Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1893-09-04
MAJOR HARRIS ADDRESS.


West Virginia and Delaware Day at the
| Worlds Fair at Chicago. Major John
w. Harris, of Lewisburg, was one OF
| the orators on that occasion. We take
pleasure In reproducing his remarks In
full:
West Virginia, the child of the storm,
brought into being by the throes OF
civil war, nurtured in infancy amid the
clash of contending arms, but now
grown to q maturity ali the more Wig
orous because OF the buffettings OF
earlier years-West Virginia joins the
procession of sister States and ceie-
brates this day the triumphs OF peace.
Here at this great gathering OF the
nations-here where, for the first time
since the different tribes scattered over
the face of she earth, people OF every
race aud tongue have met to exhibit
the progress each has made in tbs arts
of life-West Virgieia comes to lay It's
offerings on the altar erected to the
brotherhood OF man.
What spectacle for gods and men,
Caucasian, Ethiopian, Malay, Monaghan!
Indian-all the ethnologic branches, In
numerous subdivisions OF the human
race-from the romotest corners OF the
four quarters Of the globe and the iar-
off islands OF the sea, assembled here to
exhibit In generous rivalry the products
OF their industry and skill, the re-
sources which nature has placed al their
command, or the things which Illustrate
their modes OF life.
Centuries of civilization look down
upon the achievements OF some, while
upou Others only the faint rays OF the
dawn have broken. West Virginia, be-
longing neither to the first category
nor the last, modestly assigns herself
with her sister States and makes such
| showing as she can.
But our State is young. As part OF
the mother wealth she was
| dominated by a sentiment not favorable
to her development on those lines which
nature had pointed out as the paths OF
progress she should pursue. When the
royal Governor, Spottswood, led his gay
cavaliers on that romantic journey
whose ultimate limits included only a
passage Of the Blue Ridge, the frown-
| ing barriers of the Alleg henies which
rose before them In the west, marked
| the borders Of an Ultima Thule which
none OF them cared TO enter. They,
| and their descendants long afterwards,
priced more highly the golded horse
| shoes, distributed as mementoes OF their
adventurous ride, than they did their
| discovery of the baser ore which put
into blast the first iron furnace erected
on the soil OF America. The black dia-
monds which cropped out on the surface
west OF the Appalachian chain would
| have seemed of even less Importance,
| had they penetrated so far. The trap
pings of royalty, the refnements OF col
onal courts, the possession or broad
| acres Of alluvial and upland soil, with
| black slaves TO till them, were more
consonant with their tastes and inclina-
tions than the harder life necessary for
the development Of the stores OF wealth
which lay west Of the mountains.
Cavalier traditions could not, how
ever, stife the spirit OF liberty which
glowed in the AngIo-Saxon breasts Of
the Virginia colonists; and Patrick
Henry and George Mason, Madison,
jefferson, the Lees, and greatest OF all,
the peerless Washington, encircled the
name of the Old Dominion with an aur-
cole of glory, which will illume her
name and brighten the world as long as
| time shall last; but In material affairs
| the love Of the Virginian was the Eng
| lish love Of the soil, and though he may
not have despIsed, down even to the
war he failed to recognize the possibili-
| ties OF mine, forest and manufacture In
which lay the destlnies Of large part
Of the ancient Commonwealth.
The indifference OF the colonial period
extended far down into the lifetime Of
the State. Western Virginia lay neg
lected aad ignored. A few mud pixies
| finally traversed its mountains, but
down to the war the solitary railroad
with which foreign capital had skirted
! IT'S northern border left its richest pos
sessions in unbrOken solitude, while the
lowing herds of her thousand hills were
| driven TO Eastern markets afoot.
! Dlyerslties between East and West OF
inclination and pursuit naturally led TO
arrangement; antagonism grew apace,
differing policies spurred the energies
and directed the actions OF her public
men; and finally inclination waited
only upon opportunity for separation.
The war came-.the opportunity pre-
sented itself, and West Virginia sprung
into existence as separate State, free
to pursue its manifest destiny upon
those lines WHICH the Divine Creator
had traced with unerring hand.
With the subsistence of the passions
Of war we found ourselves at last a
/ l. vuff hn IN
! hopes, the same aspirations, the same
unitarian tendencies. No traditions
controlled the bent Of our genius except
| the traditional love Of freedom-a love
which first OF all, and intensest of all,
| found its best expression in the motto
emblazoned upon our shield "MOntdni
Semper Ltbert." Noble inscription, in
deed, would that be for medallion of
! Liberty, whose other face should bear
| the figure OF the fallen tyrant and the
"Sic Semper TVrdnniS" Of the mother
State!
With State autonomy our population
| increases; tue blessings OF education were
! carried into every hamlet and noun
tain home; poor as we were Industries
sprung up on every hand; our forests
were penetrated and their wealth dis
closed; the great reservoirs OF light and
heat hid away In the bowels of the earth
were called upon to yield up their treas
ures; and to-day, with. modest pride in
our success, bearing 10 our hands, as
emblems of peace and good will speci-
mems Of our almost untouched wealth,
we come to this great Exposition Of the
Nations TO show what place we occupy
10 the civilization OF the age and what
| contributions we can make TO the COM
fort and happiness Of man.
But the commercial or Industrial idea