Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1899-10-23
PRESIDENT MCKINLEY At
CHICAGO.

menu am glad 20 Join you IN extend
ing a sincere welcome to the distin-
guished sEatesm men and diplomats who
represent the great countries adjoin-
ing US on the south and north. We
are bound to them both by the ties of
mutual good neighborhood. We re
joice in their prosperity and we wish
| them Godspeed in the pathway of
! progress they are so energetieally and
successfully pursuing.
1t is impossible to trace our history
without feeling that the Providence
which was with us in the beginning
has continued to the nation His gra-
cious interpOsition. When. unhappi-
ly, we have been engaged in war, he
has given us the victory. Fortunate
indeed that it can be said we have
had no clash OF arms which has ended
/ in defeat and no responsibility result
ing from war is tainted with di8honor.
In peace we have been signallY
blessed and our progress has gone on
unchecked and ever-increasing in the
Intervening years In boundless
wealth of soil and mine and forest, ma
ture has favored US, while all races Of
men Of every nationality and climate
have contributed their good blood to
make our nation what it is.
From 1925, PA in 1880 our population
has grown to upwards Of 50 100000 in
1890, and our estimated population to-
day made by the governors Of the
States is 1883, 231. We have grown
from Is States to 45. We have an
nexed every variety Of territory.
From the coral reefs and cocoanut
groves of Key West to the icy regions
of northern Alaska-territory skirting
the Atlantic, the Gulf of Mexico, the
Pacific and the Arctic and the islands
of the Pacific and Caribbean sea, and
we have extended still further our
jurisdiction to the far away islands in
the Pacific.
Our territory is more than four times
larger than it was when the treaty OF
peace was signed in 1888. Our indus
trial growth has been even more phe-
nomenal than that of population or
territory. Our wealth estimated in
1890 at S462, 900, 900 has advanced TO
$50, 900, 900, 600.
Education has not been overlooked.
The mental and moral equipment of
the youth upon whom will in the fu-
ture rest the responsibilities Of gov
eminent, have had the unceasing and
generous care Of the State and the
nation. We expended in 1878 in
public education open to all S202, 115,-
548; for secondary education, 1913, 474,
$50, and for higher education for the
same period $50, 3O7, 9O2. TIE number
of pupils enrolled in public schools in
1896 81 was II, 652, 492, or more than 20
per cent. of our population. Is not
this pillar of strength to the repub
lie?
Our national credit, ften tried, has
ever been upheld. 1t has no superior
and no stain. The United States has
never repudiated national obiga
ton, either to its creditors or to
humanity. IL will not now begin TO
do either. 1t never struck blow eX-
cept for civiliz alton and never struck
it's coiors.
Has the republic lost any OF it's
vitality? Has the safe government
principle been weakened? Is there
any present menace to our stability
and duration? These questions bring
but one answer. The republic is stur
der and stronger than ever before.
Government by the people has been
advanced. Freedom under the flag is
more universal than when the Union
was formed. Our steps have been
forward not backward.
Fraternity and union are deeply i'm
bedded in the hearts of TIE American |
people. For half a century before the
civil war disunion was the fear of |
men Of all sections. That word has |
gone out Of the American vocabulary. |
It is spoken now only as a historical !
memory. North, South, East and |
West were never so welded together
and while they may differ about inter-
nal policies, they are all for the Union
and the maintenance Of the integrity
of the flag.
Has patriotism died out in the hearts
of the people? Witness the 25O, 900
men springing to arms and in thirty
days organized into regiments for the
Spanish war and a million more ready
to respond; and the more recent en-
listment of 10000 men, with many
other thousands anxious to enlist but
American heroism declined? The
shattered and sinking fleets of the