The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1876-02-25
Cruc Nortbermer.
Paw Paw, MlcnIc ~, FEE. %, 1876.
CENTENNIAL.
STATE OF MICHIGAN,

STATE OF MICHIGAN, }
Executive Office, Lansing, Feb, ~, 1876.
10 THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN.
Without the sanction OF Legislative authority
or established precedent as guide, cannot
resist the temptation that the centennial year
We have just entered upon urngs to me Of
asking your attention to few suggestions and
thoughts as to the use We shall make OF it,
Though as political organization we cannot
lay claim to even semi-cea,ennial 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 Bunk
FL hill to which patriotic pilgrims turn their
willing footsteps, yet large proportion of our
people are the descendants Of the Fathers OF
The Republic-the men who in council framed
our form Of government, ana on score or
ht.tle-felds fought and died to establish it.
The lapse of time. the demands Of business,
The new life we are living, all tend TO forget
fitness of the old time, aud Of the history our
fathers made with pen and sword. Is it not
we'll therefore, in this anniversary year to
pledge anew our affections to the Gland we
live III, ~ Io-ouId lbC Va poliiotAohA VII
oar own hearth-stones, and renew the love Of
Liberty and Country In our own hearts, that in
The times of the Revolution warmed the hearts
g our ancestorsi
lave we not forgotten, in the hurry and
strlte Of our money-gettlng, III the rapidity
with which events have crowded upon one
another in these latter days, the blessings that
IN m M from, tha and ha dahf
we owe ii Have we not taken the good that
las come TO us, as rewards of our own merit
rather than the hard earnings OF the early
builders Are we not growing thoughtless Of
our country, Its institutions and government,
and careless o. Its perpetuty: Political quacks
,naglne new diseases affecting the body polite,
and invent penaceas for their cure, with a pro-
tes- from the people. One urges that property
should govern-another, education-another,
h,rthplace-oue desponds for fear the govern
men, is not strong enough while another shud-
Gerr at the Capitalization Of power, and here
and there perchance is misanthrope who has
lost ali faith in a government OF the people.
shall we not in this hundreth birthday OF the
nation, turn away from these teachers Of false
doctrine, resolving to hold fast, not only to the
iorm but to the spirit OF the government as it |
was established in its simplicity and strength
80 resolving and 80 dong we need not fear for |
the future.
We. Of Michigan, need to do our duty in this
direction, and We cannot commence too soon.-
The history OF the United States ls not taught |
il five thousand OF the six thousand schools Of
the State. 1t occurs to me that this is not the !
wav to insure good citizenship IN the future
Il our children are thus educated-or rather
rneducated-we shall by-and-by become a ma
ton Of doubters and croakers. l hope the
parents and children the school officers and
school teachers OF this state will zee 70 it that
TINS be changed at once. IL from . luspna-
ton Of the time this single reic shall be se-
cured, the centennial will indie i prove a bles-
Eng.
On saturday, the 18th day Of April next, l !
urge upon every citizen OF this State who owns
piece OF Gods ground-whether it be large |
OF small, whether in city or country, town or
vlllage-to plant tree, that our children and
enildrens children may know and remember as
the tree planted by patriotic hands in the first
Centennial Year of the Republic. In a country
Of landowners, where the poorest man may if
he will, own the ground he stands on, this
seems most appropriate memorial act, and / !
earnestly hope our people will heartily unite in
adopting this suggestion.
am we'll aware that these are perhaps only |
symDols-external show-but will they not be-
speak an inward glow OF patriotic impulse, and
NAV they not set in motion IN the plastic minds
0! our youth-and perchance OF elder folk-a
current of patriotism and love of country, that
shall know no ebb?
let us now resolve to cherish the egacies Of
Free school, Free Church, Free Press and Free .
Town-meetlng left us by our Fathers Let us
preserve simplicity and economy of govern
ment as cardinal points In our political creed,
and thus make sure " that under God, govern
ment OF the people, by the people, and for the
reople. shall not perish from the earth"
JOHN j. BAGLEY.