1
z.
r
n
a ‘I
‘H
» ‘4
n
““ “
., W
‘ ‘ 7

 

      
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
  

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

\

 

 

  14~A1RMo*U4NfI“MA

   
 

 

 

 

v

“\
4

 

 

 

 

 

y

 

\

.MANAGERS -H

 

 

 

 

   

     

     

    A
8?

 

%CtA>;V, % I:f’ m 1r-§z‘.1f

    

  

V1» 1;.ix'* m_  

:2‘ns%,%

 

 

 

 

   

A

H .«

 

vs, \

WEVEE

I-

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

 

     

   

  

 

 

 

. .L.,_....,L...2..;.-_‘...,..a....-...--.--».---4-¢-~

 

 

 
 

 
     

 
   
 

 

 

   
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
   
 

 
   

 
     

  

 

   

   

 

 
 

 

 

 

 
 

ORATION

}§Y

A/19.. JOHN W. FORNEY,

AT T}~I1<1

IOISI CELEBRATION OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE,

JULY 4, 1877,

IN THE

INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION BUILDING,
FAIRMOUNT PARK,

15 ‘.5’ IN V I TATI ON ()1? T H E ‘I%C)A R. I.) 01*‘ M AN A G E R S.
................,......... .. .4‘. , \..................

PHILADELPHIA!
VAI.L.I'1’.'1"l‘E~:, HM-§I..AM 8: C0,, PRIN‘l'El{:‘:, 32 SL)U'1‘H SEVt<IN’!‘H 

1877.

4

trifling toy; this single mineral, iron, enters into nearly
all our wants and luxuries. It helped Franklin to
tame the lightning of the skies, and wardsthat light»
ning from our homes: it aids the transmission of
human thoughts over seas and mountains, to the
utmost ends of the earth, almost “as swiftly as the sight-
less couriers of the air;” and it assists the distribution
of these thoughts, by converting the printing press into
an almost conscious being.

The artist, painter, sculptor, architect, physician,
astronomer, soldier, sailor and scholar, the builder and
the antiquarian, the man of peace and the man of war,
the lady in her boudoir, the matron in her kitchen, the
poor girl with her hired sewing machine, the poor boy
in his fight for a trade, the editor with his steel pen,
the printer before his iron case, the engineer as he
traces and tracks the wilderness—--in most things, prac-
tical and poetic, present and future, the things of
today and towmorrow, this simple gift of God comes
as a precious benefaction, making many of His other
gifts more useful and rare. ,

If you will go to the well known home of the same
Mr. Harrison, to whom I have alluded, you will see
how he has illustrated his own thought and how he has
crowned the great guild of human labor. It is a pic-
ture, called “The Iron WOFk€1‘ and King Solomon,”
painted for Mr. Harrison in 1865, by the celebrated
Christian Schuessele. The object is to show that iron
is the chief agent in all the mechanic arts. I give the
incident in Mr. Harrison’s own words:

“ When King Solomon had finished the Temple, and
having set apart a day for its consecration, he invited

5

all the great men of the kingdom, together with the
architect, the surveyor, the chief carpenter, the chief
mason, and others who had been engaged in planning
and directing the work.

*‘ The vast edifice rested with closed doors, awaiting
the arrival of the King. He came at length, the doors
were opened, and to the sound of tabret, harp,_psaltery
and trumpet, the solemn and imposing procession en»
tered the house then to be dedicated to the worship of
the living God.

“As the King moved toward the seat prepared for
him, to the amazement of all, a stalwart smith was
seen sitting on the right—hande<:l seat nearest the
throne. Hammer in hand, bare armed and head erect,
with reeking sweat upon his brow, showing him fresh
from the forge, he sate, nothing daunted by the near
approach of majesty. A movement was made to
remove the bold intruder. ‘Hold!’ cried the King,
and thus he spake to the smith: ‘Friend, why art
thou here filling a place intended forgone better than
thou?’ ‘Mighty King, 0 live for ever,’ replied the
smith, ‘I own no superior here, save your Royal
Majesty, and I fill this place, as by right it is mine, and
as I will presently show, if thou wilt graciously permit
me. Your Majesty hath invited here today the chief
architect, the surveyor, the chief mason, and many
others who have labored herein, but thou hast over-
looked the so-«thought humble smith, to whom all these
who have been honored with a place at this ceremony
are indebted. Without the instruments that I had
prepared for them, could the chief architect make his
plans, the surveyor his lines? Could the mason carve

6

his stone, or the carpenter fashion his wood? The
very first stroke in the construction of this great
edifice was made by the smith, and from the beginning
unto the end he has been by the side of those who
have built this work, aiding them with his art in
making instruments, without which this temple could
not have been reared.

“Solomon mused for a moment and then said:
‘Friend, thou speakest but too truly. Much is indeed
due to thee, and thou shouldst not have been neg-
lected. Stay where thou art, and let those who would
have spurned thee from thy place, feel with me the just
rebuke thou hast bestowed upon us.’ ”

There are thirty groups of exhibits in the Permanent.
Exhibition, sub-divided into a large variety of speci-
mens: natural, rnechanical, artistic, educational, agri-
cultural, horticultural and philosophical; and yet in all
these groups and their sub—clivisions, there are only
two that do not derive their value from it----iron is their
chief ingredient or agent. ,

The story of the Centennial is told, and I am not here
to repeat it. Rather, at the opening of the first year
of the second century of the Republic, let me recall,

. however feebly, some of the results of that unforgotten

event. A They budded during the Great Exhibition, and
now we are living among some of their richest ripened.
fruits. Through doubt, sinister prophesies, and finan-
cial disaster, that dazzling archievernent rose like a
fabric reared by angel hands. It grew apace, grandly
flourished, fulfilled its mission, and left a record as
stainless as the great work of peace to which it was

dedicated. Unlikethe lovely vision in Sl1a‘kespere’s. i

7

Tempest, the Centennial has bequeathed something
more than a memory. We must not say of it what;
Prospero said of his magical conception:

“ Our revels now are ended ; these, our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits, and
Are melted into air, into thin air,
And like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud capped towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temple, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve,
And like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made of, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.”

But our great work-—-the Centennial EXhibition--—born
of facts, has left a world of facts to wonder at for ever...

* Created to honor an immortal deed, it has enriched
posterity in a thousand practical lessons. This splendid '

hall, yonder superb gallery of art, yonder luminous con-i

~ servatory,and to the left, the machinery hall, still throb-

bing with the pulsations of its marvellous inventions-—-—-all
four belong to these lessons. And what a volume it is It
How full of novelty and encouragernentand hope to
our own people, and to the people of the nations of’
the earth!

Let me dwell for a few moments on the harvest of

the seeds planted during the last hundred years.

T/he cemzw of 1790 shows a population of 3,929,217 ;
that of 1870, 38,558,371. There were in 1790 only 6,
cities of more than 8,000 inhabitants; namely, Phila-
delphia, 42,529; New York, 33,131; Boston, 18,038;
Charleston, 16,359; Baltimore, 13,503; Salem, 8,000.
There were in 1870, 92 citiesof from 8,000 to 12,000;

8

63 of from 12,000 to 20,000; 39 of from 20,000 to
40,000; I4 of from 40,000 to 75,000; 8 of from 75,000
to 125,000; 3 of from 125,000 to 250,000; 3 of from
250,000 to 500,000; 2 of more than 500,000.

The 2222-2«z&e2*cy’ post offices in 1 790 was 75 ; of letters
about 300,000. Mails were carried 3 times a week
between Boston and New York, 5 times between New
York and Philadelphia. It took 2 days to go with the
coach from New York to Philadelphia. In 1870 there
were 28,492 post offices, and about 590,000,000 letters
were carried; in that year the letter carriers of Man-
chester, N. H., delivered more letters than constituted
the whole burden of the postal service in 1790.

Our country in I 790 comprised a thin fringe of settle-
ments along the Atlantic. Behind this lay the “ Wilder~
ness,” very imperfectly explored, and inhabited by the
savages, whose numbers were greatly exaggerated. A
journey from the Delaware to Fort Pitt (Pittsburg),
one of the most advanced outposts in the Wilderriess.
took 8 days, and was considered a terrible undertaking.
The country on the other side of the Wilderness was
entirely unknown. In 1803 it was still considered
probable that the Missouri communicated with the
Pacific. Between Albany and the Lakes there was no
communication. . A l A

772.2 z‘m«ze cause of the rising of the American colonies
against England, was her constant meddling with their
manufactures. The “Navigation Act” of 1650, ex-
tended in, 1661, and 1663, shows England’s purpose.
By it itwas provided that no article of colonial produce
or British manufacture should be carried in any but
British ships, and that the colonists should not be

9

allowed to purchase in any but British markets any
manufactured article which England had to sell. When
the colonies began to get manufactures of their own,
the purpose became apparent. The English govern-
ment had to report to the House of Commons concern-
ing manufactures in the colonies, and as it was felt
“that colonial industryiwould sink the value of land in
England, colonial industry was forbidden or hampered
with by a number of Acts, from 1731 to I776. It was
forbidden to carry wool or woollen goods, felt,hats,
glass, &c., manufactured in the colonies, not only into
foreign markets, but from one colony to another, so
that a man in Philadelphia was not allowed to buy a
pair of shoes made at Lynn, l\/lass. Also the number
of apprentices was strictly limited, and all manufac-
turing industry thus kept down. Nevertheless, whczn
\7Vashington, in 1790, made his inauguration speech, he
was dressed in a broadcloth suit, every article of which
was made in Hartford, Conn., and the total value of
the manufactures of the United States. for that year
was estimated at about $20,000,000.

Coizorz was early grown in the Southern States, but
only for home consumption, and all exportation was
most strictly forbidden in 1774. The production of
cotton was in the beginning so small, that when, in

1784, the first cargo of American cotton arrived at r

Liverpool, consisting of 8 bags, the importation was
considered unlawful because it could not be an Ameri-
can product. The total production was in I801,
48,000,000 pounds; in 18171, 80,000,000 pounds; in
1821, 180,000,000 pounds; in 1831, 3 5 5,000,000 pounds:
in 1872, 1,824,000,000 pounds. With the production

IQ

of the raw stuffs rose also the manufacturing industry.
The first Arkwright machine was put in operation at
Bridgewater, Mass., in 1786, by Hugh Orr; but one
of the most ardent promoters of the cotton industry
was Tench Coxe, of the “Pennsylvania Society for
Encouraging Manufactures.” In 1815., there were 165
factories, with 119,510 spindles; in 1831, 795 factories,
with 1,246,500 spindles :3 in 1874, 9,415,383,spindles‘in
operation.

Six paper mills were started in and around Philadel-

phia by Franklin alone; but in 1800 it still took three .

months to transform a pair of old linen pants into a sheet
of writing-paper ;- now 24 hours are sufficient. The
improvement of the paper-making machinery is largely

  due to John Ames, of Springfield, Mass. In 1820, the

value of paper manufactures in the United States was
$33,000,000; in 1854, $27,000,000; in 1870, $48,675,000.

from was one of the earliest colonial manufactures.
In 1728, 1,127 tons were exported to England; in
1771, 5,303 tons. In 1810, there were 153 furnaces,

, and 53,908 tons were produced; in 1855, 784,178 tons;

in 1865, 931.582 tons; in 1873, 2,695,000 tons. The

consumption of iron in the United States, was in 1872,

15o pounds per capita; in Great Britain, it was 200
pounds. “ I I
Wool/er; 7mzmzfczcz'zu~'e5 numbered in 18 50, 1 5 59 es-
tablishments, employing 39,252 hands, and producing
goods to the value of $43,207,000; in 1870, 2871 es-
tablishments, employing 93,108 hands, and producing

  goods to the value of $77,963,000.
T/he total numéer of persons employed in manufac- .

turing ‘industry was, in 1870, 2,500,189, to 5,151,767

II

employed in agriculture, and 1,117,928 in trade and -
, transportation.

./Wcmufadm/es in which the United States beat the
world are: Artificial limbs, surgical instruments, agri-
cultural implements, locomotives, varnishes, paints,
glue, boots and shoes, &c. Other articles in which they
rival the world are: Flour, hams, preserved meat, canned
fruit, leather, furniture, pianofortes, all kinds of cotton
goods, iron ware, &c.

Tke z/aZue of manufactured products exported by the
United States in 1821 was 28 cents per head of the
entire population; in I835, it was 51 cents; in 1858,
$1. 5 3 ; but since the outbreak of the war the rate has
‘again fallen below one dollar.

T/ze Amefirmz Reapz'¢z(g~ _/Ware‘/zz'rze.s‘ attracted great
attention-in I8 51, at the World’s Exhibition in London,
and in I85 5 a competition took place near Paris, be-
tween an American, English and Algerian reaper.
The American won, cutting an acre of oats in 22 min-
utes; the English in 66: the Algerian in 72. Since
1851, 3,000 patents have been granted in the United
States for improvements in harvesters and attachments.

7&6 Sewzirzg ./War/zz'7/rte, Elias Howe. In 187 3, 600,-
000 sewing machines were made and sold, and about
$70,000,000 were invested in this kind of manufacture.

At the close of the Revolution there were no manu-
factures of copper, silver and gold. iNow these pro-
ducts are almost incalculable, and our watches are
driving the foreign article from our markets. There
were only three paper mills in the United States at that
time. Now our paper mills manufacture annually at
least 800,000,000 pounds, while $200,000‘ annually

I2

"are expended in foreign rags alone. Our india rubber,

silk, and wood—sawing machines employ a vast capital

and many laborers. Our sewing~machines,are found '

all over the world. We had no gold mines at the close
of the Revolution. Now our gold product up to this
time has amounted to more than $800,000,000. Ame~
rican coal was unknown in 1820. Now our coal mines
of all kinds produce I 5,000,000of tons annually. We
had no railroads, worthy of the name, until 18 3 5. Now
we have over 73,000 miles.

But in all these changes, nothing could more amaze
the men of the past, than the startling progress in jour-
nalism since Benjamin Franklin made his appearance
as an editor, first on his brother’s newspaper, the New
Evzglarzci Com/am‘, while he was an apprentice, and
second when he established the Pe¢z7»z.s‘y/vzwzzd Gazette
in this city, in 1730, when he was about twenty—four
years of age." Of 63 newspapers that had been started
in America, from 1690 to 1783, only 43 were in €‘:YlSt--
ence at the conclusion of peace with Great Britain.
Now look at the number of publications, with their cir—-
culation and annual issue, in the United States, in 1870.
There are 5871 daily, tri-«weekly, semi-weekly, weekly,
semi—monthiy, monthly, bi—monthly and quarterly news-
papers and periodicals in this country, with an annual
circulation of 20,842,465. In 1704 there was but one
newspaper with an annual circulation of 16,000 copies,
when our population was 600,000 souls; and in 1870
there were 5871* periodicalsof all kinds, and our popu-
lation was rated 38,555,753. A A A

These figures, taken at random, suggest the con-

trast between the past and the present. They are

I3

elaborated in the magnificent temple in which we stand
to-day. Look around the multiplied symbols of nature
and art; from the mineral which is dug from the
ground to glass in all its beautiful varieties; chemicals
in their infinite development; furniture and its exqui-
site improvements; practical illustrations of housekeep-
ing; woollen goods of every description ; leather; gold,
and silver ware; stationery; wall paper; fire-arms and
ammunition; sporting irnplements; philosophical, sci-
entific, and optical instruments; weights and scales;
carriages and vehicles; educational systems and his-
tories ; architectures, paintings, sculptures, photographs,
and engravings; art applied to industry; machinery;
models of the whole system of railways; agricultural
and animal products; land and marine animal culture

in living and preserved specimens.‘ And all enclosed

in an edifice so light, harmonious, and comprehensive,
as to constitute one great school in itself, even without
the music which frequently resounds through its splen~
did spaces, as if to ravish the ear, while the eye, and
the hand, and the mind, are educated on every side.

And observe, that while all this is purely American,
foreign nations freely contribute to a display without
parallel on our continent. save by the gorgeous exhi-
bition from which it has grown. a

It was my good fortune, while your Centennial, Com-
missioner abroad, two years ago, to visit and enjoythe
palaces of European industry and art. They were, of
course,‘ older, more elaborate, and more costly; but as
I stood in these venerable museums and galleries, be-
ginning with V\/‘estminster Abbey, in London, and end
ingwith St. Peter’s, in Rome, the fact that impressed

I4

me most, was that they were the continued outgrowth
of royal beneficence, projected and paid for by kings

and priests. Do you wonder that, as I turnedifrorn‘

these venerable mementoes, trophies of old wars, effigies
and gifts of dead monarchs, that however instructed by
the experience,I gave my homage to the Centennial
Exhibition in the city of Philadelphia, the great work
of the American people alone?

I will not ask you to be proud of this work, or of its
successor, the Permanent Exhibition. But are you
quite aware of the value of the latter? Do you realize
how much depends upon it,and how much each of you
can do to make it a triumph? Do you recollect that
you are most fortunate in the auspicious circumstances
from which the Permanent Exhibition has risen, and
that even at this early day it is more truly a school
for the people--—-—cheaper, more accessible, and more
improving—~—-—than any other similar establishment in the
world? Under the sagacious and honest management
of an unpaid directory, this Permanent Exhibition will
extend, until at the end of another generation, it will
stand as a model in the American continent. It will
be sought far and near as the most perfect of all our
popularsystems of classified inventions, science, art,
and practical knowledge.  All that is necessary is for
the people of Philadelphia to understand these facts,
and resolutely to discharge their duties. Bear in mind
that your population mustbe now over 800,000, and

that with this vast influence you should make encoua
ragement of your Permanent Exhibition at daily study

and a daily pleasure. There is not a man, woman or
child, between the two rivers, that cannot do something

is

to place it on a basis of certain and increasing profit
and development. The substantial sympathy which
comes from pride of city, pride of State, and pride of
country, should be rearoused at once; and so far as
Philadelphia itself is concerned, this sympathy ought to
beeasily aroused. Look at our great local trusts!
Admirable as they are, they are not better administered
than this; yet they flourish, are frequently enriched by
generous donations and bequests, whether their object
be religion, education, benevolence,lscience or art;
whether they are intended to heal the wounded, cure
the sick, guard and protect the blind, the deaf and the
dumb. Wliy, then, should not this Institution, which
is at once school, college, museum, and workshop, be
as generously supported by a grateful and spirited
people ?

Now walk. with me through the outlying grounds:
away from the Permanent Exhibition, the Art Gallery,
the Horticultural Hall, and the lovely Centennial ex-
panse. Here we find another cause for reflection and
rejoicing. There is no such noble stretch of territory
in or near any one city so entirely given up to the

people. And here, on this lovely Fourth of July after-

noon, A. D. 1877, I think I see the noble company who
one hundred years ago, and ‘frequently afterwards,
gathered in front of Belmont Mansion, and with doubt
and fear reflected upon the fate of the infant city on the
waters of the river Delaware, and upon the fate of
the young republic. Beautiful as this spot is now, it
was perhaps equally beautiful during the first admin-
istration of President George Washington.

At that day the long and stately row of hemlocks, P

r6

described by Downing, the landscape architect, as the
grandest avenue of trees in America, extended from
Belmont Mansion for a considerable distance. Some
of them were of centuried growth, ninety feet high,
draped with masses of English ivy in high perfection ;
a few are still standing, venerable memorials of by-
gone days. ,

The garden walks were finished with box and trivet,
the beds set with rare shrubs and flowers, the grounds
adorned with statuary. Here, on this charming spot,
elevated two hundred and forty feet above tide-water.
the fathers of the republic often met together.

Here Washington was a frequent visitor while
President of the United States, even while Com-
mander-in-chief of the colonial armies, and here he
communed with Benjamin Franklin, the philosopher;
David Rittenhouse, the astronomer; Alexander Ham-
ilton, his first Secretary of the Treasury; Thomas
Jefferson, the Authorof the Declaration of Indepen-
dence, and Washington’s first Secretary of State;
John Adams, the first Vice President; Alexander 
Dallas, the father of George M. Dallas; Robert
Morris, the bold but unfortunate financier of the
Revolution ; and here also gathered, in social and un-
restrained intercourse, the beloved Frenchman, La

 Fayette, the German Baron Steuben, and the Count

Pulaski, the Polish patriot. But the central figure was
the owner of Belmont Mansion, the accomplished
host, Richard Peters. We are apt to forget our great
ones; and of all this venerable company, apart from
Washington, Jefferson, Franl<lin,and La Fayette, how
few remember the public services, the social excel-

I7

lence, and the patriotic character of Richard Peters!
He must have been a rare combination. Secretary of
the Board of War during the Revolution, Representa-
tive in the first American Congress, Judge of the
United States District Court of Pennsylvania for
thirty-nine years, a scientific farmer, poet, wit, and
orator, and one of the handsomest men of his time.
I knew some of his posterity a few years ago, and
easily revived the illustrious patriot in their captiva-
ting features, magnetic humor, and fascinating manners.
It is not difficult to recall Judge Peters seated before
Belmont Mansion, surrounded by the brilliant galaxy
Ihave named. Many of them met there during and
after the Revolution. They shared the trials and
troubles of that dark and doubtful vicissitude, and as
they looked beyond the cultivated and romantic house
and grounds, where they talked over the mysterious
and unfolding future, doubtless they often wandered
into the deeper and nearer wilderness, and pondered
upon the destiny of their country.

We can imagine the dignified form of the father of
the republic. George Washington, dreaming the vision
of William C. Bryant, who wrote fifty years later and
is still living in ripe and honored old age:

“ Here are old trees, tall oaks, and gnarled pines,

That stream with gray-green mosses; here the ground
Was never touched by spade, and flowers spring up
Unsown and die ungathered. It is sweet

To linger here among the flitting birds

And leaping squirrels, wandering brooks, and winds
'I‘hat shake the leaves, and shatter as they pass

A fragrance from the cedars thickly set

With pale blue berries. In these peaceful shades--—

I8

Peaceful, unpruned, immeasurably old-
My thoughts go up to the long dim path of years,
Back to the earliest days of liberty.”

Later on, Judge‘Peters met Joseph Bonaparte, ex-king
of Spain, in the Lansdowne Mansion, and further back
perhaps the last royal governor of Pennsylvania, John
Penn, who lived in the Lansdowne grounds, and farther
forward his grandson, Granville John Penn, who built

the still standing place known as “Solitude,” while

before his death Judge Peters, then in his hale old age,
again welcomed General La Fayette as the nation’s
guest in 1824, under the hospitable roof of Belmont
Mansion.

They are all gone now. Several of them lived far
into the nineteenth century. Richard Peters died at
Belmont Mansion in 1828.. George Washington died
at Mount Vernon in 1799. Benjamin Franklin died in
Philadelphia on April I7, 1790. Thomas Jefferson and
John Adams died on the same day, July 4, 18:26. The
Marquis de La Fayette died in Paris May 20, 1834.
They builded better than they knew. I have at»
tempted to indicate the astonishing progress of our
country since they passed away.

But no year in all this long period, has been more
instructive than that which ends‘ to-day, the one hundred
and first anniversary of American Independence. Since
the last 4th of July we seem to have grown to a
grander height,and into larger duties. We have
begun to crystallizeinto practice the great reforms
solemnly, enforced by the fathers of the republic.
Twelve years ago our civil war ended with the
abolition of human slavery, and the preservation of

.19

human freedom, by the salvation of our government.
The succeeding interval has been filled with extraor-
dinary events, not the least of which was general
extravagance and renewed sectional strife.

But we seem to have approached solid ground
within the last six months. Two of the greatest Eu-
ropean nations have exploded into a war. which
threatens to extend far and wide in the old world, but
here all is peace, or the assurance of peace. A wise
administration of the general government bravely
presses for the restoration of tranquillity between re-
cently divided States.

These proffers of friendship to the South are ques—-
tioned by some honest men. Perhaps they may be
rejected" by mere partisans,Abut I will not believe it.
The people of the South will be blind indeed, and cal-
lous, if they should turn away from a purpose so
honest and sincere. In that event they would in the
end he losers, while the man most anxious to bring‘
them back to the old altars would be honored for ever
more.

Economy, reform and retrenchment, consecrate and

crown this noble purpose.
The ex—president of the United States is welcomed

by the European nations with royal honors and

popular applause. He is the recognized ideal of a
great free people saved from ruin by their own un-

ii«-waidtied prowess. These are the auspicious signals of

the political centenary which finished its first year

yesterday. i.
It is true these bright signs are followed by a pro-

tracted business depression.

20

But even this depression is not without its uses. It
compels a severe and resolute self-examination. It
enforces the correction of social and individual mis~
takes. It imposes upon Government and people a
rigid frugality and economy. The Government cannot
shrink from its duty while the people suffer; and
the masses will not complain if their public servants
follow their example. The office—holder must work
for his money, like the unofficial tax-payer. Com»-
petency must be the test in public, as it is in private
business. There can be no privileged class in a Re»
public. There can be no families quartered on
the Treasury. The citizen in office neither becomes
the master of the citizen not in‘ office, nor yet his
slave.  
He is to be paid from his work, not for his
political skill. The experience of the last forty years
was hard enough in both parties; but the expensive
and dangerous excesses since the war became insuf-
ferable.

A new departure was inevitable. It could not be
postponed without private and general bankruptcy.
A great man came in time as the instrument of
Reform. Providence sent us the warning, and also
the deliverer. rGod give him strength to persevere,
and woe to those who attempt to chain his hands,
and to defeat his great mission.

"The clouds still hang heavily over our country, and
not only ours alone, but over all the interests of labor
abroad. Yet I can see the silver lining growing
broader and brighter. And to this end, apart from
the saving and salutary actions of the new President,

21

I greet the Permanent Exhibition. Vain are the
theories of statesmen or presidents, if the people are
cold, luxurious and corrupt. Labor is the true
physician. It is a modern vice to regard industry as
the badge of inferiority. Our youth have come to
think apprenticeship to an honest trade a degra-
dation. Wlien I was a boy, the professions were
looked upon rather as the easy cushions for rich
men’s sons, but now our lads all want to~be engineers,
doctors, lawyers, painters, architects, sculptors, clerks,
sliop-keepers,-—---anything for an easy life, anything but
manual toil. Is it not so, my friends? The result is,
that we have a swarm of poor doctors, poor lawyers,
poorengineers, and poor politicians; prisons full of
young people, whose shame it is, if not their boast,
that they never learned a trade. Hard times are in-
tensifying these hard truths, and we must digest them
if we expect to escape from evils that unchecked will
destroy people and government together.

And while it is time, our young people of both sexes
should come to realize that labor is not dishonorable, or
we must rush downward more rapidly. What is called
Technology is a great modern alternative. Ishould
like to see the idea organized in our Permanent
Exhibition. Let us have good mechanics instead of bad
lawyers, doctors, artists and engineers. Mechanic Art
is a new phase, and if it is preceded by practice, it can

ll‘ll‘be“"‘ii‘nprovc:cl by science. But first of all, give us a foun-

dation for our boys. Make them work before they
play. Insist upon it that our trades’ unions shall put
our sons into our workshops to learn the callingof
their fathers. The exclusion of youth from the oppor-

22

tunities of acquiring the rudiments of mechanical edu-
cation, is an offence that fills our poor houses and jails
with idlers, and ought to be broken up at all hazards.
That done, your technology comes into use, and per-
fects a career well begun. In London, the Crystal
Palace is to be turned into a great technological
school. The tailors, goldsmiths, blacltsmiths, dyers,
house painters, Coopers, weavers, iron workers and
fishmongers, are giving large sums to perfect the
organization. It is a plan worthy of imitation. But
how can we make our young men printers. shoemalters,
carpenters, blacksmitlis, tailors, stonecutters, &c., if
they are first taught that all trades are ungenteel or
unfashionable, and then refused the chance because
they are ready to go to work as their forefathers did
before them Pr

These chances are the preparation for skilled labor.
Can we indeed improve human effort if we forget
the maxims of Benjamin Franklin himself, for years an
apprentice and travelling printer? Can we hope to

see great establishments rise if we ignore the stern

example of Stephen Girard? The age we live in
supplies numerous new facilities for acquiring knowl-
edge; but its duties are none the less. The wider the
sphere of human usefulness, the greater the responsi-
bility. And it is a rule as fixed as anything in nature,
that great and lasting success in life does not come
without patience and perseverance. T A man may get
rich in an hour; but the only wealth that wears isthat
which comes from industry and economy. If you
needed a recent example, take that of John Welsh, the
late Chief of the Centennial Board of Finance. He

23

quietly did a giant’s work, and now a nation’s applause
rewards the simple habits of a life of work; and,to-day
he holds as his proudest escutcheon the reward of his
last—completed task. He and his associates, Fraley,
Cochran, '\/Vinsor, Biddle, Wananiaker, Felton, Short-
ridge, Wetherill, Lewis, Bigler, Little, Steel, James,
Baird and Dudley, have paid off the Centennial debts
to the last penny; but who shall ever pay Mam for
their fidelity and honesty?

Every name I have mentioned is the symbol of a
life of honor, perseverance, and good faith, and all,
together, they will shine as bright living stars to guide
the youth of Philadelphia for years to come. They
never spent an idle or a useless day in their long and
interesting lives. a l

I finish as I began. I have not said much to you

iabout arts and sciences. I could grow enthusiastic

about pictures, and statues, and ceramics, and bric-a-
brac, and engravings; but as that sort of oratory and
writing is just now the universal topic, I thought this a
good time to talk to you about the old -fashioned men
of the past, and ‘of the utilities of everyday use in
common life. Perhaps one candid voice in the loud
chorus of sentiment, may not be heard, but at least it

has been frankly spoken.