Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1899-06-09

49, ~ AaaAa+N- - HA-h
world, YOUR fathers
lin their hrrechrs Of buckskiu
Aud Jackets Of brown
came down from their mountain homes
aud took part in thnSe ceremonies at
Bennington, from which came the firs,
Str,ak of light la the birthday Of the
nation. At the second birth when
washed of the sin of slavery, the record
which Vermont made is too recent and
too familiar to YOU who made that rec
ord 10 Justify extended comment. The
generations To come will do it Justice.
Ii may. at least, be said that Vermont
can always look the world Squarely ia
the face and say that she did her share.
She not only did this but more. Unlike
many other states which were sadly in
arrears in furnishing mcu Vermont
steadily kept ahead of all calls made
upon her 10y the general government for
troops. aud at the close of the war had
standing to her credit surplus of fiji
teen hundred and thirteen men. The
reason why Vermont did this and did it
SO easily, is because men are one of her
chief products.
Though Vermont cannot boast of a
merchant marine and merchant princes,
nor of
Cities proud, spirc and turret
crowned
Nor of bays and broad armed ports,
Where, laughing at the storm rich
navies ride,
vet, she can boast of men and to spare.
Yes, OF men, a regiment and half of
whom by their inspiring example are do
ing duty in every war which the Repub-
lie shall ever have.
Yes, comrades. Vermont did her
share. She not only furnished more
men than were demanded, but of those
furnished, the lives of better than five
thousand went out in the struggle. More
than her percent of the grand total of
the sacrifice. She also has the proud
distinction of having larger per cent
killed in action than any other state.
But you still survive, though no less than
those who fell YOU event forth to die, -
but that sublime portion was not vouch-
safed unto you. You were still left to
finish the fight and keep the faith in the
weak piping times of peace" unassisted
by the inspiration of great events or
great achievements, except as they be
found in the past.
Perhaps ought hardly to speak OF
the present as the weak, piping time,
OF peace, especially in the face of that
brilliant victory so recently achieved by
a Vermont boy on the other side of tn,
globe, and which brought to us in a
single day. through the fortunes of war
vast possessions of incalculahle value.
But recent as this great event seems il
is already more than year old. and the
brief war out of which it sprang wa,
months ago ended, and treaty of peace
concluded. Does some suggest the pres
ent disturbance in the Philippines as III
compatible with peace? If SO reply il
is no more serious than the average OF
Indian outbreaks on our Western from
tier for the last fifty years, which have
never been considered more than mer,
passing Incidents in our affairs.
am tempted to take a hasty look
through the door opened by Dewey,
guns into the future of the far East
into the new and better civilization
which the Anglo-Saxon race in its cir
cult of the earth shall carry into it.
new possessions there. am tempted tC
present the vision have of the com
merce of this great and growing countr,
with the Orient with the millions q
people who have shut themselves ava,
from the rest of the world for thousands
of years, and are but just beginning t.
trade with other countries and with non,
more readily than the American people
| am tempted to prefgure the mighty
fleet of American vessels hving the
American flag and carrying the product
of the American farm, mine, mill anC
factory, which hundred years from
now shall pillow the proud Pacific. headed
for the far East, and touching for Goa
at Honolulu and Manila; Manila tn,
capital of the Philippines which a hun
dred years from now will be one of tn,
great cities of the earth, and with it
great American depotS and warehouse
will be the distributing point for tn,
vast commerce of America with the ORR
emit | say | am tempted to raise thu
curtain and forecast some of the ia
reaching results of our war with Spain
results that were wholly unforeseen anc
entirely unthought of by the American
people at the inception of the war; a
much SO in fact as the abolition of slav
cry was out of the thought Of the Ameri
can people at the outbreak of the rebel
lion in 1861.
At the beginning of that contest tn,
only question at issue was whether o
not the Union of these states should b,
| preserved Ono or,n,r u-nc ,,,nrs bnl :,