The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1895-11-20
SPEECH OF GOV. HASTINGS.
Delivered at the Atlanta Exposition
Thursday--Pennsylvania Day.
Ladies and Gentlemen.

This is Pennsy vania day i'm Atlanta
and the Cotton States and Information
al Exposition. We are here by you
invitation and we find on all sides tn,
evidence of your hearty welcome anC
your well known hospitality.
Pennsylvania comes to Georgia to
day to renew her sentiments of gooC
will, and to reaiiirm that spirit of com
ity and fraternity which should always
exist between sister States.
Georgia and Pennsylvania, two grea
sovereign States, to-day meet in fra
ternal association; they offer in friend
ly rivalry the products of their native
resources, wealth and development.
Their State flags to-day are inter
twined in hearty good will, and above
them both waves in peace and in glory
the beloved emblem of our common
country.
In our journey here we passed
through rich and historic States, but
we have crossed no sectional lines.
They have been obliterated. They
should never have marred the map OF
the United States.
We have seen, as we have never seen
before, the new South, not i'm bud or
blossom, but i'm that full and radiant
bloom whose fragrance permeates the
whole land.
There is much of similarity in the
two States united in these ceremonies;
similarity in the hills and valleys; in
the fertility of the soil; i'm the abund-
anee of their crops; in their stores of
mineral wealth; and value of interna-
tional commerce; in their ''mountains
that point to the heavens, and the riv-
ers that run to the sea-"
The early settlements of both States
was composed largely of the same peo-
pie. Much of your population in early
days came from Pennsylvania, al
though many of them, after leaving
the Cumberland Valley, may have stop
ped for a generation or two i'm Virgin
ia, the Carolinas, or other States, be-
fore reaching Georgia.
In the struggle for freedom Pennsyl
vania and Georgia stood side by side.
Georgia's representatives came 10
Philadelphia to take council with the
patriots. Their names, with those of
ours, are signed TO the Declaration of
Independence. With us they heard
the first defiant ring of freedom from
yonder Liberty Bell. Your Georgia
patriots fought side by side with those
of the Pennsylvania Line at Saratoga
and at Monmouth. They stood at
Pennsylvania side and crimsoned
Pennsylvania soil at Brandywine
and Germantown. They went dow n
into the gloom of despair with Wash
ington at Valley Forge, and they were
with the conquering hosts at York
town.
proclaim to you that the patriotic
heart of Pennsylvania beats rs warmly
and as steadfastly for Georgia AMI her
sister States to-day as when they first
united to found government upon
the rock of freedom.
Your great exposition gives to the
world abounding proof of your indus
try, your business expansion, and your
surprising growth and development.
Every day with you during the term
of this exposition is Georgia day. In
your welcome to the several States and
TO the great organization representing
the patriotism and material wealth of
the country and i'm your welcome to
the representatives of other countries,
SO much is your time occupied that
Pennsylvania, with the others, can be
accorded only single day, and by
your leave, would improve the occa-
sion to tell you something of our State,
something of her relations to the Ma
ton; the part she bore in the forma-
tive period, her growth and develop
ment; her relations to the emergencies
and struggles through which we have
survived; ahd the development of the
great natural wealth planted by the
Almighty in her hills and valleys; the
moral and mental advancement of her
people, and to the relations which she
proudly claims to bear to all the peO-
pie.
The history of Pennsylvania is a
part of that of our common country.
On every page may be seen the Key
stone State identified with every move
ment for its development and upbuild-
ing.
In 1858, before our ancestors had
covered themselves from the weather,
and while William Penn, our great
founder, was still young man,
school for the education of children
was opened in Philadelphia. This
was the first free school in the Western
Hemisphere. Within four years from
the time our ancestors landed in
Penn's woods, a printing press had
been successfully working in Pennsyl-
vania. The first newspaper was pub
lished in the province of Penn in l7l9
by Andrew Bradford and was called
The american Weekly Mercury. In
176o there were five weekly papers pub
lished in the province. There were
more books printed in Pennsylvania
prior to the Revolution than in all the
other colonies together. The first
general hospital in this country was
founded in Pennsylvania in l76l, and
in the same year the University of
Pennsylvania, the pride of our Com
monwealth, was established. The
first medical college in America was
founded in Pennsylvania. Education
was advanced by the first public libra
~ in the land. And in this connec-
ton call your attention to the fact
that recently private citizen of our
State voluntarily contributed, of his
own means, the sum of S5,OOO,OOO for
free libraries for the use of our people.
The first vessel propelled by steam for
the transportation of passengers and
freight sailed from Philadelphia. The
first experimental railway was operat-
ed, and the first insurance company
organized in Pennsylvania. Pennsyl-
, vania erected the earliest institutions
for the care of the insane. the blind
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