The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1898-08-11
COL. M'CLURE'S REMARKS.
Colonel McClurc's speech concluded
the ceremonies. 1t follows:


Colonel McClurc's speech concluded
the ceremonies. 1t follows:
Citizens of PENNSYLVANIA: | come 10
speak of our commonwealth, an empire
by courtesy called state on this occa-
SION or laying the cornerstone of the
Temple of our Laws. Nearly four score
years ago-on the 31st of May, .Sl9--a like
imposing ceremony was had here in Ii "
ing the Cornerstone of the old capitol, at
which Governor Finley presided Penn
sNlvania was then, as now, the second
state of the Union in population, but tie
contrast OF the grand old commonwealth
OF today with the commonwealth of tour
score years ago, tells a story Of liberal
and enlightened progress that has no
parallel in the history Of any of her sister
states.
There was then not single steamship
on any of the seas of the world There
was not train of cars drawn by a To-
comotivo in any cline. The magnetic tel
egraph was undrcamed of, and even a
quarter of century later Professor
Morse was Stunned as fretting crank by
the lawmakers of the nation. There was
not state west of the Father of Waters
save part of the newly acquired Louisiana
with people largely alien to our lam
Euage, our laws and our interests. Our
present golden Pacific slopes were then
sparsely settled by the semi-barbarian
ana ruled by foreign power. The now
fertile plains between Missouri and the
Rocky Mountains were marked upon our
school maps as the Great American Des-
ert.
lhere was not railway within the lin
lts OF our state or in any other state of
the Union. Water navigation by the con.
struction of canals had just been initiated,
put without any conception of using them
as great arteries of trade. Anthracite coal
was unknown as an article of commerce.
and our vast and only bed of this price
less product was slumbering without even
reasonable prospect of development. Col
legeS were so few as to be regarded as
luXuries beyond the reach of a vast ma
Jorlty of those who sought a classical
education. Our free school system now
the most beneficent in any community IN
the world. was then unthought of, and
the normal school had not come within
the range of the most inventive imagina-
ton. Our population then did not ex-
ceed a million, and the dusky Aborigines
yet remained with their wigwams as
strangers at our gates; and yet Pennsyl-
vania was then, as she has ever been,
foremost in every attribute of the public
ana private progress of the age.
RAPID DEVELOPMENT.
Look at Pennsylvania today. A popu-
lation of nearly six millions is clustered
WITHIN our confines, and there is no other
states or country of like population that
equals us in the average intelligence of
our people and in general thrift and con-
tent, From the first experimental tram
way or railroad constructed in our state
few years after the laying of the cor
ner-stone of the old capitol, we have ad-
Vanced in railways until the rude song of
n hgng fs. 1.
and on every hilltop of the common
wealth and traverses nearly 10000 miles
of track within our borders. Our free
educational system is unapproached by
any other state or country of any cline
We today appropriate annually for the
education OF the youth of the state more
than double the amount of the gross rev.
enueS of four score years ago Cole yes
have been multiplied until every section
of the state is abundantly supplied. The
normal schs)l provides AN ample CORPS
of competent teachers for the publs of
our schools, and the crossroad from the
Delaware to Lake Erie has its free
school for every class, condition and race
The anthracite coal trade that four
score years ago was confined to the occa-
sional adventurous shipping of an ark
from Schuylkill to Philadelphia, has now
grown to over 100000 tons per annum
with value TO the producer of nearly
$40, 900 600.
Nor need we go back to the sanguinary
and long protracted struggle for our in
dependence, to find the grandeSt records
of patriotism for our people. Every Sec
tion of the state now points to its own
| heroes of the war of 1912 and of the MeAi-
can war, and in the great struggle for the
maintenance of the Republic, when rebel
lion struggled through four years Of
bloody warfare to overthrow it, Pennsyl-
vania stands out single and alone IN
! achievemnt, alike in field, in forum and
in civil authority.
PENNSYLVANIA IN WAR.
1t was a Pennsylvania executive who,
when the dark cloud of fraternal war
burst upon us and the hot shot of the
Confederate batteries fell i'm Fort Sum
ter was compelled to speak with official
| authority to define the relations of the
states to each other end to the Federal
government. Then had to be given, on
| the spur of the moment for definite ac-
\ tion and for final arbitTament by
the sword, the solution of an issue that
had veXed the founders of the Republic
and divided its abest statesman for more
than three quarters Of a century, and
those who will turn to the momentous
LContinued on Page IL