The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1874-05-05
THE Bio SHOW.
A SENSIBLE CENTENNIAL.

SENSIBLE CENTENNIAL.
SUGGESTIONS OF Dir. JOHN BIGELow-NoT A
"SHow" BUT AN APPROPRIATE cRLEBRA-
TIoN-A BRIEF PLAN OR SYNOPSIS, AND IT'S
FEATURES OF SIMPLICITY.
Nearly year ago Mr.. John Bigelow wrote
quite an extended article on the subject of
an anniversary of the first century of Ameri-
can freedom and growth. This letter was
published in the New York Tribune, and
appearing at the time when the Philadel-
phia mongrel show was being Matched,
it attracted attention from it's candid
and sensible presentation of the
question. In the meantime, the
Philadelphia centennial bubble having
got into congress is creating great amount
of confusion and dissatisfaction. and while
the whole affair is muddled inextricably, Mr..
Bigelow sends second letter to the Tribune,
giving some suggestions as to the appropri-
ate celebration of such an event. He says
that "two impressions seem to have got
possession of the popular mind which have
contributed not little to prevent the de-
velopment of the latent feeling of the coun-
try on the subject. One is that any appro-
pirate celebration must involve the expendi-
ture of large sum of money, and the other,
20 do anything worth doing even if
the large sum of money were in hand
to do it with" Both of these impressions
he believes to be erroneous, and he then
proceeds to give what he regards as an ap-
propriate and possible celebration of the i'm
portant event. For this purpose he would
suggest that the president invite the "requi
site number of the most competent men in
the country to report to him in as concise a
form as possible,
WHAT HAS BEEN ACCOMPLISHED
during the first century of its national ex-
istence in all the different departments of
human activity with which they are re-
spectively best acquainted, giving as far as
possible every result that would be in any
sense a measure of our growth in civiliza-
tion.'' This work could be committed to
fifty or hundred and fifty persons, as cir
might determine best. He
then proceeds to enumerate some of the
leading subjects for such an exam
nation and report: i. Political economy,
and incidentally of the various systems of
labor, free and servile, wages, wealth, credit,
and the financial. vicissitudes of the country;
2. Law and Jurisprudence, national and in
ternational, including our different systems
of procedure; 8. Education and educational
institutions; 4. Religious and ecclesiastical
institutions; 5. Humane and charitable in
stitutions; 6. Literature and Typography;
z. The press; s. Electricity and magnetism,
and their practical adaptation to the uses of
society; 9. The progress of art, industry and
invention, as revealed in the collections
ut the patent office; 10, The postal
service, and its laws of growth and
perfection; IL. Agriculture; IL. Popu-
lation, and the reciprocal influence of our
legislation and immigration; IL. The natural
sciences; IA. What has been accomplished
toward developing and utilizing the mineral
resources ofthe country; Is. Medical science
and incidentally of longevity; 10. The fine
arts; IL. Commerce and navigation, ocean,
river and lake, and incidentally of marine
and naval architecture; Is. Manufactures;
10. Military and naval inventions, discov-
cries and achievements: 20. Changes and
ameliorations in The social condition, cloth
ing, nourishment and employments of the
people; 81. The Aboriginal and the African
Americans; %. Climatic and meteorological
studies.
Then he proposes that, after these inves-
legations, the reports should be digested
and reduced in contents. Then, with
the aid of this digest, the president should
prepare a discourse of not less than fifteen,
or more than thirty minutes, in which he
should interpret the occasion TO the world,
and in doing so give the most compact posi-
bic statement of the essential product which
the first century of republicanism in the
United States has contributed to human civ
ilization, On the 4th day OF July, 1876, let
the president repair to the capitol, or as a
special homaget to the place in which our
people formally proclaimed themselves
free and Independent, to Independence
Hall in Philadelphia, attended by his
cabinet, by congress-. by the Su-
preme Court, nil5bys the diplomatic
corps. and by the governors of the several
states and territories, and In the presence of
these several representatives of our federal
l7 o3fib leg ildsnD biG Of ,ieIti
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