities. 
 We are indebted to Harvard and Yale, and to Dart- 
 mouth, of which Mr. Webster spoke with such pa- 
 thetic interest, for their splendid influence upon the 
 minds of many of our youth. They have been po- 
 tent agencies in the education not only of the East 
 but of the West. 
 
 We have great centers of industrial activity, pop- 
 ulous cities, mountains, rivers and lakes, forests and 
 mines of inestimable wealth. We take pride in them, 
 but they are not the trophies we most prize. They go 
 
17 
 
 to make up our material assets which have received 
 attention the world over, but thej are not our chief- 
 est claim to distinction. We value most the virtue 
 and intelligence and patriotism of our people. We 
 seek wealth and power, not as the end of human am- 
 bition, but only as a means to the end. We seek them 
 only that we may advance knowledge and the gentler 
 qualities which are the flower and fruitage of the hu- 
 man race. We seek physical power because it may 
 advance our moral and intellectual well-being. We 
 desire it only because we may use it to advance wis- 
 dom and charity. We regard an exalted, symmetrical 
 personality as the end, rather than the erection of fac- 
 tories, the development of farms, or the construction 
 of far-reaching highways. 
 
 In these higher things we seek to emulate New 
 England. We have drawn from you ideas of '"clean- 
 thinking and clean-living," the bedrock of content- 
 ment in the home, the essential predicate of whole- 
 some social conditions. We have received from you 
 culture, scholarship, patriotism and morality. With 
 them no people can be either small or mean, and 
 without them none can become truly great and 
 strong. 
 
 The gifted Curtis, an honored son of the East, 
 speaking of the far-reaching- influence of New Eng- 
 land, said : 
 
 "It is the subtle and penetrating influence of New 
 England which has been felt in every part of our 
 national life, as the cool wind, blowing from her pine- 
 clad mountains, breathes a loftier inspiration, a 
 health more vigorous, a fresher impulse upon her 
 own green valleys and happy fields. See how she has 
 diffused her population. * * * The blood of 
 New England flows with energizing, progressive 
 power in the veins of every State ; and the undaunted 
 spirit of the Puritan, sic semper tyrannis, animates 
 the continent from sea to sea." 
 
 While we have received much from you — Omnip- 
 otence alone can measure it — we have not been con- 
 
tent with that. We have used it as capital for mak- 
 ing still larger gains in the common interest. What 
 you have given us has but stimulated our efforts to 
 still larger advancement. We have used what we 
 have received at your generous hands as a stepping- 
 stone to greater things. We have made headway 
 in statesmanship, in literature, in art, in science, in 
 invention, in education, in agriculture, in manufac- 
 ture. You were our wise and sympathetic teacher. 
 If we have been apt pupils and have increased the 
 sum of what you have given us, it awakens in you 
 only a sense of pride and satisfaction, for we are joint 
 sharers in the honor and glory that come to either. 
 
 We live today in retrospect. We gladly survey 
 the past, with its mighty achievements, its immeas- 
 urable contributions to human progress, but we can 
 not live alone in retrospective contemplation. 
 
 At the close of this memorable day, we shall turn 
 our faces to the future. We shall plan and toil until 
 the celebration of the three hundredth anniversary 
 of the birth of Lancaster. What shall those speak 
 who shall then assemble here? There is no vision so 
 penetrating that it can see far in advance of the pres- 
 ent hour. There is no seer with wisdom profound 
 enough to open to us the mystic volume of the next 
 fifty years. We are not filled with anxiety as to the 
 half century which lies immediately before us. Hope 
 tells us to look up, not down. She tells us that if we 
 but carry into the future the work and the faith of 
 the fathers, we shall surely go forward, expanding in 
 knowledge and power, and that the roots of our insti- 
 tutions will strike deeper and still deeper into the 
 affections of the people, and that through the united 
 efforts of the East and the West, the North and the 
 South, blended into one sublime word, "America," 
 our primacy will be established and everywhere ac- 
 knowledged, and that in the future, as in this hour, 
 our chief glory will be that wisdom, justice and 
 mercy will preside over us and the destiny of the 
 great republic. 
 
AUU 24 t90S 
 
 P D 181 
 

 
 
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