Northern tribune. [volume] (Cheboygan, Mich.) 1875-1885, 1876-02-26
CIRCULAR aRoM GoyE1.No1: BAaAkx.
STATE OF MICHIG An, }
EXECUTIVE OFFICE, LANSING, Feb. q, 1876.

STATE OF MICHIG IN,
EXECUTIVE OFFICE, LANSING, Feb. p, 1S.6.
To the People of the State of Michigan
Without the sanction of Legislative au
thority Or established precedent as
guide, 1 cannot resist the temptation
that the Centennial year we have jus
entered upon brings to me of asking
your attention to few suggestions and
thoughts as to the use we shall make oil
1t. Though as political organization
We cannot lay claim to even semi-cen-
tennial age, yet as one of the younger
brethren OF the great household OF
states, we hold in grateful love our
place in the family. We have within Our
borders no Mecca like Plymouth Rock
or Bunker Hill to which patriotic pill
grims turn their willing footsteps, yet
large proportion Of cur people are the
dece ndants of the Fathers of the Repub-
lic-she men who in council framed our
form of government, and on score OF
battle-felds fought and died to establish
Il. A
The lapse of time, the demands of bus
mess, the new life we are living, all tend
to forgetfulness Of the old time, and of
the history of our fathers made with
pen and sword. Is it not well therefore,
In this anniversary year to pledge anew
our affections to the aland we live H." to
rebuild the fire of patriotism on our
own hearth-stOnes, and renew the love
OF Liberty and Country in our own
hearts, THAI in the times of the RevOlu-
ton warmed the hearts of our ancestors
Have we not fotgotten, in the hurry
and strife Of our money-getting, i'm the
rapidity with which events have crowded
upon one another in these latter days.
the blessings that have come to us from
the past, and the debt We owe the early
builders? Are We not growing thought
less of our country, its institutions and
government, and careless of its perpetu-
ity? Political quacks imagine new dis
eases affecting the body polite, and in
vent psnaceas for their cure, without a
protest from the people. One urges
that property should govern-another,
Observation-Disclosures, h-place-one de-
spends for fear the government is not
strong enough, while another shudders
at the Capitalization of power, and here
and there perchance is a misanthrope
who has lost all faith in a government of
the people.
Shall we not in this hundreth birth
day of our nation. turn away from these
teachers of false doctrine, resolving to
hold fast, not only to the form, but to
the spirit of the government as it was
established in its simplicity and strength?
So resolving and so doing, we need not
fear for the future.
We, OF Michigan, need to do our duty
In this direction, and we cannot COM
menee too soon. The history of the
United States is not taught in five thou
sand Of the six thousand schools of the
the way to insure good citizenship In the
future. If our children are thus educat-
ed-or rather uneducated-we shall by
and-by become a nation of doubters and
croakers. 1 hope the parents and chill
dren, the school officers and school
teachers of this state will see to it that
this be changed at once. If from the in
spiration of the time this single reform
shall be secured, the Centennial will in
deed prove blessing.
On Saturday, the 18th day of April
next, urge upon every citizen Of this
state who owns piece of Gods ground
whether it be large Or small, whether
in city or country, town or village-to
plant tree, that our children and our
children's children may know and re-
as the tree planted by patriotic
hands in the first Centennial year of the
Republic. La country OF landowners,
where the poorest man may, if he viii,
own the ground he stands on, this seems
4 most appropriate memorial act, and l
earnestly hope our people will heartily
unite in adopting this suggestion.
l lam we'll aware that these are perhaps
only symbols-external show-but viii
they not bespeak al inward glow Of pa
triOtic impulse, and may they not set in
motion in the plastic minds of our youth |
perchance of elder folk-a current |
of patriotism and love of country, that
shall know no ebb?
Let us now resolve to cherish the lega-
cies of free school free church, free press |
and free town-meeting lett us by the
Fathers. Let us preserve simplicity and |
economy of government as cardinal
points in our political creed, and thus
make sure "that under God, government |
Of the people, by the people, and for the
people, shall not perish from the
EARTH" JOHN j. BAGLEY.
EDITORIAL NOTES.