NEW STATE CAPITOL OF MINNESOTA. PROCEEDINGS AT THE Laying of the Corner Stone OF THE NEW CAPITOL OF MINNESOTA ON THE 27th Day of July, 1898 AT THE CITY OF ST. PAUL ST. PAUL, MINN.: The Pioneer Press Company. 1898. BOARD OF STATE CAPITOL COMMISSIONERS. GOV. D. M. CLOUGH.President (ex-officio). CHANNING SEABURY, Vice President.St. Paul. E. E. CORLISS,.Fergus Falls. JOHN DE LAITTRE, .Minneapolis. GEORGE A. DU TOIT,.Ohaska. C. H. GRAVES,.Duluth. H. W. LAMBERTON, .Winona. EDGAR WEAVER, .Mankato. FRANK E. HANSON, Secretary. CASS GILBERT, Architect. SUPERINTENDENTS. JOllN BOLAND, .For the State. C. F. F. ABBOTT,.For the Architect. CONTRACTORS. THE BUTLER-RYAN CO, . . St. Paul. COMMITTEES, The following committees were in charge of the various details attending the event, viz.: EXECUTIVE (ON BEHALF OF STATE). GOV. D. M. CLOUGH, Chairman. Chables H. Graves, Chaining Seabury. EXECUTIVE (ON BEHALF OF CITY). GEO. R. FINCH, Chairman. Richards Gordon, R. A. Kirk, A. H. Lindeke, C. A. Severance. PROCESSION. J. J J. W. Bishop, H. N. Cook, A. R. Kiefer, W. W. Price, Jr., Albert Scheffer, TRANSPORTATION (TO SECURE SPECIAL RATES FOR GUESTS). E. A. YOUNG, Chairman. J. H. Beek, J. T. Clark, J. T. Conley, J. M. Hannaford, A. B. Plough, F. I. Whitney. NEWSPAPERS AND PUBLICATIONS. CONDE HAMLIN, Chairman. . McCARDY, Chairman. E. S. Chittenden, M. N. Goss, E. H. Milham, J. C. Shandrew, C. R. Smith. H. P. Hall, C. C. Whitney. INVITATIONS AND RECEPTION. CHAS. E. FLANDRXU. Chairman. M. Auerbach, H. R. Brill, H. W. Childs. Thos. Cochran, Michael Doran, J. F. Fulton, James J. Hill, P. H. Kelly, W. R. Merriam, D. R. Noyes, E. W. Peet, H. F. Stevens, H. P. Upham, J. A. Wheelock, C. H. Bigelow, C. W. Bunn, Greenleaf Clark, W. B. Dean, R. C. Dunn, C. W. Hackett, A. R. Kiefer, D. A. Monfort, C. D. O’Brien, A. T. Koerner, W. H. Sanborn, C. A. Wheaton, A. B. Stickney, R. R. Nelson. DECORATIONS AND ATTRACTIONS. H. C. McNAIR, Chairman. T. L. Blood, A. B. Driscoll, E. L. Hersey, L. P. Ordway, W. C. Read, Chas. Straus, J. H. Skinner, W. H. S. Wright, C. B. Bowlby, J. A. Gregg, W. S. Morton, J. J. Parker, F. E. Rice, Albert Scheffer, Benjamin Sommers, L. D. Wilkes, ARCHIVES (TO BE DEPOSITED IN CORNER STONE). N. P. LANGFORD, Chairman. Russell Blakeley, . Wm. B. Dean, C. D. Elfelt, John Espy, Alexander Ramsey, John B. Sanborn, E. V. Smalley, H. P. Upham. ORDER OF PROCEEDINGS. Raised seats, in tiers, erected in the main entrance to the building, were occupied by the speakers of the day, distin¬ guished guests, musicians, and others, and a large platform immediately in front of and adjoining same was occupied by several thousand invited guests and citizens. The ceremonies of the day were commenced by a procession through some of the principal streets of the city, under the direction of J. J. McCardy, chief marshal, as follows: PARADE. The parade started from Rice Park at 2 o’clock p. m.; on Fifth street to St Peter, to Sixth, to Sibley, to Seventh, to Wabasha, to new capitol grounds, where it was dismissed. FORMATION OF COLUMN. Mounted Police. Chief Marshal, J. J. McCardy. Chief of Staff, Lieut. Mortimer O. Bigelow, U. S. A. M. N. Goss, A. Scheffer, C. R. Corning, J. W. Bishop, C. R. Smith, M. D. Flower, L. E. Newport, Aides. The United States Flag, twenty by thirty-six feet, carried horizontally by eighteen men, detailed from Fifteenth Minnesota Infantry. FIRST DIVISION. Danz-Seibert-Stein Band. Assistant Marshal, Col. C. G. Edwards. Capt. J. C. Donahower, Robert Seng, Aides. Fifteenth Regiment, Minnesota Volunteer Infantry, Col. J. C. Shandrew, Com¬ manding. Minneapolis Journal Newsboys’ Band. Grand Army of the Republic. 4 / E. W. Mortimer, Department Commander of Minnesota, Commanding. Personal Staff Aides. 8 Laying of the Corner Stone. G. N. Morgan Post No. 4, D. P. Chase Post No. 22, L. P. Plummer Post No. 50, William Downs Post No. 68, Appomattox Post No. 72, Levi Butler Post No. 79, James Bryant Post No. 119, John A. Rawlins Post No. 126, Jacob Scharfer Post No. 163, O. P. Morton Post No. 171, Minneapolis; Gettysburg Post No. 148, Garfield Post No. 8, Gen. Ord Post No. 20, Acker Post No. 21, St. Paul. Minnesota Naval Veterans, J. F. R. Foss, Commanding. Hastings Light Infantry Band. Hastings Naval Corps, Lieut. W. C. King, Commanding. The Eldridge Zouaves, Capt. R. F. Eldridge, Commanding. Veteran National Guard of Minnesota, E. S. Chittenden, President, Commanding. Deutscher Kreiger Verein, Frank Erling, President. Stillwater Volunteers, Lieut J. R. Gilder, Commanding. St. Paul Cadets, Sidney Zimmerman, Commanding. Battery A, Minnesota National Guard, St. Paul. Battery B, Minnesota National Guard, Minneapolis, Maj. E. D. Libby, Com¬ manding Battalion. SECOND DIVISION. Gen. W. B. Bend, Assistant Marshal. A. S. Tallmadge, L. D. Wilkes, Aides. Red Wing State Training School Band. First Carriage—Gov. D. M. Clough, Senator C. K. Davis, ex-Governor Alex¬ ander Ramsey, C. H. Graves. Second Carriage—Archbishop John Ireland, Bishop M. N. Gilbert, Senator Knute Nelson, Channing Seabury. Third Carriage—Edgar Weaver, G. A. Du Toit, E. E. Corliss, John De Laittre. Fourth Carriage—Brig. Gen. John M. Bacon, U. S. A.; Col. A. B. Carey, U. S. A.; Col. H. R. Tilton, U. S. A.; Capt. J. T. French, U. S. A. Fifth Carriage—Mayor A. R. Kiefer, St. Paul; Mayor R. A. Pratt, Minne¬ apolis; Mayor George Parker, Hastings; Mayor A. W. Pattee, Stillwater. Sixth Carriage—Maj. Thomas A. Cummings, U. S. A.; Cass Gilbert, Congress¬ man F. C. Stevens, Congressman Loren Fletcher. Minnesota State Officials, Secretary of State Albert Berg in Charge. New Capitol of Minnesota. 9 Ramsey County Officials, D. M. Sullivan, County Auditor, in Charge. City of St. Paul Officials, Matt Jensen, City Clerk, in Charge. Old Settlers’ Association (in Carriages), President M. N. Adams. Minnesota Territorial Pioneers’ Association, Hon. L. W. Collins, President. Junior Pioneer Association of Ramsey County, W. R. Tostevin, President. Rapid Transit, 1848-1898, H. F. Hoyt in Charge. Patriarchs Militant, I. O. O. F., G. F. Demules, Commanding. Postoffice Band. St. Paul Postoffice Brigade. Knights of Pythias, Col. E. H. Milham, Commanding. Knights of St. George, A. F. Slechta, Commanding. St. Paul Newsboys, A. M. Knox, Commanding. St. Paul Branch Stone Cutters’ Association, F. I. Chase, President. Rad-Cech No. 12, C. S. P. S. Rad-Melnik No. 161, C. S. P. S. THIRD DIVISION. Minnesota State Band. H. N. Cook, Assistant Marshal. Personal Staff Aides. St. Paul Fire Brigade. Gov. D. M. Clough, ex-officio president of the board, an¬ nounced, in order of occurrence, the following PROGRAM OF CEREMONIES. Music by the Danz-Seibert band (60 pieces)—National Airs. Invocation—By Rt. Rev. Archbishop John Ireland. O God, eternal and omnipotent, .Creator and Sovereign, from whom all things have being, by whom all things are ordered “in measure, and number, and weight,” we are thy creatures; we adore thee as our beginning and our end; we praise thee, we thank thee; we submit ourselves to thy supreme law, in which alone is righteous¬ ness, and from which alone judgment must come. 10 Laying of the Corner Stone. O God, we humbly pray thee, be with us this day in thy blessings and thy graces. Thou has said: “Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it : except the Lord keep the city, he watcheth in vain that keeps it.” Therefore, O God, be our protector and our guide. In thy name, O God, one and triune, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, and in the name of him whom thou hast made our mediator, the Son incarnate, Jesus Christ, we put into its place this corner stone; we dedicate to thy glory and to the designs of thy providence the struc¬ ture which will be here erected; we pray that during coming years thy wisdom and thy justice dwell within it, and that from its halls thy divine spirit spread over the whole commonwealth through the min¬ istry of men who shall come hither under thy mandate, O God of Nations, to rule thy people. Thou has said: “By me kings reign, and law makers decree just things.” The elect of the people become the ministers of thy power unto the welfare of the people. Within this building, the capitol of the commonwealth of Minnesota, -rulers will have their abode. Be thou ever ready, we pray thee, to shed upon those rulers—legislators, governors, judges—the light of thy divine face, that they know their responsibility to thee, that they make use of their power not for the interest of self but rather for the interest of the people over whom they preside; that they follow in all their actions the laws of thy righteousness, in the observance of which only will there be for the people prosperity and happiness. O God, we thank thee for thy bountiful favors to this State of Minnesota. Thy providence made it a beautiful and rich land, tem¬ pering its atmosphere, fertilizing its fields, directing the formation of its lakes and rivers; the people of Minnesota have entered into a rich inheritance which was prepared for them by thy love and wis¬ dom. We thank thee for thy gracious watchfulness over the people of this state, enabling them to live worthily of the inheritance which they received from thee, and by generous labor, strong civic virtue and prudent legislation to build in this favored region a glorious commonwealth. O God, we pray that thou cease not to pour down thy blessings upon this State of Minnesota. Grant to it healthfulness of climate, richness of soil, beauty of field and of forest, of earth and of sky. Protect the people of Minnesota; accord ever to them disinterested love of the public welfare, wisdom in government, obedience to law; accord to them charity of one another, that loving and helping one another they be as children of one family, under one gracious Father New Capitol of Minnesota. 11 —the Father who is in heaven; accord to them, O God, the fear and love of thee and of thy holy commandments. In thee, O God, we put our trust: “Let thy mercy, O Lord, be upon us, as we have hoped in thee.” O God, on this solemn day, we beseech thee, look down in thy love and thy power upon the nation of America, of which our own commonwealth of Minnesota is but a part, from which our own commonwealth, as the part from the whole, receives its chief life and its chief glory. O God, bless and protect America, to-day as thou hast done yes¬ terday, to-morrow as thou dost to-day. We praise thee, we thank thee for the victories which have come, under thy all-ruling provi¬ dence, to our army and our navy, for the glory which has been shed upon the nation’s banner. O God, in this hour of triumph for America, we exult not in our own strength, but in thy mighty coun¬ sels: “The Lord hath looked from Heaven; he hath beheld all the sons of men. The king is not saved by a great army, nor Shall the giant be saved by his own great strength. Our soul waiteth for the Lord, for he is our helper and protector.” We adore thee, O God, in the designs which thou hast upon our nation for the welfare of its own sons, and for that of other nations of the human family, over which, too, thou extendest thy fatherly care; and we supplicate thee, O God, for wisdom and for strength that we understand thy designs and cooperate with thee in the fulfillment thereof. May America be never unworthy of favor from thee, the Sovereign of nations; may she be never faithless to the mission which thy mercy has assigned to her people. O God, we thank thee that to-day blessed peace hovers near. We bowed to thy holy will when the nation was summoned to meet another nation in harsh conflict of war; w r e hesitated not to make upon the altars of patriotism generous offerings of precious lives. But, praised be thy holy name, O God, if sacrifice is no longer needed, if without further peril to seaman and soldier, without fur¬ ther agony to mother and wife, thy supreme designs are fulfilled, and war ceases; hasten, we pray thee, the full reign of peace. Sway to thy holy will the ruling powers of America and Spain; banish from minds and hearts anger and resentment; give place only to justice and to mercy. Grant us, O God, peace through thy own mighty power and thy own ever-abiding- charity. “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us th s day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive 12 Laying of the Corner Stone. those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen. 57 The following letter from Rt. Rev. H. B. Whipple was read: South Park, Saxonville, Mass., July 12, 1898. To Eon. Channing Seahury, Dear Sir: I deeply regret that absence from the state will pre¬ vent my joining in the celebration of laying the corner stone of our new capitol. For thirty-nine years I have watched the development of our glorious North Star State. Each year has deepened my love, and I am grateful to God that my lot has been cast in such a goodly heritage. No state in the Union has a nobler history of loyalty; none surpass Minnesota in the works of charity and education. We have been blessed in the character of our foreign population, who have been an element of strength, and many of their children have risen to places of the highest honor and trust. We have been spared those religious strifes which fetter all Christian work. Our hearts have beat as one in all work for God and man. I rejoice that we are to have a capitol worthy of our noble state. We owe a debt of gratitude to the commission who are making our day dreams reali¬ ties in enduring marble. With high regard, yours faithfully, H. B. WHIPPLE, Bishop of Minnesota. Hon. C. H. Graves, of Duluth, representing the Board of State Capitol Commissioners, then made the following INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS. Fellow Citizens: The commissioners who are charged with the duty of construct¬ ing this building direct me to present to your excellency the com¬ pleted foundation, ready for the* laying of the corner stone. Only forty-nine years ago, in September of the year 1849, the first territorial legislature of Minnesota assembled in a log building at the corner of Bench and Minnesota streets in this city, immediately upon the bluff overlooking the Mississippi river, and, after listening to an address by the Hon. Alexander Ramsey, first governor, pro¬ ceeded to make law r s for Minnesota, then a territory of less than 0,000 people. Governor Ramsey is present to-day to assist his suc¬ cessor in the duties of this historic occasion—his successor who IN PROCESS OF CONSTRUCTION. New Capitol of Minnesota. 13 to-day is the executive of a great state of nearly two millions of people and over seven hundred million dollars of accumulated wealth, built in these few years upon the foundations so well laid by that first governor and his fellow pioneers. I am tbld that there is here to-day the Hon. John J. Ludden, a member of that first legis¬ lature. Upon this platform there is also present the man and wife who, in 1847, took from the government of the United States as their homestead 160 acres of land of which this site and a large portion of these solid city avenues form a part. I refer to Mr. and Mrs. A. L. Larpenteur of St. Paul. I have no doubt they wish they had the old farm again. And as Governor Ramsey was war governor of 1861, so Governor Clough is the war governor of 1898. We have had each time the right man in the right place. The presence of these honored citizens, who are witnesses of the whole history of the state, makes vivid our appreciation of the brevity of our history and of our marvelous rapidity in the building of a commonwealth. From the humble log cabin in 1849 and the buildings rented for state purposes in succeeding years the state departments in 1853 moved to the first building built for a capitol. But of that structure it is recorded that, until 1866, the legislative halls were lighted, during night sessions, with candles, that it was heated by wood- burning stoves, and that all the water used in it was brought there by carts. When fire destroyed it, in 1881, its slight construction and inflammable materials rendering it an easy prey to the flames, the present capitol on Wabasha street was built, and has been occupied by the state government to the present time. Minnesota has been last of all her sisters of the West in building a state house commensurate with the dignity and suitable to the uses of a great state. But in 1893, appreciating that the time had come for a proper provision in that regard, the legislature passed an act to erect this structure, and the present commission was appoint¬ ed to carry out the provisions of the act. The commission has encountered many very difficult problems, in trying to do their full duty and obey the provisions of the law under which they arc* acting. It was plainly intended that the building was to be the permanent capitol of this rapidly growing common¬ wealth. It must therefore be of proper dimensions to serve that purpose, as nearly fireproof as modern architecture can compass; it must be of such design as to satisfy the educated taste of an intelli¬ gent people; it must not exceed in cost a very limited amount. After careful study, the commission found that no building smaller than the one whose massive foundations are before you 14 Laying of the Corner Stone. today would answer the requirements of this state. Executive, leg¬ islative, judicial and historical departments were to be housed, not only as they exist to-day but as they will probably become in the near future. The legislative chambers must provide for larger num¬ bers than the present bodies, their dimensions must be such as to accommodate the people who have a right to be spectators of legis¬ lative sessions, and to surely afford the ample air space insuring perfect ventilation. Conveniently near must be numerous com¬ mittee rooms for both houses. The supreme court, with its possible increase in judges; the library, with its certain very great increase of books; the executive departments and the enormous volume of state archives and records, which must have accessible storage space, made these dimensions imperative. And it was also found that public sentiment educated by familiarity with the great capitol building at Washington, required that this should be a domed build¬ ing, with impressive approaches and extensive rotunda. These ne¬ cessities resulted in plans for a very large building, over 400 feet in length, and about 200 feet wide. The dimensions thus ascertained, our able and experienced architect has been obliged, in order to keep within the cost fixed by the law of 1893, to adopt a simple style of architecture, almost severely plain, and the committee has been lim¬ ited to the use of such materials as would be suitable and effective in a building of such design, and yet be of low cost. But few adorn¬ ments and no statuary can be included, and while no essentials of strength will be neglected, the building will depend for its beauty on proper proportions and massive outlines. The interior of such a building ought to be finished with the most beautiful of native and foreign stone, and made an object of art, educative of the taste of our people and inspiring their pride; but as it is necessary to expend practically all of the appropriation in securing a building of proper size and convenient arrangement, the commission, strictly adhering to the terms of the law under which they are acting, may be obliged to use ordinary wood work for interior finish and leave plain walls, unless the state in its wisdom shall make other provisions. But how many of you really appreciate the state in which you live? How long would it take you to visit it overfall its railroads? How long by horse and wagon—the old means of transportation? You would have to begin at the southeast portion, in those rich val¬ leys, where every farmer, they say, is a capitalist. Across those magnificent prairies you would proceed where even now the wheat is turning golden with the promise of harvest. Thence you might con- SENATOR DAVIS DELIVERING THE ORATION, JULY 27th, 1898. New Capitol of Minnesota. 15 tinue to the northeast to where the hardy miner is busy excavating the bowels of the earth in search of buried treasure. Thence south to these Twin Cities, these great hives of industry. Such a state may well inspire your pride. Such a state has brought such a peo¬ ple as are here. And such a people may well inspire your pride. Such a state and such a people deserve a capitol that they may be proud to exhibit to a stranger. Your excellency, the commission has given to this labor its most faithful and conscientious thought and care. Let the corner stone be well and truly laid. May this building be the birthplace of wise laws, enacted by honest and incorruptible legislators, inter¬ preted by a fearless and learned court, and administered by loyal officers of the state. Then, indeed, will God bless the commonwealth of Minnesota. Music: “Stars and Stripes.”—Sousa. Hon. Cushman K. Davis of St. Paul then delivered the fol¬ lowing ORATION. We have met to perform a great political ceremony; to dedicate, by an impressive symbolism, employed by many nations throughout all time, the edifice which represents and typifies the state. An ideal significance inheres in every act by which the hand of man, guided by his will, his reason, and his imagination, seizes the forms of matter, and compels them to artistic or useful expressions. The veriest utilitarian mechanism, those slaves of man, the cre¬ ations of his genius which do his work, the most luxurious products of his imaginative art,—everything from the reaper and the sewing machine to the painting in which nature is given a beauty beyond her own, or the musical composition in which sound expresses har¬ monies sweeter far than any heard in groves,—has its transcendental significance which is the very soul of the material creation. Architecture has been wisely called by Rusk in “the distinctively political art.” State edifices, as works of art, disclose a political significance beyond their manifest utilities. The corner stone has always conveyed a mystical and symbolic meaning, even in divine utterances. Super hanc petram edificabo meam ecclesiam were the words by which Jesus disclosed his purpose to construct, as upon a rock, the great and enduring temple of our 16 Laying of the Corner Stone. faith. And when he desired to impart the conception of a spiritual edifice, not made with hands, eternal in the heavens, of which the immutable basis should be himself, he said, in the words of the Psalmist: “Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes?” It is forty-nine years and two months this day since Alexander Ramsey, the first governor of Minnesota, landed in St. Paul. There was then no government organization in the territory. A census showed that, in June, 1849, it contained only 4,940 white people. To a degree perhaps unprecedented in our history society existed only in its original elements. There were no courts, no legislature, no executive, and it was doubtful if there were any laws. Wiscon¬ sin had then recently been admitted into the Union as a state, and no provision had been made for the government of that portion of Minnesota which had been a part of Wisconsin. Minnesota was a political derelict upon the sea of Time. By proclamation of Governor Ramsey, issued June 1, 1849, the territory was declared to be duly organized. By that fiat what had been a mere primitive social aggregation became a state under the name of a territory. The first session of its legislature was held in the dining-room of a tavern. It now becomes us to withdraw for a moment our thoughts from the “madding crowd’s ignoble strife'’ of these latter days, from the eager activities of business, from the subtle chicane of sordid contro¬ versies, from the arena of the political games, from the frivolities of social indulgence, even from the navies which have made the seas tremble with their wrath and power and from the armies which have set the stars of the flag among the constellations of tropical and anti¬ podal skies, from the islands of the Pacific which now are ours, from the frozen gold of the Klondike, from all the multitudinous and rejoicing elements of our power and happiness as a people, and to contemplate one single personal fact. Governor Ramsey survives. The hand that laid the ideal foun¬ dation of this state fifty years ago, in the dining-room of a frontier tavern, now lays the corner stone of this, the capitol of the completed commonwealth. Memory spans with its triumphal arch the breadth of half a century. Upon every year of which that arch is built his acts as governor, senator, secretary of war, diplomatic negotiator and citizen are ineffaceably inscribed. It is only the ideal and spiritual work that is eternal. The arch of Titus and the column of Trajan are now merely the monuments New Capitol of Minnesota . IT of an imperial ruin. Their worn inscriptions are of conquests won by blood and quickly lost; but this more than triumphal arch, this ideal span of imperishable grandeur and everlasting beauty, will present to posterity the indestructable record of peace, good will, common sense and civic wisdom by which a state was made. Other people must decipher ancient records, or lay close the ear to the almost inaudible murmurs of tradition expressed in the broken cadence of primeval ballads, to be, after all, insufficiently instructed what their beginning were. It is not so with us. The men who did these mighty works have lived among us. We have heard their voices; we have clasped tljeir hands; they have been not viewed in Elysian fields as shadowy precursors of themselves, nor have we seen them dimly through the mists of times that are past. These men were like unto one another, and their primate is with us to-day. Governor Ramsey survives, and long may he abide among us to witness the exceeding great results of the work begun • by him and his associates fifty years ago in this very place. This structure embodies in marble and granite the modern con¬ ception of a free and independent state. It does this both in its general form and in its details. Precisely as the State of Minnesota is, in its political construction, compounded of the selected results of the efforts and experience of many people throughout the world and for thousands of years, by which the blessings of liberty have been secured to man socially and personally, so this capitol blends and presents in architectural harmony the utility and beauty which the industry and genius of many ages have compelled stone and iron and wood and color to embody. The Grecian column, the Hindoo dome, the Roman wall, the Gothic arch, the mural painting, the tinted glass, the pictorial tile, the mediaeval decoration, will repre¬ sent, in this structure, the thought and effort of many ages in many lands. The very word “capitol” implies government by the people. No such edifice as this was ever raised in a monarchy. There the palace is the home of the sovereign and the abiding place of paternal authority. “Capitol” is derived from the Latin word caput, the head, and it expresses the intellectual and volitional locus of popular government. This building will be the great political sensorium of Minnesota, the head wherein the vision, the hearing, the will, the reason, the imagination, the conscience of a great people will perform their imperial functions. 2 18 Laying of the Corner Stone. In ancient times sucli a ceremony as this was not merely a political act. It was also a divine consecration. In Rome this home of the state was both capitol and temple. It was built on the site of the temple of Jupiter. The gods inhabited it. Their altars were there. The kings, the consuls and the Roman fathers were not only soldiers and statesmen; they were also priests. The capitol was therefore both the head of the government and the shrine of the national worship. It represented the indestructibility of the Ro¬ man state and the eternity of its spiritual faith. Neither should ever perish while that shrine endured. “Dum domus Aeneae Capdtoli immobile saxum Accolet, impcriumque pater Romanus hdbebit” was the prophecy of Virgil, predicting an empire which should never end so long as its capitol should stand. The statesman and the priest have ceased to be identical, but the faith has survived in a purer form, and it teaches men no lesson more impressive and .momentous than this, that God protects and maintains those states which govern in righteousness, and brings to nothingness the beauty and excellency of those that go the op¬ pressor’s way. The identity of faith and patriotism still remains, and therefore we this day dedicate and consecrate this marble pile in the name of the state, and invoke upon it and upon all that it rep¬ resents the favor and protection of Almighty God. The reappearance, in modern times, of the capitol is entirely an American conception. The capitol of the Roman republic was the solitary example of such a building furnished by antiquity, and after Rome fell no European nation ever constructed another one. It was built to be a function and seat of popular government, by a people who ruled by the exercise of legislative power, through executive and judicial officers, who were chosen for short terms, and whose responsibility to the senate and people —Senatus Popa- lusque Romanus —was severe, direct and immediate. In no respect has the majesty of Rome been so imperious and enduring as in its power, after more than two thousand years, to restore to the people the form and the substance of popular legislative government. In time this form of government was changed. Little by little the emperors absorbed the powers of the senate, destroyed the political functions of the people, and finally became absolute. When that result was accomplished the necessity ceased for a capitol in which a senate should meet and legislate under responsibility to the people. The capitol became an anachronism. The palace be¬ came the home of political power. The monarchy became the conception of all the succeeding European nations, and the palace the architectural type of that political idea. New Capitol of Minnesota. 19 * There is not now in Europe, and there never has been since the Roman capitol ceased to exist, any capitol building. There have been legislative halls, stadthouses, parliament houses, halls of jus¬ tice, but there has not been one single edifice expressing like this the entire power of the people and their right to govern themselves and the state which they have created. In the progress of time the political conception of government by the people through their delegated legislative, executive and judicial servants, revived and was made efficient and dominant by the institution of the United States as a nation. The senate re¬ appeared and also a house of representatives, being an expansion of the political conception of the centuries and curies. The office of president was very like that of a consul for four years, to which was added certain tribunitian powers. These analogies are, of course, not perfect. They have many gaps, and fail to approach each other at many points. But they exist nevertheless with very instructive force. The thing which had been became the thing which should be, and, accordingly, a capitol was built in the new republic, and capitols were built in the const iluent republics, the states. It is well to pause here to discern and appreciate the significance of this renascence of an ancient system and an ancient edifice. We perceive immediately that it is much more than the mere apparition of a dead and buried political system. It embodies many features which the Roman system either did not contain at all, or contained in a mere germinal form, namely the postulate of the personal equality of man to man, of the equality of rights and status, of liberty of conscience, of thought and its expression, of the equality and personality of woman, of the criminality of slavery, of universal suffrage, of the impolicy of an hereditary aristocracy and of the absolute supremacy of the people in all political administration. The stone which the builders rejected thus became the head of the corner. Looking further and deeper for the ideal fact, and therefore the essential and enduring fact, latent and yet perceptible in this edifice, we discover the Greek demos, the Senatus Populusque Roman- us, the Teutonic council, the Saxon Wittena gennote, the English parliament, the supreme councils, by whatever name, of many na¬ tions, by each of which, for more than two thousand years, the liberty of men and the general well being of humanity have been promoted. Nothing that is good ever perishes. It is only the thing that is evil that ceases to endure. Tlere are concentrated the excellencies 20 Laying of the Corner Stone. of many generations; those of the few men whose names history has made imperishable and those of the myriads of earnest workers for humanity whose labors and names have not been recorded. The builders of this abiding place of a modern state are not alone the men and women of the present day. Invisible and spiritual hands have toiled upon this edifice. Gigantic and majestic phan¬ toms of the past will round this dome and groin the arch, and will, all throughout, inform this structure with a transcendent signifi¬ cance more enduring and expressive than it bronze and stone. You will not require me to exhibit the statistics of the marvelous growth of Minnesota. It is not necessary to exhibit them. This audience has achieved the results which such numerals would ex¬ press, and it knows the sum and the details of this labor of its own hands. But it will be well to take some account of certain present conditions, not thoroughly understood because they are so recent that time has not yet been sufficient to make them the subject of ma¬ ture thought. The duties of man are largely with the future. This is also true as to the duties of states. The present occasion requires that we contemplate the part which Minnesota, as a component of the United States, is destined to play in the swelling act of the .most imperial theme of all the ages. The nineteenth century is receding; we are passing from it. The twentieth century rises before us like a continent. The one hundred years about to end have been the most eventful and pro¬ ductive of any epoch. Not in any century has more been accom¬ plished for the well being of mankind; but far exceeding any other has been its preparatory work for the accomplishment of sublime purposes. I can only indicate here this preparation by a broad and suggestive generalization. It consists of useful inventions, of general education and of an increased participation by the people in the administration of governments. In achieving all this man¬ kind has often “seen through a glass darkly,” and has executed the purposes of an inspiration of which it was not conscious. It has recently been revealed with astonishing clearness that the civilization of Europe, and also that of the United States par¬ ticularly, have been in an unconscious process of preparation for destinies heretofore unperceived. In what manner the performance is to be I do not venture to predict. To do so would be the merest speculative temerity. The great movements of humanity are orig¬ inated, directed and controlled by a Supreme Power. Man merely utilizes them. If he attempts to thwart them, they crush him. No state ever yet diverted any of the purposes or ultimates of its own existence. .New Capitol of Minnesota. 21 It is now. apparent to the least attentive observer that a great secular change is taking place throughout the world. Ancient international balances have become unpoised. Old pivots of equi¬ librium have ceased to be central. Commercial and territorial ad¬ vantages which, until recently, seemed to be impregnably fortified by national w r ealth, by military and naval preponderance, by pres¬ tige, alliance and prescription have been encroached upon and endangered. The process has been irresistible. It has not been solely effected by wars; they have been merely its instruments. It has proceeded with the calm, daily, resistless force of a great creative operation of nature. Humanity has, at intervals, repeat¬ edly accomplished such movements. They have been more over¬ powering than conquests, more enduring than empire—for mon¬ archies have been built upon their surface, have encumbered or adorned them for a little time, as time is measured in the life of nations, and then their ruins have been borne along in the august and unceasing procession. The mysterious Aryan migration was one of these evolutions. It went around the world. It re-entered India with the English. It is now forcing its entrance into China. The results of the mediaeval impulse or inspiration toward mari¬ time discovery are disclosed in histories; but who can designate the causes that impelled the nations, at about the close of the fifteenth century, to run the course of all the seas, until by that generation America was discovered, the Cape of Good Hope was circumnavigated, the Straits of Magellan w r ere traversed, and until great Ocean held no secrets that were not locked in the ice of either pole? The results surpassed any political conception ever bodied forth by statesman, philosopher, or poet. It has always remained an insoluble problem of that great achievement of discovery and conquest, why China, which w as even then in the decrepitude of age, though retaining great wealth with all the tenacity of senile avarice, was unmolested, until very recently, by the forces which possessed America and the Indies. It was, when the age of discovery began, the oldest empire in the world; it was the largest and richest; it contained one-fourth of the human race, and it was easily vulnerable. Why did England limit herself to India? Why did Spain stop at Manila? Why did the Dutch remain satisfied with Java, Borneo, Sumatra, and New Guinea? Why was France content with her precarious Indian establish- nu nts? Why was Portugal stationary at Goa, Timor, and Macao? Why China was spared is perhaps a profitless speculation. We now encounter the fact that, at the close of the nineteenth century, 22 Laying of the Corner IS tone. the oldest, the most populous, and one of the most extensive and richest of empires, immobile by the 'ossification of an immemorial civilization, which long ago did its work; an empire infected all throughout with official imbecility and corruption; an empire which for a long time forcibly resisted the. influences of western civiliza¬ tion and then submitted to them little by little, only to impede them by feeble and crafty evasions; an empire which has not dis¬ solved in its decadence, but yet remains in respect of population the most stupendous national unit of this or any age, industrious, productive, selling much and buying little even now as in her re* molest ages; which for thousands of years lias received the precious metals in an unreturning stream; whose inhabitants are skilled in all crafts, and possess unsurpassed aptitude alike for mechanical construction and for commerce; an empire which possesses the ele- ments of national greatness in the intelligence of its people, in the entire absence of caste, in the absolute personal equality of all men, and in their eligibility to all vocations and offices, in the nonexist¬ ence of any repressive religious system, and in universal education, has all at once yielded without resistance to the encroachments of Europe, and is about to become, as literally as were Mexico and Peru, the subject of its designs, and in effect its territorial depend ency. History has nowhere recorded a change so vast and por¬ tentous. It involves the most prodigious expansion of commerce and empire ever effected. It influences the relations of all civilized states, and front every point of view it endangers the safety of many of them. In all respects the interests of the United States in this transformation are of the most vital character. It will be well to notice certain other ethnic and national phe¬ nomena, cotemporaneous with this great process, and which have contributed to it. Within the present century the nations of Europe have politically and definitely arranged themselves by races. The boundaries of empires have been readjusted to this classification. The Slavonic, the Latin, and the Teutonic stocks present themselves nationally and most determinately in this aspect. The Anglo-Saxon race had long before classified itself into two great political organi¬ zations. But it was not until very recently that Great Britain and the United States looked each other in the face with any sign of recog¬ nition of their political relationship. It is well for them, for civiliza¬ tion, for national independence, and for personal freedom, that they have begun to do so. The isolation of England from the other states of Europe is manifest. Her isolation from the United States New Capitol of Minnesota. 23 has always existed, and principally as the result of petty differences as to boundaries, fisheries, sterile treaties, and small conflicting policies in other respects. The United States has been isolated by a special policy, and by its geographical position. The coalescence of nationalities has been accompanied by a vast territorial acquisition by the European states, by which the conti¬ nent of Africa has been partitioned among them. The boundaries of German Africa, French Africa, Portuguese Africa, Spanish Africa, and English Africa are in course of definite detemination. An Italian Africa seemed probable, and would have been established but for the ability of King Menelek, who defeated the European invaders and practically expelled them from his kingdom. It is now asserted that the Abyssinian monarch was, throughout his struggle with Italy, advised and aided by Russia, and that we may expect soon to witness a Russian Africa. The general direction of this movement in Africa is toward the Orient. Its most active manifestations and capital centers are on the east coast of Africa, and in Madagascar, fronting the Indian Ocean and looking toward India. There is also to be noticed another significant eastward tendency. Whether it is a mere coincidence, or is a part of the general political and commercial movement is at present purely conjectural. It is not a conjectural statement, however, that these great human pre¬ cessions are always accompanied by ancillary changes of pre¬ existing forces and conditions with which their connection cannot always be distinctly perceived. The center of manufacturing pro¬ duction in Europe is moving eastward. Germany has become, wuth- in the last thirty years, a great manufacturing nation. She has ceased to be a tnarket, in any great degree, for any other country. She builds her own ships. She produces an infinite variety of manufactured articles of all kinds—textile, metallic, and miscel¬ laneous. Her sugar product is greater than that of any other country. She has become a leading maritime and commercial na¬ tion, and is seeking for markets with astonishing energy in South America, in Africa, and most rapaciously in China, where she has recently established herself by military and naval force, and is seriously to be reckoned with in the process of exploiting her power in that great empire. The movement of Russia toward the East is not a mere tendency. It has been in actual operation ever since Peter the Great sent Vitus Bering overland from St. Petersburg to the sea which bears his name. It is now exhibiting its Titanic energy in the construe- 24 Laying of the Corner Stone. tion of the trans-Siberian railway. This undertaking has acceler¬ ated the recent action of the other European powers in regard to China, and has stimulated Japan to exertions, which will soon make her the fourth naval power of the world. It will conduct a stream of European migration into Asia. This route to the Orient portends so much, and has made so secondary the importance of the way to Constantinople, in comparison with this greater high¬ way toward Asiatic empire, that the guideboard which Catherine set up at Kherson, and inscribed, “The road to Constantinople,” marks merely a footpath to a hamlet. It is not necessary to elaborate upon the interests of the United States in the present and prospective situation. They present and enforce themselves from every point of view. The maritime, com¬ mercial and political genius of the American people will not per¬ mit Iheir government to be indifferent to them. It will not suffer the United States to be made the China of the West. The great question remains, and comprehends the commercial and all other subjects. What action by the United States do its peace and safety require to insure to it the rightful and most advantageous results of these new international relations and adjustments? The situa¬ tion in the Chinese Orient is pregnant w T ith wars, and wars, in these days of fleets built of steel and driven by steam, are different from those of the times of wooden walls and sails. There is not an habitable spot on the earth’s surface too remote or secluded, or too strong to be exempt from the attacks of rapacious and un¬ scrupulous military and naval power. All history is false or this is true, that such wars are inevitable. Their arena has been enor¬ mously extended. The recent aggressions by the powers of Europe upo:i China were acts of war. It is not long since that the war between Japan and China ended by depriving the latter power of her fleet, by compelling her to pay an enormous indemnity, and provisionally to cede a portion of her territory of the greatest mili¬ tary and naval importance, of which Japan was in her turn deprived by the duress of Russia and Germany, only to see Russia substan¬ tially acquire the same territory, and Germany make a compensa¬ tory seizure near by. Next to China the Pacific possessions of the United States are the most inviting objects of attack. Under existing conditions their defense weuld be difficult. Had Spain triumphed at Manila as decisively as did the United States, her navy could have seized Honolulu, and have operated from there upon the coast of the United States from Mexico to the Yukon. An overpowering Euro- New Capitol of Minnesota. 25 pean force in the Asiatic waters could do the same thing; so could Japan. The situation is plainly one of alternatives. The United States must become an efficient element in the Asiatic situation, or it must entirely abstain from any participation in it, return to its own shores, receive the smallest possible share of its commercial ad¬ vantages, and prepare for its own defense against the same ag¬ gressions which have reduced China to her present condition. It may be objected that all this is without precedent. So it is. But all great human evolutions must precede precedents in order to create them. The present war has restored confidence to those who feared that the spirit of our people and their patriotism had been ener¬ vated by a long and prosperous peace. That they would support the government no one doubted. But it was only faintly hoped that a war, not onorous when compared with our resources, would completely fuse all political and sectional differences into unanim¬ ity of support to the honor, dignity and safety of the nation. It is now manifest that the United States will be, at the con¬ clusion of this war, a great and actual naval and military power. Many thousands of her citizens will be trained to modern warfare on land and sea. The military spirit has inspired the people. They have been raised to a higher plane of patriotism. The additions to our fleet have been very considerable, and that fleet will never be less. The appropriations for its increase, already liberal, will con¬ tinue to be so. The astounding victories of Commodore Dewey and Commodore Schley have convinced our people of the vital impor¬ tance of the sea power. The organization and operations of a great army and navy will teach them their own strength. The heroism of our soldiers and sailors will be a heritage of national glory and honor. Our people were carried to the highest top of national pride by witnessing at Manila and Santiago (to paraphrase Napier), with what majesty the American sailor fights. It is also perceived with the greatest satisfaction that certain ex¬ ponents of European opinion who until recently spoke with a con¬ descending assumption of superiority of intervening in the present contest, have abated their hauteur of expression. The Monroe doctrine, in the sense of an intention by this gov¬ ernment to intervene to prevent encroachments by European na¬ tions upon the republics of the Western Hemisphere, has been confirmed, and has received a steadying force. The press of conti¬ nental Europe has adopted, during the last few years, a fashion 26 Laying of the Corner Stone . of resenting even any theoretical assertion of this great principle of American security, which was recently characterized by Prince Bismarck as a doctrine of “uncommon insolence.” It is now prob¬ able that any European power will deliberate before acting upon that assumption. The necessity for the immediate construction of the Nicaragua Canal has been undeniably demonstrated by recent events. The voyage and perils of the Oregon are conclusive upon this propo¬ sition. The unpleasant relations which have existed between the United States and England for so many years were caused by a traditional aversion, which was aggravated by certain events of our Civil War and by many minor irritating controversies, the worst feature of which is the fact that few of them have ever been settled. But through all this it has been felt by the people of both countries that a tie binds them together, however much they may irritate each other by straining it. Aversion, and even specific controversies, between peoples so related are often composed by the force of events with which their connection seems merely ideal and sympathetic. Such pacifying forces are so subtle and impalpable that they can often be perceived long before they can be described. The difficulty of indication exists in the present instance, but, notwithstanding, it is very plain that a change of sentiment, of expression, and of general contour of relations between the two nations has taken place. The conviction, heretofore only imperfectly felt and only par¬ tially, infrequently and fitfully acknowledged, is now clearly oper¬ ative, and is openly and spontaneously expressed, that the 125,000,* 000 people who speak the English language, who have established representative governments and mainta'ned personal liberty in every portion of the world, whose conceptions of faith, literature, morals, education, popular government and individual freedom are cognate at all times and everywhere, whose civilization, though developed, is not decadent but is still progressive, who have heretofore taken no step backward in an expansion of influence and empire without comparison in history, are amicably approaching each other under the pressure of a great human evolution. I trust that these observations will not be thought irrelevant to this ceremony. It has seemed to me most proper that the thoughts of our people should be directed to these momentous top¬ ics upon an occasion, political but not partisan, which has assem¬ bled this multitude of the thoughtful men and women of our be¬ loved commonwealth. New Capitol of Minnesota. 27 This day will soon end. The invocations, the choral rejoicings of triumphant and patriotic music sent out by instrument and voice, the words of oratory vainly essaying to be adequate to its theme, the gleaming banners of our country, the emblems of our industry, the trophies of our conquest of innumerable felicities here exhib¬ ited, the militant youth of Minnesota marshaled for war—all that constitutes this pageant will soon cease to be seen or heard. Not for hundreds of years will this ceremony be again per¬ formed. But of one indubitable and changeless fact we can feel assured, and it is that when, in a distant age, a corner stone shall be laid for another and a greater capitol of Minnesota, they who place it, in contemplating the reverend structure here begun, will glory in and emulate the virtues of their fathers. For as a great master of English, a seer in economics and an au¬ thority in art, has truly said of such structures raised by states: “Men cannot benefit those that are with them as they can benefit those who come after them, and of all the pulpits from which human voice is ever sent forth there is none from which it reaches so far as from the grave. “Nor is there, indeed, any present loss, in such respect for futur¬ ity. Every human action gains in honor, in grace, in all true mag¬ nificence, by its regard to things that are to come. It is the far sight, the quick and confident patience, that, above all other attrib¬ utes, separate man from man, and near him to his Maker; and there is no action nor art whose majesty we may not measure by this test. Therefore, when we build, let us think that we build for¬ ever. Let it not be for present delight, nor for present use alone; let it be such work as our descendants will thank us for, and let us think, as we lay stone on stone, that a time is to come when those stones will be held sacred because our hands have touched them, and that men will say as they look upon the labor and wrought sub¬ stance of them. ‘See! this our fathers did for us.’ “For, indeed the greatest glory of a building is not in its stones, or in its gold. Its glory is in its age, and in that deep sense of voice¬ ful ness, of stern watching, of mysterious sympathy, nay, even of ap¬ proval or condemnation, which we feel in walls that have long been washed by the passing waves of humanity. It is in their lasting witness against men, in their quiet contrast with the transitional character of all things, in the strength which, through the lapse of seasons and times, and the decline and birth of dynasties, and the changing of the fact of the earth, and of the limits of the sea, main¬ tains its sculptured shapeliness for a time insuperable, connects for¬ gotten and following ages with each other, and half constitutes the identity as it concentrates the sympathy of nations. 28 Laying of the Corner Stone. “It is in that golden stain of time that we are to look for the real light, and color, and preciousness of architecture; and it is not until a building has assumed this character, till it has been entrusted with the fame, and hallowed by the deeds of men, till its walls have been witnesses of suffering, and its pillars rise out of the shadows of death, that its existence, more lasting as it is than that of the natural objects of the world around it, can be gifted with even so much as these possess of language and of life.” Overture: “William Tell.”—Rossini. PRESENTATION OF TROWEL. The proceedings were, at this point, interrupted by Hon. Chas. E. Flandrau of St. Paul, who, on behalf of the citizens of the state, presented to Hon. Alexander Ramsey, the first terri¬ torial governor of Minnesota (in 1849), a silver trowel with which to lay the corner stone. Judge Flandrau said: Gov. Alexander Ramsey: The State of Minnesota, in selecting you to lay the corner stone of its new capitol, recognizes in you a builder of great skill and experience. In its incipient territorial stage you evolved a capitol from tamarack poles. In its incipient second stage of territorial infancy you constructed one of brick and mortar; and now, when it has attained the highest grandeur of statehood, if again calls upon you to lay the foundation of its splen¬ did marble home, the purity, durability and beauty of which so truly typify its position in the glorious Union of American states. But, well skilled as you are in this work, you cannot perform it safely and surely without suitable tools. The state, knowing this, has prepared a masons’ trowel of pure silver to aid you in vour work, and has delegated me to present it to you in the name of the great commonwealth. I am instructed to impress upon you the necessity of extraordinary care in its use, that no fault nor flaw may find its way into the future abode of our sovereign state, as Pone has over in the past sullied its dignity or honor. The strength of man is in his brain and bone; That of the temple in its corner stone. The trowel which I now present to you is of silver, adorned with a garland of the moccasin flower of the state; its handle is from the GOVERNOR RAMSEY ABOUT TO LAY THE CORNER STONE, JULY 27th, 1898. New Capitol of Minnesota. 29 tamarack poles of which the old Central House, used as our first capitol in 1849, was constructed. With such a tool in the hands of such a workman, success is assured. Governor Ramsey, in acknowledging the gift, said: My Dear Judge Flandrau: I feel much flattered at having been selected by the capitol commissioners for the honorable duty of lay¬ ing the corner stone of this the third capitol building of the State of Minnesota, and very grateful to my fellow citizens for the beautiful and artistic gift which you now present me on their behalf. It is of a piece with the kindness and consideration they have ever shown me during this half century of my association with them. It has furthermore relieved me of serious embarrassment, for, being new to such functions, I had neglected to provide myself with the necessary implements, and have been somewhat perplexed as to how I should perform them. I desire to add my word of appreciation and thanks to the board of capitol commissioners for the courage, energy and tact they have shown in their determination to carry this work, so much needed and so long delayed, to a speedy completion. May, through the grace of God, the coming fifty years witness an even greater growth and development of this great state of ours than those which are now nearing a close. Thanking you, my dear judge, for the kind and gracious manner in which you have performed your mission, I will now proceed to the performance of the duty which has been assigned to me. Governor Clough then announced, as follows: We will now proceed to place the corner stone of the new cap¬ itol upon the foundation prepared for it. In this box made of copper we have placed various articles and memorials indicative of our progress in art, literature and agriculture, a list of which will be read by Nathaniel P. Langford. Mr. Langford, chairman of the committee on archives, read the list of the articles in the corner stone. Note.—T he trowel was made by a famous silversmith. It is adorned, as Judge Flandrau mentioned, with a border of moccasin flowers, the “official” flowers of Minnesota. Upon the blade of the tool is inscribed, “Presented to Alexander Ramsey, the first governor of the Territory and State of Minne¬ sota, by his fellow citizens, as a testimonial of esteeni and respect. With this trowel was laid the corner stone of the new state capitol at St. Paul, Minn., July 27, 1808.” 30 Laying of the Corner Stone . In the sealed and soldered box that lies in the corner stone the following articles were placed, to lie for unknown hun¬ dreds of years: Holy Bible. Statutes of the State of Minnesota, Yols. 1 and 2. Last published annual report of the secretary of state of Minnesota. Last published annual report of the Minnesota state auditor. Last published annual report of the Minnesota state treasurer. Legislative manuals of Minnesota for the years 1893, 1895 and 1897. History of Minnesota Volunteers in the War of the Rebellion, Yols. 1 and 2. Volumes 4 and S of the Minnesota Historical Society Collections, Minnesota Historical Society publication, “How Minnesota Became a State.” Congressional directory of the Fifty-fifth congress of the United States. History of the new capitol legislation. The original draft of the bill drawn and introduced in the legislature by Hon. William B. Dean of St. Paul, for the erection of a new capitol. Neill’s History of Minnesota. History of the Sioux War of 1862-63, by Isaac Y. D. Heard. Minnesota Year Book for the years 1852 and 1853. Photographs of the new capitol. Photographs and engravings of Minnesota cities and villages. Minneapolis through a camera. Copies of the last issued daily newspapers of St. Paul and Minneapolis. Badge of the Daughters of Veterans, Tent No. 1, St. Paul, Minn. Report of the GrandArmy of the Republic for Minnesota. American flag and roster of St. Paul Camp No. 1, Sons of Veterans, U.S.A. One $20 gold coin, one $10 gold coin, and one $5 gold coin, and one each of all the silver, nickel and copper coins of the United States of this date. Portrait of Alexander Ramsey, first governor of the Territory of Min¬ nesota. Portrait of Henry Hastings Sibley, first governor of the State of Min¬ nesota. A copy of the introductory address by Hon. Charles H. Graves. A copy of the oration delivered to-day by Hon. Cushman K. Davis. Copper plates of the seal of the Territory and the State of Minnesota. Copper plate etchings of south front elevation and principal floor plans of the capitol. A copper plate on which are engraved the names of the capitol commis¬ sioners, secretary, architect and assistants. A copper plate on which is engraved an epitome of memorable events in the history of the organization of the Territory and State of Minnesota. City Directory for the year 1898 of St. Paul, capital of Minnesota. Northwestern Gazetteer and Business Directory. A list, engrossed on parchment, of the contents of the corner stone. A copy of the program and ceremonies of laying the corner stone. New Capitol of Minnesota. 31 One of the copper plates that lie in the stone bears the fol¬ lowing inscription: Epitome of Memorable Events in the History of the Acquisition and Organization of the Territory and State of Minnesota. 1784. March 1—Cession by the State of Virginia to the United States of that portion of Minnesota lying east of the Mississippi river. 1803. April 30—Treaty concluded with France for the cession of Louisi¬ ana to the United States, embracing that portion of Minnesota lying west of the Mississippi river. 1805. Sept. 23—Conferences with different bands of Indians. 1837. Feb. 18—Convention with Wahpaakootah and other Sioux Indians. 1838. June 15—Treaty with Chippeways, by Henry Dodge, proclaimed. 1838. June 15—Treaty with Sioux, by J. It. Poinsett, proclaimed. 1838. The first pre-emption claim to land at St. Anthony Falls made by Franklin Steele. 1849. March 3—The United States congress passed the organic act creat¬ ing the Territory of Minnesota. 1849. June 1—The governor, Alexander Ramsey, by proclamation, de¬ clared the Territory duly organized. Population, 4,940. 1853. Feb. 24—The treaty of Traverse des Sioux, made by Alexander Ramsey and Luke Lea, with the Sioux Indians, on July 23, 1851, and the treaty of Mendota, made by Alexander Ramsey and Luke Lea, with the Sioux Indians, on Aug. 5, 1851, were proclaimed by the president. 1857. Feb. 26—The act authorizing the territory to form a state gov¬ ernment passed by congress. 1857. Oct. 13—A state constitution was adopted. 1858. May 11—Congress passed the act admitting Minnesota into the Union, Henry Hastings Sibley being the first state governor. Population, 150,037. 1862. July 2—The first railroad in Minnesota was operated, the train running from St. Paul to St. Anthony. 1861 to 1865—Minnesota furnished more than 25,000 men for the War of the Rebellion. 1890. June 1—Population, United States census, 1,301,826. 1895. June 1—Population, state census, 1,574,619. 32 Laying of the Corner Stone. On the other copper plate deposited in the box within the corner stone the following record is inscribed: To those who come after us this record is given: This Corner Stone of a New Capitol for the Accommodation of the Executive, Legisla¬ tive and Judicial Departments of the State of Minnesota was Laid in the City of Saint Paul on the 27th day of July, in the Year of Our Lord One Thousand Eight Hundred and Ninety- eight, by Alexander Ramsey, First Governor of the Territory and Second Governor of the State of Minnesota. Board of State Capitol Commissioners. Governor David M. Clough, (Ex-officio) President. Channing Seabury of Saint Paul, Vice President and Chairman. Eben E. Corliss of Fergus Falls. John De Laittre of Minneapolis. George A. Du Toit of Chaska. Charles H. Graves of Duluth. Henry W. Lamberton of AVinona. Edgar W r eaver of Mankato. Frank E. Hanson of Saint Paul, Secretary. Architect and Superintendent of Building: Cass Gilbert. Draughtsmen, Engineers and Assistants: F. A. Sherrill, Alfred Smith, A. J. Gage, Frederick C. Gibbs, Thomas Gannett Holyoke, John Rachac, Jr., George H. Carsley, Eugene Ward, Charles F. F. Abbott, Superintendent. Superintendent for the State: John Boland. New Capitol of Minnesota. 33 Governor Clough then said: I will request the commissioners to place this box in the cavity prepared in the corner stone for its reception. The corner stone was raised, mortar was spread upon the stone beneath, and the copper box was placed upon the mortar where it would be exactly covered within the cavity in the lower side of the corner stone. Governor Clough proceeded: This massive corner stone is a production of our own state, de¬ signed by our architect, and shaped by the skill of our workmen. It gives me great pleasure to call upon our honored fellow citizen, Alex¬ ander Ramsey, the first territorial governor of Minnesota, a man who has resided among us and watched with pride the won¬ derful growth of this first territory and then state, since 1849, to lay this corner stone. Governor Ramsey then spread the mortar with the silver trowel. The stone was slowly lowered. As the stone descend¬ ed the band played “America,” many thousands of voices sing¬ ing the anthem. The stone being now in place, Governor Clough announced: I proclaim that the corner stone of the new eapitol of the State of Minnesota has this day been well and properly set in its perma¬ nent resting place. May its fidelity to the trust imposed upon it ever be a silent monitor to the rulers of the people for whom this house is being erected. Bishop M. N. Gilbert then pronounced the following BENEDICTION. Unto God’s gracious mercy and protection we commit ourselves and all the citizens of this commonwealth, the governor and all others in authority, the laborers upon these walls and their families, those who shall in the days to come meet and counsel in this edifice, our sailors and soldiers on sea and land, and all whom we would re¬ member, both near and far. The Lord bless them and keep them; the Lord lift up his countenance upon them and give them peace, both now ond evermore. Amen.