Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1898-02-01
honest Democracy. that confidence shall

never be betrayed
When Mayor Post arose to respond to
the toast he was greeted Win Leafen-
ing applause which lasted $. yeral min
uses. It was an ovation.
The committee on arrangements made
a happy selection when it requested Mr..
X. y thickford to prNnource an euloey
on Odd Virginia" The orator had a
theme that suited him and never did the
Moth,r State receive a noee eloquent
tribute in SO short Teried. IT never
reallzed wtat poor things words are
said Mr.. Bickfurd. until / attempted
to speak the thoughts that swell my
BOSOM tonight. simply say Virginia.
(Appla1see
After brte, fly reviewing the eayty his
tory of the State, In, which he said that
when the cclonists left England, thew
prought all t.s culture. but left behind
the limitations of the farhsrs, Mr..
3Biekford ieSidced that Virginia was
,, alsisyai 70 the Rotheriseuntry so5
iolls6 as she was not glaviously opurSsss
ed. ". W IL cG3 Ch srles the II was a King
| NrftEou ut q KIN dom Virginia offered to
the exEad Charles the Kingdom OF the!
old dominion. The blacklist tyranny
sometime distilled the purest lib rty, for
wathout George the al Patrick Henry
might hnve remained a brialiante but an
'.bfent country lawyer; George Mason.
tn peerless lawyer would have been
stagnated; Jenersor's opinions would
NOT nave been written, and Washing
ton, the Cfncinnatis of the west. might
nave gone to swell and not to stay the
| British power. That great triumvirataa
rose To- resent an insulted peoples
rights. Afr referring TO the States
past Mr.. Bickfard spoke of the future.
We haW7 been told" he said, that
there' lis grain OF gold in every ton of
water: The way to get the gold is
p.oush taat water with the keels OF our
oattleshtps and in the swell b hind them
WIFI t5Ilow our enerchentmsn La. some
sections of Virginia the anvil is silent.
and. as in years PAST. men look, d for
news from Newport, 50 thy will look
FOR news from Newport now Virginia!
May the God of the nation bless her
Attorney G. Ayfett Ashby followed
ME- Bickford. responding to the toast.
Inc Amerlcus Democratic Club"
Mr.. Ashby said in part:
1T has been said by a saoient old
philosopher. and the correctness of the
| maxim has been proved by experience
nat man Is the architect of his own
fortunes
1t seems in laying the found alton OF
my own mortal house I was wise IN at
| seast one regard. All mankind is Gre
ated to bore or to be bored. And while
no reflection is meant on the gentlemen
VINO nave and will yet speak tonight
yet the saying is true one, For some
years or my life belonged to the la tier
class and was always among the list
aners, but as though guided by some
| Kind hand made an assignment Of
my previous vocation of gathering po-
| tato bugs and thinning corn, and upon
the streets of Newport News there an
| peared an humble Single announcing
that all or those who wished free trans
portation to Richmond and board and
| clothes at the expense of the State
| Soutd fnd in me willing and able
helper. Almost since that moment T
| been c rod t,, t,},a r,
and now wreak vengeance upon a suf-
tfering humanity, for the days when I
had to Sit and listen to the deliberations
NJ snulit iciana and speech makers.
he AmericuS Club is a Link in a
chain OF historical progression worthy
Reconsideration LIN days of old, as we
are told, when men We're bold, a party
left the old country to come over and
SETTLE the new land Which one C. CO.
| umbus had discovered a few years
previous. They sailed across the bril-
ney deep and with lack of Judgment
and foresight, they failed to Land at
| Newport News, but passed on up the
James river and landed at jamestown.
Soon the woods of the new country
| disappeared as though moved by magic.
! and where the Indian pushed his birch
| canoe and war dances and scalping
bees We're the order of the day. Old
Virginia appeared. Upon this State
our country placed her then feeble feet
and by the aid and counsel OF old Vir-
| ginia's famous sons reared her head
until today the flag of our country
| floats With solemn and defiant majesty
above the heads of over sixty million
devoted and free American citizens.
But though Virginia and our country
were both IN existence something was
! still hacking. Old glory wanted. Again
| Virginia put her shoulder to the wheel
land the land re-echoed With responsive
\ appsSeIa tlon as she gave to our country
land to ~ -Mc>Id one of the finest OF
aavens. through whose waters the fleets
of the universe might pass and repass.
land they carried our produce to all
parts of'the earth. Upon the shores of
| this eSpAnse of water There appeared
4 city, the rapidity of whose growth
has caused wonder and ania1ement
Around this Virginia basin the city of
Newport News sprang up-a city which
| 1llS the veins of Virginia with new and
|inNigorating blood. Newport News, by
fner industries and workshops makes
Uncle Sam feel that security when
comes only from known and tried ia
lcilities and causes the old boy to shake
his fist at even England ana say ny
| the eternals if Newport News eontin-
ues to make me a navy as she is doing
now, your title of mistress Of the seas
will n;0t come across the herring pond
AS we look upon the footprints in
the sands of time it is betting that We
should gather inspiration and profit
from the experience of days which have
passed, when we would begin the new
year which now opens before us with
resolutions and determine tons picked
from the lines which have failan in
sunny places. I'VE should scrutinize old
records. Heretofore our policy has
been conservative; our aims what they
should be; our leaders all that we could
ask. and as the beginning Of a new
year is the time when main resolves
Let's determine THAT the Anericus
Democratic club shall be always guild
| I'd by pilots whose hands are steady
land whose charts are true. We shall
set our compass to the old north star of
! Democracy, and though Mark Hanna
may scatter abroad his filthy lucre, our
markets. be closed by an infamous tar
| # bill and the expansion OF our cur
| rency checked by those who have we
will never vary from the oft trod path Of
ltrIe a11d tried Democracy, under whose
colors Thomas Jefferson stood as the
hero of our early days, and the tip OF
| Did Htckry's sword inscribed his name
forever upon the rolls of American hon
] or, and the eloquent and mighty Will