Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1866-01-09

d. | -
. ana the adventurous energy with whicl
& their Developments pushed, leave nothing
{ TO be desired In business point Of view
T unless itbe an increase of that sagaciOu
] caution which may save us from the dan
4 ger OF those commercial revulsions whicl
i have, with considerable regularity, follow
: ed great expansions of the currency, TIL,
I late. change In the banking system Of thC
4 country has transferred the control of thu
circulating medium TO Congress, and com
Q paratively little can be done by us directly
+ 70 provide against the threatened evils t
. which have alluded, except to exhort oul
I fellow citizens TO prepare In season for ev'
: cry contingency.
9 The large tracts of valuable lands within
: the State which are still uncultivated re-
. mind us of the desirability of encouraging
, Immigration, and of the evident policy o.
seeking to attract the most thrifty and val
, liable classes of immigrants within ouI
D borders. Wise foresight and prompt action
may unquestiOnably do much TO induce the
: best class of foreigners who are flocking to
! our shores to settle amongst us, where they
: will find in the highest degree the advan-
tages which have allured them to this
: country, with many of those pleasures OF
, society and of an older civilization which
, they must forego in the sparsely settled re-
gions of the far West, to which the great
: current of migration is tending. It will
also be our duty to promote the most rapid
assimilation of the foreign element
with our native population. The events
through which we have just passed have
Il proven how rapidly the foreign settler has
become American in interest, In thought
and in patriotism; but the good fesults we
have seen should only encourage us to more
systematic use OF the means which tend to so
desirable a result. A nation is strong in
proportion to the homogenelty Of its people.
TO be countTymen should in itself be a
pledge of brotherhood wherever we meet,
and brotherhood implies community OF Ian
guage and similarity of habit and thought.
To encourage and stimulate our naturalized
fellow-citizens, and the new comers who
propose becoming such, to adopt our Ian
| guage, to educate their children with ours,
/ and to identify themselves with us as
i rapidly as possible, is the dictate OF true
patriotism in us, aud, at the same time, Is
| the best welcome we can give te them, since
there can be no question that they will thus
become most quickly acquainted with their
rights as citizens, will be least likely to be
OVerreached and made dupes of in business
or In politics, and will find the road to pc
cuniary profit and personal advancement
most rapidly open before them.
Our common school system Is to be fos-
tered and improved, and there is nothing in
which our people have deeper interest
than this. If there be any one thing to
which, under Providence, more than to an
other we owe our safe passage through our
recent perils, believe it is the intelligence
which our common schools have universal
ly diffused. IL has not been simply the
power to read, but that larger and wider
culture which has made the American peo-
pie capable of weighing and deciding upon
grave arguments OF right and of policy in
the midst of greatest excitement. The
Government appealed to them as to men
able to comprehend any arguments of State
policy, and the steady loyalty OF the people
and their persevering support of the ma
tiOnal cause was in direct proportion to the
intelligence and education OF different
States or communities. | will even go
further, and declare my belief chat, outside
OF the immediate theater of hostile opera
tions, the cause of the Government never
lost anything by the most untrammeled
freedom of public discussion and printing,
because the people were always able to de-
tect the sophisms of disloyalty, and their
patriotic purposes were strengthened rather
than weakened by seeing the whole force
of the enemy they had to meet. Among
the safeguards of our liberties and glIaran-
tees of the permanence of our institutions,
reckon our school Gystem the very chief. |
Blind and devoted love of country may ex- |
ist under despotisnl, if ignorance be the |
mother of a superstitiOus or childish at |
tachment; but liberty and republicanism |
can be built on no other solid foundation |
than intelligence in the whole mass of the |
people. A wise selt-interest is made the |
basis of all scientific political economy, |
and when whole people hayed learned TO |
estimate that interest truly, besides loving
their country dearly, you have ground for
faith in the stability of their Government
such as can be got in no other way. 1t is
because of the general conviction that our
common schools may be made to secure
this result, that there is an equally general
belief that no money used for public pur-
poses is so well invested as that which sup
ports our school system.
No statement of our condition and our
duties would be complete which did not
speak of the debt we owe to the sad array
(almost an army in itself) of the MANNED
and disabled heroes to whom the return OF
peace brings no bright prospect for their
own future. The dead may be supposed to
look down in glory and in pride upon the
work they have accomplished by shedding
their blood, and our memory of them be-
comes rather exultant than painful; but
these sick and crippled ones are condemned
to look upon the general prosperity and
Joy, feeling bitterly that their lives must be
deprived Of nearly everything which health
and vigor would havesecured them. If we
should give them cause to think their coun-
try is ungratefui, we shall double their
misery and be ourselves uniaithful to one
of the most solemn duties which can be
sunr fhas ffrkk /
sand disabled Ohio soldiers are already
upon the rolls of the National Pension
Bureau. The pittance which the General
can give them will not save
them from want. How can we best do the
remainder of our duty toward them? A
beginning has already been made in
the temporary establishment of a State
Soldiers Home, but it is manifest that
1t will provide for very small part
Of those who have good claim upon us, If in
deed any system Of congregating the pen
siOners In permanent asylums can accom-
plish the desired end. believe the people
are ready to do their whole duty in this
matter, and will expect those whom they
have intrusted with the legislative power
to provide adequately by law the best prac-
teal system for discharging this great debt
of honor. This disposition on their part
has been manifested not only in the noble
and generous private contributions through
societies and commissions, by which the
comfort of our soldiers in the field and the
efficiency of our military hospitals were
wonderfully increased, but the same spirit 1
has prompted numerous local monuments
to our dead, and will, Il trust, grow into
some permanent memorial on behalf of the /
State at large, in keeping with the dignity /
of otir nOsiEiOn and with the deDth of our L