Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-06-06
Should be Aroused to Make the
Worlds Fair a Grand Success.
THE TINE is MOST AUSPICIOUS,
Says DR.. Depew, for Celebrating Americas
Discovery and
HER CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS GROWTH

ABOUT LOU reacheQ the Auditorium ABOUT
1880 o'clock and marched up to where Mr..
Depew and his party were quartered.
Each child bore an enormous bouquet, which
was promptly bestowed upon Mr.. Depew.
From behind the mass of flowers Mr..
Depew managed to make nice little
speech, saying he would rather receive these
flowers from the children than the plaudits
and votes of all delegates who will assemble
in 1892 to nominate Presidential candidate.
One of the children made little speech in
reply.
THIS evening q rousing audience gathered
at the Auditorium to hear DR.. Depew's ad-
dress before the Press Club on the Worlds
Fair. The noted orator said:
A GREAT QUESTION.
The question which has been assigned to me
by your committee is the Worlds Fair" and
the success or failure of this great enterprise
will be dependent in great measure upon the
view which is taken of it by the press of the
country. If there be not general agreement
among the newspapers of the Republic. as to
the character and extent of this exhibition and
the support which it should receive, it had bet
ter be abandoned at the start Bidden here to
speak upon the Worlds Fair" in one view
may appear as the captive, chained to the
chariot wheels of the conqueror for the pur,
pose of gracing his triumph, but broader and
more generous conception is, that after
healthy ana friendly rivalry as TO location, we
are now ali equally earnest and enthusiastic
for phenomenal success.
No Question more important and none affect
ing more nearly their prosperity and their
pride has been presented to the American
people in quarter Of century. The occasion
is at once our opportunity and our necessity
our opportunity to show to the nations of the
world our marvellous growth in population, IN
settlement, in cities, in railroads, and our de-
velopment in agricultural, mineral and manu-
featuring resources; our necessity, in present
ing to commercial peoples OF all races
and climes view of our sur
plus in the products of mine and
mill, of farm and factory, which will furnish
the incentives for barter and exchange in all
the marts of the world, which, by absorbing
that which we can produce beyond our needs in
almost infinite volume, shall burden the ocean
with our freights shall re-create for us mer-
chant marine, shall carry our flag once more
upon every sea and into every harbor, and en-
ploY and enrich our own people. We forget
that we are 5000 miles from the nearest of the
oldest nations and that our traditional policy
has prevented them from becoming acquainted
with u.s.
OUR UNREASONABLE BOASTS.
The marvellous expansion of our own means
of inter-communication, and our familiar
knowledge of every part of our own country,
has led us to believe that the world appreciates
selves. But this is only the utterance of the
Fourth Of July orator. and the dream of the
school boy. Our flag has almost disappeared
from the seas, our freight is carried in foreign
vessels, our navy is a myth. and the resources
of our diplomacy are wholly unequal to the
task of reaching the intelligence of foreign
lands.
The all-pervading press with the complete
ness of its information and the majesty of it's
power, represented in part by the Chicago As
sociatlon, is unknown, as we understand it, in
he 0f "a frln In, fhaI Int,r lie
of Great Britain the United States are dis
missed daily with a bret paragraph as to the
markets. or longer account of crime. or a
papers tney are rarely enfioned at ali. To tha
European, the Asiatic. the African, the Austria
lan, education as to the products ana positions
of foreign countries is largely from the senses
the eve the touch and the ear. Our efforts TO
reach ths world through this, the only channel
which we have, have been lamentably made
Quate.
The fair has been in all ages of the world
the promoter of progress and the impulse of
civilization. 1t has been the conservator of
commerce and peace. Among the Romans and
the Greeks difficulties OF transportation and
the savage conditions of international relations
made their fairs mainly festivals for the ex-
hibitions of physical skill and athletic sports,
but behind them the politicians and conspIra-
tors of the day plotted for the possession of
power OF the overthrow of government. In the
Middle Ages, when might was right and law had
ceased to exist, the only traveller who was
protected by common consent in his person
and goods was the merchant going
to and returning from the fair. At
the fair, feudal lord and vassal trader and COL
lege professor, priest peasant and student, in
termingle upon common footing. kept alive
the hickering spark of liberty and learning
The exhibitions, springing from small begin
nings, and in time
CREATING POWERFUL COMMUNITIES
led to the formation of free cities where mer-
chants and traders resisted the robber barons |
and fostered commerce and civilization. But |
it was only after the frightful revolt against /
the tyranny of centuries had produced the ex- |
cesses of the French Revolution and in the |
ecstacies Of their enthusiasm for universal |
liberty and the brotherhood of man, the French |
wished to share their victory with the world, |
that an international fair for the first time was
held.
We have been passing through period of |
centennials, with passion for crowdlng events |
into century packages and labelling and slowing |
them away for reference at the end of the next |
that this exhibition with only four years in |
terval. will be the centennial of the first inter-
national fair. Nothing has more clearly |
marked the development of this extraordinary |
century than the growth of these international |
exhibitions. Steam and electricity have made !
them possible, and the inventions have enriched |
them beyond the dream of all the ages since |
the dawn of history.
The Columbus qnadri-cenrennial celebration |
will be the only one within recorded time in 1
which all the world can cordially and frater- |
nally unite. 1t is not sacrilege to say that the
two events to which civilization to-day owes its
advanced position are the introduction of
Christianity and the discovery of America. |
The dynamic forces of our Christian faith in
the destruction of the buttresses of bigotry
and oppression. and the leveling up of the
masses to common rights, could never have
worked such marvellous results except for the
opportunities of a new country and an untram-
meled population.
WHEN COLUMBUS SAILED
from Palos, types had been discovered, but
Church and State held intelligence by the
throat The compass had opened the pathway
across the seas, but feudalism had its foot upon
the neck Of commerce. Hopeless ignorance
and helpless poverty were so burdened by caste
and customs, laws and traditions that liberty
lay bound and gagged within iInpregnable
prison walls. But Puritans and Catholics
Buguenots and Lutherans English, Dutch
German, French, Swedes, most of the m fleeing
for liberty to worship God according to the
dictates Of their own cOnsciences, willing to
sacrifice every material advantage and
every earthly prospect for a civil and
religious liberty, and all of them seeking
Columbus to the new world. Here was neither
king nor noble neither caste nor privilege.
With no guide bnt God, and no constitution
but the Bible, they worked out upon this con-
tinent after many hardships and trials and
trfbulations, the problem Of the equality of
all men before the law. The triumph OF the
principles of civil and religious liberty upon
this continent, the beneficial effects of the |
common school, and the universal diffusion of |
education, have done more than all other |
agencies in uplifting mankind toh isher planes |
Of independence and happiness.
Columbus stands deservedly at the head of |
that most useful band of men-the heroic |
cranks in history. The persistent enthusiast |
whom one generation desplses as a lunatic with |
pne idea, succeeding ones often worship as a |
benefactor. The ragged navigator at the.gate |
M the palace of CASTLE and Aragon outranks /