Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1905-09-14

the war until the South became exhaust
| Ell was necessary to have the extirpation
| OF curse two centuries old. Mistakes
ana msfortunes have their part in the
| Divine economy as well as wisdom and
| success. At any rate we arc bound to
| accept events, and we are equally bound
to draw the correct lesson from them
| The philosophy of history is that wrongs
| and plumbers arc not TO be rcpca tod
| however much they may have contrib
| utcd to greater result than was down
| in the programme. So far MS man Is
concerned they are Just as incxcusablc
as though victory had not been won in
| spite of them or greater victory because
Of them.
1t is pleasant now to turn from the
| mistakes to the achievements. Before
the war our nationality was not com
pletc, or ut least it was not complet ely
Recognized. The war caves us what Sen
ator Fdmunds fclicitiously called IAN
indivishlc union of indestructiblc states"
| Before the war we had no national cur
r"ncy and every effort to establish ono
| had been opposed and broken down. Tho
! circulating notes of our best banks could
| be passed only ut a discount so miles
! from home, and the banks broke so often
! that the people were subject to heavy
! losses. The war gave MS national cur
roncy. the notes of which were taken
| everywhere, and no man has lost u
| dollar by tho failure Of the banks which
! issued them. For Is years before the war
| there had been tariff which was de-
! Signed to favor tho South. which dis
eliminated against domestic nlanufac-
lures that were then chiefly in the North.
| and yielded such insufficient revenue
that the national credit suffered and it
was Impossible to place small ISSUE
| Of six per cent. bonds without n discount
of twelve and onc-half per cent The
war brought "A tariff policy which re-
served these results, under which our
| country became the first nation in ncri-
culture, in mining and in manufactures,
and Its two per cent. bonds bear pre-
| rlium In all markets Of tho world.
| We had acquired an empire on the
Pacific coast. but it was separated from
tho rest of the country by long chains
of great mountains. or by tho necessity
of circumnavigating "A continent, and
as many Of the inhabitants of that dis
tant region had gone there from the
South. there was danger of further
disintopration. should tho South pre-
vail. Tho war brought us our first
Pacific railroad. Now there are six and
our Pacific coast states arc fastened
to the heart Of tho nation by more than
hooks of steel. VIM. IT. seward, the IL
lustrous statesman who guided our in
ternational relations during the war.
soon added imperishahle honor 70 mis-
name by the purchase of Alaska,
which has already surpassed the most
golden dreams Of that day as a pro-
Queer of wealth. and whose possibili-
ties are as yet but little more than
scratched
When tho veterans of tho war. the
average Of whose ages was but %
years returned to civil life. Industries
of all kinds began to spring forward
by leaps and bounds. They had
changed climates. they had endured
hardshps and privations, they had
faced death. and they were not afraid.
They focked to the homestead lands
freely granted by the government. and
the prairies from the Mississ pri to
the Colorado were converted into cities
and gardens. We had less than 10000
miles of railroad when the war ended;
We have more than 100000 miles to-
day. our population was then but
$4,000, 900; now 1T is moro than 10000
900. \ nation which could not endure
slavery, soon ceased to tolerate poly
Gamy. And though we Nermontcrs are
Obliged to admit that the prophet who
founded the system under which it
grew was horn in this state. we just
ly boast that so also was tn. statesman
who framed the law under which 1t is
being gradually cxtcrminatcd. our
soldiers who had carried NOR" think
ing bayoncts than any army had ever
carried before. founded free public
schools wherever they went in the com
quest of peace which followed the CON
quest of war and the States which
they founded arc the moral and intel
lcctual peers of those that were found
cd by the Pilgrims and tho Puritans.
Paradoxical as it may seem, by suf-
fcrng defeat the South achieved it's
greatest success. II got quit of slav-
cry and it's soldiers returned with their
honor and with the best wishes of the
North. Moreover their poverty COM
PEELED them to work. ana out OF the
rock which the rod of necessity smote |
there has flown golden stream of
prosperity and reconciliation. Prcsi- |
dent Harrison oloqucntly said: Mill |
fires were lighted at the funeral pile |
of slavery. The emancipation procla-
nation was heard in tho depths of the |
earth, as we'll as in the sky. Men |
were made free and material things |
became our better servants" Rail |
roads ana manufactures. mining and |
diversified agriculture, have more than |
restored the waste of war. The old |
distorted economy. which could see |
across the ocean better than II could |
see across the Potomac and the Ohio |
now takes n rational view of the great |
home market and rcncws youth and |
life and hope by facing tho future md |
letting the past rccedc. We loved our
southern countrymcn so well that we
refused to lot them go. At longth they
love us so well that they have no de-
sire to go. y few weeks since Mr..
Jordan of Columbus, Ga, who was "A
soldier and is ono of the
largest manufacturers in tho South
said to mo in Atlanta. Il have no use
for those who dwell in tho past. / face
the future Whatever may have been
our regrets, now we all rejoice that
we belong to this great, magnificent
United states happy day That
we have lived to sec the triumph of
our arms so far completed by the re-
of our foes. the prosperity
of their homes and the conquest of