Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1889-03-07
POINTS FROM the INAUGURAL

quirement that the President shall take
the oath of Office in the presence of the
people. But there is so manifest an ap-
propriatenesS in the public induction to
office of the Chief Executive officer of
the nation that from the beginning of
the Government, the people, TO whose
service the official oath conseerates the
officer, have been called to witness the
solemn ceremonial.
The oath taken in the presence of the
people becomes a mutual lcovenant-the
officer covenants to serve the whole body
OF the people by faithful execution of
the laws, so that they may be the unfai-
ing defense and security of those who
respect and observe them, and that
neither wealth, station nor the power of
combinations shall be able to evade their
Just penalties, or to wrest them from
beneticent public purpose to serve the
ends of cruelty or selishness. My prom
ise is spoken; yours unspoken-but not
the less real and solemn
The people of every State have here
their representatives. Surely | do not
misinterpret the spirit of the occasion
when | assume that the whole body of
the people covenant with me and with
each other to-day to support and defend
the Constitution and the Union of the
States, to yield willing obedience to all
the laws and each to every other citizen
his equal civil and political rights. En-
tering thus solemnly into covenant with
each other, We may Teverently invoke
and confidently expect the favor and
help of Almighty GOd-that He will give
to me wisdom, strength and fidelity, and
to our people a spirit of fraternity and
love of righteousness and peace.
| This occasion derives peculiar interest
from the fact that the Presidential term,
which begins this day, is the twenty
sixth under our Constitution. x x =
! 1 will not attempt to note the marvel
lous and, in great part, happy contrasts
between our country as it steps over the
threshold into its second century of or
ganized existence under the ConStitu-
ton, and that weak but wiselv-ordered
young nation that looked undauntedlv
down the first century, when all its years
stretched out before it. Our people will
not fail at this time to recall the incl
dents which accompanied the institution
of government under the Constitution, or
to find inspiration and guidance in the
teachings and example of Washington
and his great associates, and hope and
courage in the contrast which thirty
eight populOus and prosperous States of |
fer to the thirteen States, weak in every
thing except courage and the love of |
liberty, that then fringed our Atlantic |
seaboard.
But our growth has not been limited !
to territory, population and aggregate |
wealth, marvellous as it has been in each
of those directions. The masses of our
people are better fed, clothed and housed |
than their fathers were. The facilities |
for popular education have been vastly
enlarged and more generally diffused
The virtues of courage and patriotism
have given recent proof of their contin-
ued presence and increasing power in
the hearts and over the lives of our peO-
pie. The influences of religion have
multiplied and strengthened. The sweet
offices of charity have greatly increased
The virtue of temperance is held in
higher estimation. We have not attain
ed an ideal condition; not all of our peO-
people are happy and prosperous; not all
of them are virtuOus and law-abiding
But, on the whole, the opportunities of
fered to the individual to secure the
comforts of life are better than are
found elsewhere, and largely better than
they were here one hundred years ago.
OUR COMMERCIAL EMANCIPATION.
The revival at the end of the century
of the same patriotic interest in the pre-
servation and development of domestic
industries, and the defense of our work
ing people against injurious foreign
competition, is an incident worthy of at
tention. 1t is not departure, but are
turn, that we have witnessed. The p O.
tective policy had then its opponents.
The argument was made, as now, that
its benefits Injured to particular classes
or sections. If the question became in
any sense or at any time sectional, it /
was only because slavery existed in some
of the States. But for this, there was I
no reason why the cotton producing
States should not have led or walked {;
abreast with the New England States in {
the production of cotton fabrics. There {
was this reason only why the States that {
divide with Pennsylvania the mineral s
treasures of the great southeastern and {
central mountain ranges should have I
been so tardy in bringing to the smelt-
ing furnace and to the mill the coal and t
iron from their near opposing hillsides, 7
Mil fires were lighted at the funeral pile l
of slavery. The emancipation procla-
nation was heard in the depths of the
earth, as well as in the .sky-men were
made free and material things became t
our better servants. q
The sectional element has happily 7
been eliminated from the tariff discus i
sion. We have no longer States that 9
are necessarily only planting States i
None are excluded from achieving that q
of pursuit among the peo- q
pie which brings wealth and content /
ment. The cotton plantation will not l
be less valuable when the product is t
spun in the country town by operatives 4
whose necessities call for diversified i
crops, and create home demand for
garden and agricultural products. Ev- t
cry new mine, furnace and factory is an o
extension of the productive capacity of e
he State more real and valuable than S
added territory. p
Shall the preiudices and paralysis of p
slavery continue to hang upon the skirts il
Of progress? How long will those who o
'ejoice that slavery no longer exists cher n
sh and tolerate the incapacities it put Il
lpon their communities? l look hope s.
iully to the continuance of our prOtec.- t,
We system, and to the consequent devel- o
)pment of manufacturing and mining d
the States, hitherto wholly
given to agriculture, as a potent in1u n
IN 90 In tho rnrfnnt n1niEnntinn of nnr 4;