Richmond weekly palladium., 1875-12-09

II
nial year Of our national existence as
free and Independent people, it affords
me great pleasure to recur to the ad-
vancement that has been made from
the time of the Colonies, one hundred
years ago.
GROWTH OF THE COUNTRY.
Ne were then q people numbering
only three millions; now we number
more thai. forty millions. Then our
Industries were confined almost excln-
sively to the tilage of the soil; now
manufactures absorb much of the Ia
Dor OF the country. Our liberties re-
main unimpaired. The bondsmen
have been freed from slavery. We
have become possessed OF the respect
if not the friendship of all civilized na-
tions. Our progress has been great In
all the arts, in science, commerce, navi-
cation, mining, mechanics, law, medi-
cine, etc, and in general education the
progress is likewise encouraging. Our
thirteen States have become thirty
eight, including Colorado, which has
taken the steps to become State, and
eight Territories, including the Indian
Territory and Alaska, and excluding
Colorado, making a territory extend
ing from the Atlantic to the Pacific. On
the south we have extended to the Gulf
of Mexico, and in the west from the
Mississippi to the Pacific. One hum
dred years ago, the cotton-gin, the
steamship, the railroad, the telegraph,
the reaping, sewing and modern print
ing machines, and numerous other in
ventionS of scarcely less value to our
business and happiness were entirely
unknown. In 1916 manufactures
scarcely existed, even in name, in all
this vast territory. In 1870 more than
two millions Of persons were employed
in manufactures, producing more than
81, 100, 100000 Of produce an, amount
annually nearly equal to our national
debt. From nearly the whole of the
population Of 1776 being engaged in
the one occupation of agriculture, In
1870 so numerous and diversified had
become the occupations of our people,
that less than six millions of more than
forty millions were so engaged. The
extraordinary effect produced in our
country by resort to such Occupa-
tions has built market for the pro-
ducts of fertile lands distant from the
seaboard and the markets of the world.
The American system of working vari-
Gus and extensive manufactures, next
to tee plow and the pasture, and adding
connecting railroads and steamboats,,
has produced in our distant country
results not eQualed by the intelligent
parts of other nations. The ingenuity
and skill of American mechanics have
been demonstrated at home and abroad
in a manner most flattering to their
pride; but for the extraordinary genius
and ability of our mechanics the
achievements of our agriculturiStS,
manufacturers and transpOrters
throughout the country would have
been impossible of attainment. The
progress of the miner has also been
great. OF coal our production was
small; now many millions of tons are
mined annually. So with iron, which
formed scarcely an appreciable part OF
our products half a century ago. We
now produce more than the world con-
sumed at the beginning of our National
existence. Lead, zine and copper,
expect to be large exporters of in the
near future. The..develOpment of gold
and silver mines throughout the States
and Territories has not only been re-
markable but has had large influence
upon the business of all commercial
nations. Our merchants in the last
hundred years have had a success and
have established a reputation for en-
terprise. sagacity, progress and integ-
rity unsurpassed by the people of older
nationalities. This good name is not
on every sea and into every port where
commerce enters. With equal pride we
can point to our progress In all of the
learned professions.
THE EDUCATIONAL QUESTION.
AS we are now about to enter upon
the second Centennial, commencing our
manhood as a nation, it is well to look
back upon the past and study what will
be best to preserve and advance our
future greatness. From the fall of Ad-
am, for his transgression, to the pres
ent day. no nation has ever been free
from threatened dangers to its pros
perity and happiness. We should look
to the dangers which threaten us and
remedy them SO far as it Is In our pow
er. We are a republic, whereof one
man is as gOOdIS another before. the
law. Under such a form it is of the
greatest Importance that all should be
possessed of education and intelligence.
They ought to cast vote with right
understanding Of its meaning. A large
association of ignorant men cannot for
any considerable period oppose sue
cessful resistance to tyranny or Op-
preston from the educated few, and
must inevitably sink in acquiescence to
the will of intelligence, whether direc-
ted by the demagogue or by priestcraft.
Hence the education of the mass be-
comes of the first necessity for the
preservation of our institutions. They
are worth possessing, because they
have secured the greatest good to the
greatest proportion Of population Of
any form of government yet devised.
All other forms of government approach
it just in proportion to the general diff
fusion of education and independence
of thought and action. AS the primary
step, therefore, TO our advancement In
all that has made our progress in the
past century, suggest for your earn
est consideration, and most earn
estly recommend that a constitutional
amendment be submitted to the Legts-
latures of the several States for ratifi-
cation, making it the duty Of each Of
the States to establish and forever
maintain free public schools, adequate
to the education of all the children in
the rudimentary branches within their
respective limits, irrespective of sex,
color, birthplace or religion, fOrbidding
the teaching in said schools of religi-
Gus, atheistic or pagan text books, and
prohibiting the granting Of any school
funds or school taxes, or any part there
of, either by legislative, municipal or
other authority, for the benefit of any
other object Of any nature or kind.
TAXATION OF CHURCH PROPERTY.
In connection with this important
question would also call your atten-
tion to the Importance of correcting an
evil that, if permitted to continue, will
lead to great trouble in our land before
the close of the nineteenth century. 1t
is the accumulation of vast amounts of
untaxed church property, In 1880 1
believe the church property OF the
United States, which paid no tax, mu-
nicipal or State, amounted to about
Ss3, 100000. In 1860 the amount had
doubled; in 1875 it is about 81 200, ,OOO,-
900. By 1900, without check, it is safe to
say this property will reach a sum ex-
ceeding $4,000, ,000,00Q. So vast sum,
receiving all the protection and benefits
of government, without bearing it's pro-
portion of the burdens and expenses
of the same, will not be looked on ac-
quiescently by those who have paid
taxes. In growing country where
real estate enhances so rapidly, with
time, as in the United States, there Is
scarcely a limit to the wealth that may
be acquired by corporations, religious
or otherwise, if allowed to retain real
estate without taxation. The contem-