New-York tribune., 1903-03-01
OHIO.

obIo is o hundred years old to-day. her cen
80, orrivarsarv has been set at and cele-
brated on other days than this. For edcn -
+Loro +bors xvare logical and valid arguments
NTovorrhar % last was the hundredth ann1Vel
sary of the Ohio constitution. February 10 ~a'
the anniversary Of the proclamation Oh hel ~
mai admission into the Union. July VIII 10
the anniversary of her stars nrSt appeai "nIo ~,
in the constellation of our nag. To-Day Is tHo
one bundredth anniversary Of the nrst meetIns ~,
of the first State legislature OF ONO at I'M,
cotbe. and it has therefore been wldeiy ne,1
that Il Is Of all the most appropriate oay 10 ~
serve as the natal day OF that COMMON 90
As sncb IT is entitled to national consideration
- e on ironressive thought that this State, the
third n he added to the Union from new terrF
tory in the West, is to-day easily the fourth IN
nonrIat,on in the whole Union, and Is ABOUT
foIr-fftbs as populous as the whole Union was
at fhe date of its admission. OF ali States out
side of the original thirteen only one other can
boast such growth as Ohio.
There is another and even more suggestive
reason for commemorative thought at this Time:
We are about to celebrate the purchase VI
Louisiana, the first IN the series OF our gEed'
acts Of territorial expansion. But it is to De re-
roamhered that Ohio furnished the first sugges-
+ion of EXPANSION and the first opportunity, anu
indeed. made the subsequent expansion neceS-
sorv II WAS toward Ohio that Spotswood, the
first expansionist, least wishfuI eye IrolH
that peak OF the Blue Ridge which was tne
scene of his famous autumn picnic 1t was the
Ohio Company which, under Dinwlddle' Went
in TO occupy the promised land which opOts-
wood had spied from afar. 1t was In aio OF
the Ohio Company, at the headWaters OF the
oh,o River. that Washington fred the musket
changed the map of the world. 1t was the
acouisition of Ohio and the Ohio River that
gave the United States SO vital an interest IN
the control of the Mississippi River, and it was
that interest that made the ultimate acquisition
of the Louisiana Territory essential and inevi-
table. Virginia, through Spotswood and DIN"
widdie and Washington and Clark and Jener-
son, was the mother Of expansion, but the OHIO
Valley was the cradle IN which she rocked ana
nurtwed that Iusty offspring.
In few of the great processes OF history mas
| the law of successive cause and eject been
more obviously operative than in the territorial
/ EXPANSION of the United States. AS Spotswood
said to the British Lords of Trade. the secure
possession of the coast colonies required the
possession of the mountain passes and Of the
land beyond them. In turn, the possession OF
the prairies of Ohio and Kentucky made 1t
necessary that we control the Mississippi. That
again required the acquisition Of Louisiana and
the whole Mississippi Valley. The latter gained,
it was only question Of time when we should
have to press on to the Pacific Coast. Spots
woods Indian guides told him that from the
furthest mountain peak he could see before him
he would be able to see the waters Of Lake
Erie. That was perhaps literally true. 1t was
no less true that with the eye Of prophecy he
saw from the Blue Ridge, through the soft
autumn haze, not only Lake Erie, and not only
the Father of Waters, but the Golden Gate and
broad Pacific That was the vision which be-
gan to be reaiized upon the soil Of Ohio.