Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1901-02-23
EVENT At A[G0NA.
Washington Celebration Under
the Auspices Of the Local
6. A. r.
A. B. Cummins. Of Des Moines.
Delivers the Principal Ad.
dress.-T The Text.
Greatest Service Of Washington
Was His Part in Formulating
Constitution.

llngton at banquet given unoef the
auspices OF the G.. A. r. post here last
|night.
He said in part:
Mr.. Commander. Members of the
Grand Army of the Republic. of the Re-
| lief Corps, Ladies and Gentlemen: Since.
1 received your invitation have
thought much of the promise and sig
niticance of your annual reunion. have,
attempted to impress upon my mind the
lrecollections which the time naturally
awakens. but the effort to discover the
fitting phrase to express the thought
has been constantly interrupted by the
presence of a picture, which came. and
came again, in one form and in one
form only. see soldier of the war
of the rebellion, old and gray; over his
heart there is aslittle bronze button, and
he kneels in homage to the memory of
the Father of His Country. What a
subject for the painter, he poet and the
orator. The origin, the growth. the
peril, the salvation of the republic are.
all there. George Washington and
Abraham Lincoln-the world has known.
none other so strong and good and
great. Lexington and Fort Sumter-the
| beginnings of the most stuperdousl
i events of the eighteenth and nineteenth
centuries. Yorktown and Appomattox-
| the most sublime victories ever achieved
/ by the force OF arms. And all the bait
! tlefields that lie between Lexington and
/ Yorktown and between Fort Sumter and
4 Appomattox crowd the mind and fill the
heart With their glowing memories And
the gradual evolution of the govern
linent. from the moment 1t was1aunched
| IN 1872 until II received its final baptism.
| in 1860. And all the titanic struggles of
the great men who carried us thru the
! first era of the republic and it's marvel
GUS growth until the sun, rising from
one ocean, gave us good morning. and
sinking in another. gave us good right
1T is my purpose to recall this eve
I ming a single page in the history of
George westinghouse page that, in
l5reckoning his great services to his
iicountry, is not infrequently passed oyer
with slight regard, and yet it is a page
which, in my Judgment, records the
most enduring benefactOn that he ever,
bestowed upon grateful people.
The years between the close Of the
| revolutionary war and the adoption of
the constitution We're full of perils more
smenacing to free Institutions. more fatal
! to good government. more dangerous to
commerce and more destructive of pros-
,perity than were ever threatened III
4 British supremacy or presented by Brit
ish armies The existence of the war. the
common and natural impulse to united
| ly confront a foreign foe had preserved
some semblance of unity among the coll
onies until the English flag no longer
fioated In our air. but the moment we
/ turned from the oppression of the moth
Ter country and entered upon the paths
4 of peace the weak inefficient and pitia-
BILE character of the articles of confed-
Grafton became at once manifest AS a
\ system of government the confedera-
! tion neither had nor deserverd respect.
! 1T could neither exercise power nor I'M
dertake responsibilities. The colonies,
rapidly became foreign to each other.
land We're filled with distrust, jealousy
and envy. Trade languished. commerce
Disappeared, treasures were emptied.
acrimonious disputes filled the land.
tdiscontent was everywhere despair was
fast creeping intothe hearts of men and
chaos seemed almost attained.
n this extremity, however, there
was one man clothed with the conf
dence of thu people. There was one
man toward whom the shafts of suspi-
1 cion We're not directed There was one
man whose Eame and fame were raised
above the discordant waves that dashed
the shores of the young republic from
Massachusetts to Carolina. That man
was George Washington, and in. this SUI
preme moment of his country's danger.
when her future huhg upon thread so
frail that 1t often seemed to HAYS been
broken in twain, he originated the
movement which brought together the
convention of 1857. the immortal con-
/ vention which produced the constitution
of the United States No other man
could have done il, and IL it had not
been done the day of the republ would
never have dawned. The high position
which we have attained would never
j have been attained. and the azure field
! of Old. Glory would never nave plazed
;! with single star. BY what force he
controlled the turbulent factions cf the
i Maynard colonies. even so faras 20 per-
/ nit the calling of the convention we
cannot know. 1t came, however, from
the inspired greatness of the man.
When he called, men listened. When he
/ implored. men yielded. When he com
i manded, men obeyed. The moment that
saw Washington installed as president
of the convention In the old Independ-
ence Hall in Philadelphia, in the spring
of 1887, witnessed a more fateful VIC
tory for him than ever crowned his
courage on the field of battle The brave
and suffering armies of the revolution
Il had simply repeated the sublime spec
tacle which for centuries had been ex-
hibited to the ewes of mankind Thev