The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1876-01-01
The Centennial Year.

This mornings sun fully ushers in the
centennial year. Since midnight the Phila-
delphia bells have been ringing out the glad
tidings as they rang out the news of the Dec
laration hundred years ago. Then all patri-
otic hearts beat quickly with high hopes and
aspirations; but grave apprehensions were
felt withal. The experiment of Democratic
government was felt to be hazardous one,
although the Colonists had had hundred
years education as freemen and had been
nurtured in the traditions of the liberty-lov-
ing Anglo-Saxon race. If in the beginning
of this secoud century of our national exis-
tence our cheeks are not flushed with radiant
hope we are happily free from those haras-
sing doubts which vexed our forefathers.
Democratic government is still an experiment
it is true, as all systems of government are
experimental. 1t took the American people
ninety years to acknowledge by conduct that
selfevident truth Of the Declaration, that all
men are created equal and endowed by their
creator with inalienable rights to life, liberty,
and the pursuit of happiness; and it may be
that other phrases in that remarkable docu-
ment are still held as abstract truths rather
than as statements of practical policy. But
under the system of government planned by
the patient wisdom cf the fathers, we have
made not only enormous strides in the path
of material progress, but in morals, taste,
culture, and general education as well. There
are those who will deny our advancement in
any way but in matters material, whose tenn
perament leads them TO exalt the past at the
expense of the present, who cannot see
clearly through the distance of regret, and
who forget the law of perspective, by which
the low and the ignoble sink out of sight
and only the lofty and the grand lift them
selves inc view. 1t may be that we have
lost some of the homely virtues which belong
70 poorer people aud a more primitive con
ditiop of life. 1t is true that we suffer from
those evils incident to the rapid accumulation
of wealth, and to the luxury and extrava
gance which follow in its train. Disadvan
tages like these are inseparable from the his
tory of powerful and rapidly growing nations.
But we are not without our compensation
for these evils, evils which our natural vigol
and our increase in knowledge and culture
will enable us to overcome, as other peoples
have done before us. Each generation ha;
its pet vice from which its predecessor was
free, and in its turn is exempt from some vice
which was the bane of that predecessor. Or
the whole, we are as good and as happy as
our fathers, and far more prosperous and
learned.
This is not place for review of oul
progress, for an eXultant exhibition Of tables
of statistics. The year will be prolific O
reviews, of accounts of an advancement
which cannot fail to crafty our people. But
few of us are disposed to peruse the record il
vainglorious spirit. We feel that while We
have great reason for graduation and hope
we have heavy responsibilities upon us, and
that we should meet them calmly and seri
ously. In our rich soil the weeds thrive
apace, and attain to luxuriance impossible
in poorer lands. 1t should be our business tc
root up the rank and pernicious growth, thai
the fair flowers may flourish. We are en-
dowed with the heritage of the whole world
We can draw at will upon the garnered wis
dom of the past. 1t should be our duty and
delight to make noble use of our dover, te
improve to the utmost our great opportuni
ties, to unsparingly avail. ourselves] of oul
golden possibilities, to emancipate ourselves
not from foreign rule this time, but from the
tyranny of our vices and folies. 1t may be
doubted if the austere virtue which we
attribute to our ancestors had foundation in
truth, but it is certainly within the posi-
bility of attainment for us and the noblest
ambition which nation ever cherished. Let
us make it the mark of our endeavor through
our second century.