The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1876-01-28
CENTENNIAL.
speech Of Hon. w. a. Phillips
nFEX
En Favor. of the Centennial
a appropriation by COnEress.
From the ConpressianaI Reeo-d Of

ICnalfmAn, 1 shall not consume
much of your time. desire very
briefly te state why l think this
House should vote for the Centen-
NAL appropriation.
do not believe there is man I'm
this House who will deny That ouri
Government is fHlly-eonlIAittedt to
this celebration. Under authority
of an act of Congress the Executive
of the United States has invited
the governments OF foreign nations
and the people of those nations
through their governments to be
present. Those invitations have
been accepted by nearly all sf them.
Appropriations have been made
according to the different modes of
those nations, to meet the expendi-
lures involved and to do their
share toward il. Having therefore
invited this cooperation and cX-
penditure on their part, II would
certainly be q very remarkable cir
cumstance if our Government de.
clined to give any aid to the enter
prise itself. The appropriation
will do as much for the character of
centennial as the money will do.
Should we adopt a less liberal poll
cy-and / have no fear Oh tive
need not be surprised ii foreign ma
tons take less interest in il and do
less for it. We have gone Into this
matter, and it behooVes US to see
that it is done decently.
The design of making it, as far as
practicable, self-susteinipg was q
good one. Three fourths of the
amount to be expended will come
from private and state enterprise
and liherality. The remainder we
are asked TO give. thiuk tAaEiun-
der the circumstances, we get off
cheap. 1t is only three and half
cents apiece. Where is the person
that refuses TO give it? Aspagen-
eral rule our political festivals are
sustained purely by popular move
ments. Estimates for bunting, bar
bacues, aud fire crackers do not APP
pear in our budgets. Our average
Fourth of July celebrations do not
need them. John Smith, Sam Jones,
and Jonathan Edwards resolve
themselves into three committees,
on inVitations, rhetoric, and eata-
bles, and forthwith the Occasion"
is grand success. This interna-
tional centennial cannot be done in
that way. This is the boiled down
essence of all the Fourths of July
for hundre5 years. 1t is not all
for ourselves. We have inspired
our people with love for the ma
tiOnal air on the martial fife and
drum, and the reading of the Dec
laration of Independence has been
like the voices of the lively oracles.
Now we throw the gates wide open
to all the world. We invite them
to see our growth and prosperity :;
to study the theory and examine
the practical working of a govern
ment of the people. Ii it is worth
celebrating tall, it is worth doing
well. Uncle Sam knows the value
of a cent exactly. lie is waxing
rich and strong because he knows
1T. He expects us TO study that
matter very closely, but he also ex-
poets US to remember that he was
never mean about it. lie will wear
his traditional white hat, but he
will brush it when he cocks it
among the nations. He has invited
all creation, and while he has de-
manded prudence from us, he will
not thanK us for parsimony. He
feels that he owes this to his place
in modern civilization and owes il
to the downtrodden of all the
earth.
Ethink there is probably not q
man within the sound of my voice
who does not believe that if we re-
fuse this appropriation the exhibi-
ton will not be the success that !
am sure every American desires it
to be. If we make this apprGpFia-
ton, it is important we do it at
once. In hundl eddays our guests.
will begin to come.
Nor do believe that cityrfval-
rise or jealousies will enter into
this. We could not all be born in
Philadelphia butt Uncle Sam was
born there. lie staked off his first
claim around that old hall. In
that hall, hundred years ago,
handful of brave men met to cast
the die of our national fortunes.
Their circumstances were full of
embarrassments. There was but
little more than thea millions of
people in all the colonies. They
were without resources and COM
paratively without credit. They did
not knew how far they would be sus-
tanned in what they did. They
confronted one of the mightiest
empires on earth There they ut
tered the Declaration of Independ-
ence, and a nation was born. TEey
did far more. They did higher
and better. Unawed by power and
unchecked by conservatism, they
uttered the grand old words that
ring in our ears from happy school
boy days and which sent a thrill
through the heart of struggling hu-
maDity all over the world: awe
hold these trnthes to be self-eyident'
that God created all men equal"
1t was not "glittering generality,
1t declared that in the Government
then formed all men should be
equal in the eyes of the law.
We can look back, my friends.
Look back over that hundred years.
We can see that the ship of state
rocked in many storm. We can
remember, not without tear, the
brave men who died for il, and the |
wise men whose whole lives were
given to developing the genius of
the American Government, whose
lives, founded on principle, are as
illustrious as a martyrs death. We
can recall those grand old words,
and here, in this noontide of the |
nineteenth century, with the pic
ture of the saved and redeemed |
Republic before us as it is to-day.
rising in freedom from the clouds |
of war, we can wipe the perspira-
ton from our brows and s.madestly |
and reverently thank the Lord that,
even if it took hundred years, we |
were able to chew to the linee these |
brave old patriots SCORED" for us. |
Mr.. DE BoLT,-Will the gentle
man from Kansas permit me to ask
him question?
Mr.. PHILLIPs.- Certainly.
Mr.. De BoLT.-I see by the bill
before me that it is provided that
the Government shall not under
any circumstances be liable for any
debt contracted by the centennial
board. That same clause was en-
acted in tho 0nf 81 1879 Soa1.,~,,.S i