The Somerset reporter., 1885-12-30
Senator Frye's Tribute to Maine,

At the annual dinner Of the New England So-
ciety of Brooklyn, Senator Frye in responding
to the sentiment Maine, said:
shall oifcud no man in talking Of her. for II
i, well settled principle tina; it is a mean man
that won't boast of his OWN. love the State oil
Maine better than any spot in the wide. wlae
world This may seem strange 10 some MNuti-
ously fed and clothed and housed sons ot the
Empirc State. We have some disadvantages,
but there is magnificent law of compensation;
You say our climate is cold our SHOWS deep ana
long continued. True, hut our homes are warm,
our fircsdtS dry, our winter evenings long, our
books plenty; and the result is-thonshuul,
earnest. active. homc-hosing men and women
tApplause.l You say our soii IS hard and un-
productive Yes; no poet with any practical
knowledge of IT would ever talk ahoat tickling II
with hoe to make ii laugh with harvest. NO
king process will do there. But 1t responds
gratefully to hard WORK. Maine raises more
wheat than all the rest Of New England togeth-
cr. We last wear raised three million bushels
of po,atoes-the peach crop OF Maine. u.augt
ter.l We carried 100000 bushels of them to
starch mills. in our own borders owned by our
selves, and made them into starch II Will do
no harm to make practical suggestion 10 an
intelligent audience like this. You take the
duty off of starch and every ono OF the thirty
two starch mills ip iroostook county will cross
over the line into Canada. and the l,Iooooo
bushels Of potatoes will rot i'll the cellar.
You say the surface Of our State is rugged,
hilly, mountainous. Yes, it is; but every
mountain has "A fertile valley, and there are D.
| 600 rivers seeking the sea, fed by 2,1OW square
miles of magnificent lakes. You say our coast
is rockbound; but every year GOO fishing vessels
sail out from that coast, equipped by lo,Wu OF
| the most courageous and KILLED sailors. Ana
| let me say to YOU that the fisheries, to-day, OF
1 New England are the only nurseries for Ancri-
can sailors in the republic. tApplause.l You
| have to-day, carrying the American flag in the
| foreign trade 1873 ships, and 2a3 of them were
/ built on that same coast OF Maine. applause
| When YOU here in New York talk about the
| beauty of admitting foreign-bnlt ships TO Amer
| lean registry when YOU ind an administration,
| if YOU please or a part of an administration,
+ which breaks down a man like John Roach, the
1 leading ship-buder OF the whole republic, ask
YOU 10 consider whether or not, in the hour ei
/ pcril, you may not need these same shipyards
! tt;rcat appausc) Again, we have immense
| forests. Ne have one forest in Maine in the
centre Of which you might plan, the whole Com
monwcalth Of Massachusetts, and then the m
habitants would be compelled to hire guides IL
hnd their way over the border Qanghterl
Maine has furnished many mon who have be
come ilustrious in the nation. Last summer
saw in country village cradle in which ONT
mother had rocked one United States Senator
| one Cabinet officer, tve members Of the Nation
al House of Representatives, four Governors Of
States, two Ministers Pcnipo'eutiary, one Ma
jor General in the United States Army, and one
captain in the Navy. daughter, and three
cheers for that mothcr.) Last year | saw tcns
| of thousands of the citizens of New York and
Bro ,klyn march for hours in pelting rain, and
their refrain was "Maine, Nj inc. James G
Blaine" (Great applause.) He only Lacked
one thing for success. He was not born il
| Maine. G.aughtcr.)