The Republican journal., 1874-11-19
IT'S and 1915.


the celebration will be national and inter
national; that Congress has provided for
an international exhibition OF arts and
manufactures and the products OF the soil
and NINE; that it has designated Phla-
delphia as the proper place for the cere-
monies to be held; that it has invoked the
entire Union to assist in the celebration,
and has invited all the world to participate
in it. How tar the people have responded
to the appeal, how many foreign nations
have accepted the invitation Of the gov
eminent, what progress has been made to-
ward perfecting the celebration in the
manner authorized, what States are still
backward in their aid. what remains to be
dore, and how in the future the means
still necessary are to be provided for con-
Quoting this national enterprise on a scale
commensurate with the dignity of the
event it is to commemorate, is Just what
the people outside of Pennsylvania require
to have made known to them.
Massachusetts has Just begun to stir in
the enterprise. On the 31st OF October at
meeting of representative business men,
the proposed plan for celebrating the ma
| tional centenary was deliberately Endorsed
and by resolution pledge was given that
the quota Of the State should be speedily
subscribed. The citizens who have ac-
cepted the responsible duty of developing
in practical way the interest felt in this
| patriotic work, as q committee or board
auxiliary to the Centennial board of finance
authorized by Congress, have put forth an
address to the people of Massachusetts,.
which is to be found in our columns to-day.
In cordially commencing it to public at
tention, we propose. further, to state q
few facts which may show to the people
of New England what may properly be
expected OF them.
Congress few years since, was memo
rialized from many quarters to take meas
ures to celebrate signally the 4th of july,
1876. There was much competition and
rivalry among cities for the honor of being
the place to be selected Some urged that
this national festival should be held at
| New York, because it is the commercial
metropolis OF the nation; others that it
should be at Washington because it is the
| capital OF the government; others pro-
nounced IN favor of Cincinnati, St Louis.
San Francisco or Chicago, because either
OF those cities presents telling EXAMPLE
OF American growth and energy. Not a
| few claimed that Boston, in which most
OF the stirring events happened that pre-
coded and precipitated the Revolution,
was the place. Congress, however, after
| prolonged debate, determined that, as at
| Philadelphia the Declaration of Indepen-
dence was adopted and first proclaimed,
there should the first one-bundredth ami
versary OF what we have invariably called
1.-THE nations birth be celebrated.
! 1 he sentiment that nopfro1 I'D fiji, oo,,
| cluslon is now universally recognized as
natural and Just Congress devolved the
responsibility of making all preparations
for the celebration, and for the information
| al exhibition which it authorized. on n
commission in which every State and Ter
ritory is represented. Subsequently. in
order to provide funds for the enterprise.
! Congress created board of finance
charged with the duty of obtaining sub
| scrlptlons to Centennial stock to the extent
of ten millions Of dollars, in shares Of the
value of ten dollars each, and to each
State and Territory permission was given
TO subscribe IN the proportion that the
population Of a State or Territory bore to
the total population Of the Union. Under
this act the stockholders have twice elect
ed out of their number a board of direct
ors in whom has rested the arduous duty
of raising the funds necessary for the
national undertaking. Jointly on this
body and the executive committee of the
Commission also rests the labor of pre-
pairing the grounds and the erection of the
acres OF buildings for the celebration The
commission has exclusive charge of arrang-
ing for all the details of the ceremonies
and management OF the exhibition. These
two bodies work tremendously. They
have done much, vastly more than is
generally known; they have done their
work well, calmly and resolutely, in despite
Of the Indifference, disparagement, hos
tility, and even the studied obloquy they
have sometimes had to encounter
Now. after some three years of patient
and persistent labor. they think they can
see their way to undeniable success. Con-
gress at no time has promised one dollar
in aid of the celebration it authorizes
Recognizing the instincts of the people,
the teachings of the Constitution and force
of usage, Congress has left much if not
everything, connected with the commem-
GRAFTON to the peple. 1t has said substan-
tally: celebrate the centenary OF in
dependence at Philadelphia by an inter-
national exhibition and by other features,
grandly, as the event should be celebrated
We have instructed the President to in
vite all nations to participate in the test-
val. We clothe you with ample author
ity. We shall have it proclaimed to the
world that to the people does the govern
ment of the United States confide the
commemoration of the close OF its first
centenary OF independence"
VIII the trust be fulfilled VIII the
commemoration, as proposed, be worthy
OF the nation? 10 these questions we
answer, after a review of all that the com
mission and the board Of finance have &C
complished, with some knowledge of
what they are now doing, and with great |
faith in the sympathy and cooperation
of Massachusetts and other States that
the ''CENTENNlALn will be earned out in |
a manner rejecting lasting honor upon
the country. Boston Advertiser