Los Angeles daily herald., 1889-05-12
SuNPAY, MAY I2, 1859.
The First Century of the Repubii


The First Century of the Republic.
In New York, few days ago, thou
sands of people assembled to celebrate
the anniversary of the Inauguration OF
the first President of the Republic. This
is, then, distinctively the end OF the flrst
century under the government. 1t IS
notable event. What strides in all lines
of advancement the country has made
since the first dawn of the National period
under the head of the National Govern
ment! The sparse population stretching
along the Atlantic coast, with great
hiatus Of unsubdued wilderness between
it's outposts and that ether small thread
of settlements made by the French, and
stretching from Quebec by Montreal and
Fort du Quesne to New Orleans, and
then the unknown distances of the Great
West beyond there, have increased and
multiplied into mighty nation OF nearly
seventy millions of people. The wilds of
the Great West have been not only ex-
plored, but they have been, for
the most part, brought into the
bounds of civilization, and their
many millions of acres have been put
under the plow and reaper. The broad
plains have been covered with prosper
GUS homes, the mighty rivers have been
bridged and the giant mountain ridges
crossed by steel highways. Million
peopled cities, the most magnificent on
the eartb-of this or any other period
have been built; the gain from the
broad prairies feed not only America, but
Europe, too, with a surplus for the hordes
of Asia. 1t is amazing to contemplate
the magnitude of these accomplishments
during this first century of the Nation.
It dazzles to behold the splendor OF these
achievements. TIE mind fails to grasp
the conception of the stream OF wheat
that flows from the farms OF the Amerl-
can Union to tide-water on two oceans.
The finite mind cannot take in the figures
that stand for the riches dug from
American mines.
Nor are the exploits of the freemen OF
this free nation confined to material
things. 1t is too commonly alleged that
the American is mainly materialist,
and too common to sneer at him as mere
money.maktr. He is great in his mate
rial achievements, and he is shrewd in
his financieriDg, but no people ever real
lied more forcibly than ours the truth OF
the Scriptulal adage that man cannot
live by bread alone. The intellectual
and the spiritual have as earnest atten-
ton among us as they have anywhere,
and there has been made as great pro-
gress in these lines as in those OF merely
material things. The churches of our
cities, with their piercing spires,
and the ample halls of American Univer-
stiles, are as far ahead of the plain
"meeting. houses" and the small country
school-houses, as are the banks
alor the streets OF New York or Chicago
ahead of those of pre-revolutionary days.
These things are the direct reselt OF
the excellence of the form of government
inaugurated with the induction into
office Of General Washington as the first
fr6eIueDU Vi THO hcpupiAS. <AhN - 'AS
essentials Of that form of government
there has been great progress made in
the century under review. 1t is diff
cult at once for any people to cast ASIDE
old forms hallowed by time and made
fragrant by the memory OF great men
and their great deeds; and many as
were the faults of the forms OF govern
mental cast aside at the Revolution, yet
there WAS much in them that was sound
in principle and noble in design. No
wonder there was q disposition to cling
to come of them, and no wonder that
many chung to faulty forms. When
Washington was inaugurated at New
York the ceremonies had much OF the
smack of royal courts and ducal
K.aIaces aeout them. At the
inaugural ball in the evening, the Presi- |
dent and "Lady Washington'-such was
the style on all lips-occupied seats on
raised dsis. AS each couple took the
floor to dance, they approached the plat
form and made an obeisance before the
august persons who were there seated.
As the company returned to their seats,
the same ceremonial was observed, with
much punctillo. This little thing stands
as an exponent of the feeling common
with the plajnest and most ardent Re-
poblicans in the land.
With the Jeffersonian period came in
much purer views Of the true spirit OF
the new era. 1t was in the mind OF that
"a eat Apostle of humanity that was con-
ceiyed the truth: Cali men are born free
and equal" 1t was from his pen that
fell the mighty, vital and imperishable
truths of the Declaration, and OF the
Slowly these germinal
principles took root in the minds oil