St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1890-10-30
Obe Californian
!. John-bury, Thursday, Oct. 30, 1890
OUR YOUNG SENATOR.
Hon. J. 5. MorriII's Remarks to
Vermont legislature, Oct. za.


Mr.. Speaker and Members of the
Vermont Legislature: The favor
which has been shown to me, not
only recently but always by the Yer
mont Legislature, is profoundly APP
preciated. My term of service, by
its extension, will have been made
conspicuous, and | wish that my re-
sources were equal to an adequate
return for so marked a distinction.
You will not expect me at this time
to give an account of my steward
ship, as YOU now only want the wit
of brevity, and when it occurs to me
that the extension of my term may
have been based not so much upon
the record of the past as upon what
isexpected in the future, have much
fear that YOU have overeStlma ted
the natural force of on octogenarian.
To divine Providence / am grateful
for a fair measure of health, and
therefore may promise, SO long as |
may continue in public service, fair
measure of industry and a heartfelt
solicitude for the prosperity of Yer
mont, as well as for that of our
whole country. My past services,
however accounted, have been the
best | could offer and l hope not al
together valueleSs. To my faults,
Vermonters have ever been a little
blind, as they have not had, so far
as | know, a quarrel with me at any
point for thirtv-six years, and with
the recent eliminating honor con-
ferred by the Legislature it would
seem rather stupid on my part to
seek a quarrel If the Legislature
can stand it, | shall try to do SO.
Therefore the further duties assigned
to me will be accepted, though not
unmindful of the grave responsibility
to be assumed, or of the labor i'm
posed upon me. 1t will not be ex
pected of me, however, to do SO much
that nothing will be left to be done
by the boys.
do not wish to conceal the fact
that the abiding favor of the people
of Vermont has made my public ser
vice exceptionally pleasant, and |
have not become Disguised with it,
though often feeling that my brief
remainder of life might be aPpropri
atelv devoted to leisure and social
enjoyment with my friends and fam
lily. Those who grow weary of pub
lie service cannot fail to remember
that designations are alwaysin order
and seldom unwelcome. Some of
my dearest friends have attempted
to attune my ears to the dOleful an
nouncement that they intend to give
me the chance of an exit while in
harness, but let me say to them that
i have no present eagerneSS for an
early exit and am not ambitious to
be buried at the public expense. To
have preserved the confidence and
favor of the people of Vermont, re-
nowned for their good sense and
sterling integrity, through one whole
generation, with a continuance into
the next, is much more than | could
have anticipated or claimed, and |
lack words to express the full sense
of my obligations. 1t comes to me
almost like the final judgment of
posterity, which, it is said, no man
can ever know. The chief merit |
have, however, is one common here
to all, that l have ever believed Yer
mont was not only good state to
be born in but the best state to live
In, and | have a robust faith it will
so continue forever.
must be conducted practically by
great parties, and we are left free to
ally ourselves to that party with
whose patriotism, principles, meas
ures and men we can on the whole
most sincerely agree. | remember
that Stephen A. Douglass, an honored
son of Vermont, used to say that the
democratic party would go down
the road to ruin if it were not for the
wing party which now and then
would put on the brake.
So now, though it may seem griev-
Gus to republicans for the moment,
the democratic party in Vermont is
striving to be useful by getting
power enough to put on a brake. If
they can teach us a more excellent
way, let us show that we are not
too old to learn. The constant fric-
ton of parties is apt to rub out
shams, and let me add, if all candi-
dates for official stations were to re-
ceive an undivided vote, 1t could not
fail to initiate their vanity; but demo-
Gratis, though in a minority, have as
much right as the most radical re-
publicanS to demand that the duties
of public servants shall be so dis
charged as to bring no discredit upon
the state.
If have made little history myself,
atleast l have lived in historic times,
or through the era of border ruffian
invasion of Kansas, through the
days of Lincoln, Grant and the great
captains in the War of the Rebellion,
through the dis1nay of Bull Run and
the glories of Gettysburg and APP
omattox, through the disasters of
a tariff for revenue only to the prac-
teal and unimpeachable prosperity
of a protective tariff, through the
great careers of Senators COllamore,
Foot, Seward, Sumner, Fessenden,
Grimes, Chandler, Hale, Morton,
COnkling, Douglas, Cass and Crit
tenden, and, finally, until the new
birth of the nation with its over sixty
millions of people in 1890, instead of
twenty-six millions in 1854, and
with a Union of forty-four states, in
stead of thirty-One. The labor and
responsibility in the conduct of all
branches of the public service stead
lily grows and expands with the
marvellous annual growth of the
country, and its territorial magni-
tude is far beyond that proudly de-
scribed by Cyrus to XenOphon when
he said: My fathers empire is so
large that people perish with cold at
one extremity while they are suf-
located with heat at the other" To
become even tolerably familiar
with the wants and many require
ments of a country so broad, of a
people so vast in numbers and so
energetic and busy with the worlds