The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-07-06
Secretary John Hay the Orator
Of the Day.
BIG CROWD PRESENT.
Included Many Who Cast Ballots
for the "Pathfinder."
Grand Army Uniforms, Clutches
and Silver Locks Conspicuous.

party under the oaks this city. July
6, 1854. 1t was here on that date that
the first state convention acting under
the name of Republicans was held.
The state ticket nominated on that
date went through a heated campaign
to election day success.
Secretary of State John Hay, who
was private secretary to Abraham Lin
coin, the first Republican president, was
the orator of the day. Other distin-
guished guests present were Speaker
| Canon of the national house of repre-
sentatives, Senator c. w. Fairbanks of
Indiana, Republican candidate for vice
president and United States Senator
r. A. ALDER and ]. Burrows of Michi-
gan.
The city is hung with bunting and
band concerts on the main streets pre-
! coded the arrival of Secretary Hay and
Senator Fairbanks with a company of
! train from Detroit Speaker Cannon
arrived last night. At the morning ex-
ercises at LOOMS park, Mayor Todd
delivered a hearty welcome and Cover
nor Aaron T. Bliss, briefly responded.
Attorney General Charles A. Blair, of
Jackson, then read an able paper on
| the history of the Republican party.
| Thomas J. O'Brien of Grand. pids,
the next speaker, was introduced as one
of the participants in the original 'un-
der the oaks convention of 1854. Mr..
his subject, THE history of the Repub-
lican party in Michigan
An interesting feature of the exer-
cises was body of Fremont voters
and men who cast their ballots for the
Pathfinder" for whom a thousand
prominent seats had bee reserved.
Grand Army uniforms, crutches and sill
vered locks were conspicuous among
them and the rapt attention of these
charter Republicans were notable.
When the morning exercises at the
grove we've concluded, the distinguish
ed guests were down to the Hotel Otse-
go where they were rendered a recep
ton. Then there was a half hours
interruption of the days programme
for luncheon. In the afternoon the
programme at the grove was resumed
A tremendous audience was present
when Senator ]. c. Burrows of Michi-
gan introduced Secretary of State
John Hay. the orator of the afternoon
who said:
Secretary Hays Address.
A century is but a moment of his
tory: it has often happened that sew
eral of them have passed away, since
men began to record their deeds, with
little change in the physical aspect or
the moral progress of the world But
at other times-of intense action and
spiritual awakening-a single genera
ton may form an epoch; and few
periods of equal duration in political
annals have been so crowded with
great events as the fifty years we cele-
brate today. Under the oaks of Jack
son on the 9Th of July, 1854, a party
was brought into being and baptized,
which ever since has answered the
purposes of its existence with fewer
follies and failures and more magnl-
ficent achievements than ordinarily
fall to the lot of any institution of
mortal origin. And even the begin
ming of the end is not yet. This his
toric party is only now in the full
maturity of its power and its capacity
for good. We look back upon past
of unparalleled usefulness and glory
with emotions of thankfulness and
pride; we confront the future and its
exacting problems with a confidence
born of the experience of difficulties
surmounted and triumphs achieved in
paths more thorny and ways more ar
duous than any that are likely to
challenge the courage and the con-
science of the generation which is to
follow us. 1t is meet that at this
stage of our journey we should re- |
view the past and read it's lessons, |
and in it's light take heart for what
lies beyond
The Republican party had a noble
origin. 1t sprang directly from an
aroused and indignant national con-
science. Questions of finance. of po- !
litical economy, of orderly admins |
tration, passed out OF sight for the
moment, to be taken up and dealt with
later on. But in 1864 the question I
that brought the thinking men to-
gether was whether there should be
a, limit TO the aRSTeSS1OnS OF slavery
and in 1861 that solemn inquiry turned |
to one still more pretentous. Should |
the nation live or die? The humblest
old Republican in America has the |
right to be proud that in the days of
his youth in the presence of these
momentous questions he judged right; |
and if he is sleeping in his honored |
grave his children may justly be glad |
of his decision.
! have no right to detain you at this
hour in recounting the history of those
memorable days. Two incidents of the |
long battle will never be forgotten. [
One was the possession of Kansas.
carried on with desperate courage and |
reckleSsneSS of consequences by the
on the other, by the New England
farmers whose weapons of aggression
were Bible texts and the words of JEFF
ferson, and whose arms of defense
were Sharpe's rifles. With words that
ring even now when we read them,
like the clashing of swords, the slave
state men claimed Kansas as their
right and the free state men replied
in the words of the prophet before
Herod, 1t is not lawful for you to have
her. And when the talking sharp
ened to the physical clinch, the pray
ing men fought with the same fero-
city as the men who cursed. In the
field of political discussion the most
dramatic incident of the fight was the
debate between Lincoln and Douglas
Not many of you saw that battle of
the strong, where each of the gladi-
ators had an adversary worthy of his
steel. where the audiences were equal
" divided. where the combatants were
fairly matched in debating skill and |
address. and where the superiority of
Lincoln was not so much personal as
it was in the overwhelming strength
of his position. He was fighting for
freedom and could say so; Douglas
was fighting for slavery and could not
avow it. The result of the contest is
now seen to have been inevitable
Douglas was reelected to the senate
but had gained. also the resentful sus-i