The Daily state journal. [volume] (Alexandria, Va.) 1868-1874, 1872-11-13
An Addr ess by the United States Centennial
Commission.
the People of the United States.

All Auufe SS ny tHt Outteu TAU
Commission.
To the People of the United States:
The Congress of the United States has
enacted that the completion of the One
Hundredth Year of American Independence
shall be celebrated by an International Ex-
hibition of the Arts, Manufactures, and
Products of the soil and mire, to be held at
Philadelphia, in 1876, and has appointed a
Commission, consisting of representatives
from each State and Territory, to conduct
the celebration.
Originating under the auspices Of the
National Legislature, controlled by a Ma
tional Commission, and designed as it is to
commemorate the first Century of our
existence, by an Exhibition of the Natural
resources of the Country and their develops
ment, and of our progress in those Arts
which benefit mankind, in comparison with
those of older Nations" it is to the people
at large that the Commission look for the
aid which is necessary to make the Centen-
NAL Celebration the grandest anniversary
the world has ever seen.
That the completion of the first century
of our existence shonld be markedly some
imposing demonstration is. we believe, the
patriotic wish of the people of the whole
country. The Congress of the United
States has wisely decided that the Birth
day OF the Great Republic can be most fit
ingly celebrated by the universal collection
and display of all the trophies of its pro-
gress. 1t is designed to bring together,
within a building covering fifty acres, not
only the varied productions of our mines
and of the soil, but types of all the i~ntellec-
tual triumphs of our citizens, specimens of
everything that America can furnish,
whether from the brains or the hands of
her children, and thus make evident to the
world the advancement of which a self
governed people is capable.
In this !" Celebration all nations will
be invited to participate /; its character
being International. Europe will display
her arts and manufactures, India her Curl
GUS fabrics, while newly opened China and
Japan will lay bare the treasures which
for centuries their Ingenious people have
been perfecting. Each land will compete
in generous rivalry for the palm of superior
excellence.
To this grand gathering every zone will
contribute its fruits and cereals. No min
eral shall be wanting ; for what the East
lacks the West will supply. Under one
roof will the South display in rich luxuri-
ance her growing cotton, and the North in
miniature, the ceaseless machinery Of her
mills converting that cotton into cloth.
Each section of the globe will send its best
offerings to this exhibition, and each State
of the Union, as a member of one united
body polite, will show to her sister States
and to the world, how much she can add to
the greatness of the nation of which she is
q harmonious part.
To make the Centennial Celebration such
O success as the patriotism and the pride OF
every American demands will require the
cooperation of the people of the whole
country. The United States Centennial
Commission has received no government
aid, such as England extended to her
Worlds Fair, and France to her Unlver-
sal Exposition. yet the labor and respon
sibility imposed upon the Commission is as
great as in either of those undertakings. Ii
Is estimated that ten million dollars will be
required, and this sum Congress has pro-
vided shall be raised,by stock subscription
and that the people shall have the opportu-
| nifty of subscribing in proportion to the
| population of their respective States and
IeTTltOIlc6.
The Commission looks to the unfailine
patriotism of the people of every section,
to see that each contributes its share to the
expenses, and receives its share of the
benefits OF an enterprise in which all are
SO deeply interested. 1t would further
earnestly urge the formation in each State
and Territory of a centennial organization,
which shall in time see that county associ-
atoms are formed, so hat when the nations
are gathered together in 1876 each Com
monwealth can view with pride the con
tributions she has made to the nationa
glory.
Confidently relying on the zeal and patr.
otism ever displayed by our people in ever,
national undertaking, we pledge and pro
phecy, that the Centennial Celebration will
worthily show how greatness, wealth ant
intelligence, can be fostered by such insti
buttons as those which have for one hun
dred years blessed the people of the Unite'
States. JOSEPH r. HAwLEY,
President.
! Le,eis Wala Smith. Tenn. Sec.
DAA AG