The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1875-12-08

tues :,Isl aiti 1870 t{tE}tt .SI. sTSss'> -
In submitting my seventh;annual message
Ito Congress in this centennial year of our
national existence as q free and Independent
people it affords me great pleasure to recur
| to the advancement that has been made from
the time of the Colonies-one hundred years
ago. We were then a people numbering
only three millions. Now we number more
than forty millions. Then industries were
confined almost exclusively to the tillage OF
the soil. Now manufactures absorb much.
| of the labor of the country. Our liberties
remain unimpaired. The bondsmen have
been freed from slavery. We have become
possessed Of the respect, II not the friendship,
| of all civilized nations.
L OUR PROGRESS A5 A NATION.
I Our progress has been great in all the arts.
| In science, agriculture, commerce, naYlga-
ton, mining, mechanics, law, medicine, etc.,
and in general education, the progress is
likewise encouraging. Our thirteen States
| have become thirty-eight, including Colo.
RADIO, which hiss taken the initiatoTy steps to
| become O State, and eight Territories, in.
cluding the Indian Territory and excluding
| Colorado, making territory extending 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 hundred years ago the cotton
gin. the steamship, the railroad, the tefe-
graph, the reaping-, sewing, and modern
printing-m1chines, and numerous other In
yentions of scarcely less value to our business
and happiness, we're entirely unknown. Id
l776 manufactures scarcely existed even IN
name in all this vast territory. ln
1870 more than two millions of persons
| =. s,,y mr.
| more than S2,100,000.0 900 of products in
amount annually nearly equal to our ma.
Etional debt. From nearly the whole of the
| population of 1776 being engaged In the &C.
cupation of agriculture, in 1870 81 hume:
rous and diversified bad become the occupa.
ton of our people that less than six millions
out of more than forty millions were so en-.
gagged. The extraordinary effect, produced
| ia our country by a resort to diversified oc-
| cupation has built a market for the products
| of fertile lands distant from the seaboard and
| the markets Of the world. go .4- .atg
/ The American system of locating various
and extensive manufactures next to the
plough and the pasture, and adding connec;-
| ing railroads and steamboats,, has produced
| In our distant. interior country result
noticeable by the Intelligent. portions OF all
! commercial nations. The ingenuity and skill
| of American mechanics have been Gemon'
| strated at home and abroad in manner most
| fatiering to their pride. But for the extra
binary genius and ability OF cur mechanics
the achievement: IS Of our asriculturists, manu-
bfacturers, and transporters throughout the
country would nave peen inpossioie Vi at
| taipment. 10.
| The progress of the miner has also been
great. OF coal our production was small;
now many millions Of tons are mined anuu:
| ally. So with iron, which formed scarcely
| an appreciable part of our products bali
century ago. We now produce more than the
world consumed at the beginning of our ma
| tional existence. Lead, zinc, and copper,
from being articles of import, We may expect
| to be large exporters of in the near future.
The development Of gold and silver.mnes
! ia the United States and territories has not
only been remarkable, but has had large
Influence upon the business Of all commercial
nations. ~ ls
Our merchants in the last hundred
wears have had success and have
| established reputation for enterprise, sa-
gaeity. progress, and integrity unsurpassed
| by people OF older nstionaiities. This "good
| pameD is not confined to their homes, but
goes out upon every sen and into every port
where commerce enters. With equal pride
we can point 10 our progress in all OF the
learned professions.
Aswe are now about to enter upon our
second centennial, commencing our man
Ehood as nation, it is wellTto LOOK back
Eupon the past and study what will be best
| to preserve and advance our future great
ness. From the fail OF Adam for his trans:
erosion to the present day no nation has
/ ever been free from threatened danger to its
prosperity and happiness. We should look
to the dangers threatening us, and remedy
them so far as lies in our power. We are q
/ republic, whereof one man is az good as
another before the law. Under such form
of government it Is of the greatest import
ance that all should be possessed of educa-
ton and intelligence enough to cast vote
with right understanding Of its mesning.
A large association of ignorant men cannot
| for any considerable period oppose
successful resistance to tyranny and
oppression from the educated few, but
will inevitably sink into acquiescenee
to the will of intelligence. whether al.
reeted by the demagogue or by priestcraft !;
i hence the education OF the masses becomes
I of the first necessity for the preservation OF
our Institutions. They are worth preserving,
because they have secured the greatest good
to the greatest portion of thapo pulation OF
any form OF government yet devised. All
/ other forms Of government approach 1t just
/ in proportion to the general diffusion of edu.
1 cation and independence of thought and ac-
lion. As the primary step, therefore, to
i our advancement ia all that has marked our
progress int he past century / suggest for your
I earnest consideration, and most earnestly
recommend 1t, that constitutional amend.
nent be submitted to the Legislatures OF
the several States for ratification making it
/ the duty of each of the several States TO
establish and forever maintain free public
schools adequate TO the education of all the
children In the rndimentary branches within
their respective limits, irrespective OF seq,
i color, birthplace or religion forbidding
the teaching in said schools OF religious
athestic or pagan tenets, ana prohibiting
the era nsing of apy .sehoet funds or ehooi.
taxes or any. part thereof either by legisia.
! tive, municipal, or other authority for the
benefit or 10 aid directly or indirectly OF any
| religious sect or denomination, or 10 aid or
| for The. benefit; Of any other object Of any;
nature or kind whatever. 80 .,itE51 1911
IN; FAVOR OF TAXING CHURCH PROPERTY. 81
/ In connection with this import liant ques-
ton / would also chill your attention to the
Importance Of. correcting an evil that II par
mitted to continue will probably lead to
/ great trouble in our land before the close OF
4 the nineteenth century. Ii Is the aceumuia.
! tion.oi vast amounts Of untaxed church pro.
1 perty. To 1860, / believe, the church pro-
/ perty 6f The United States which paid no
/ tax, municipal or State, amonntea folaoout
4 $s3, 000. 900. s In 1860 the amount had
i doubled. In 1876 Ill d Is about ID ,o00,-
/ goo, ooo, By 1900 4 without s a i