The daily sentinel., 1907-06-10

81 can not express how deeply
touched | am at the action of the
state of Georgia. my mothers state, the
state from which / drew half the
blood in my veins, in erecting as the
Georgia state house at the jamestown
exposition a replica of my grand
mothers house at Roswell, Ga, the
house in which my mother passed
her youth and where she was married
to my father. 1t is an act of grac-
ious courtesy and consideration which
very deeply appreciate; and through
the governor and other representa-
tives of Georgia l desire from my
heart to thank all her citizens. Geo
rgia's history is unique, for she alone
among the original thirteen colon
les and the subsequent states added
thereto. was founded with a con-
scienciously benevolent purpose, with
the deliberate intent to benefit man
kind by upbuilding a commonwealth
along carefully planned lines of So
cial. political and religious liberty and
| justice. Oglethorpe, the founder of
| Georgia was a true apostle of phil
anthropy and of equality of oppor-
tunity for all. His set purpose was
to found a State the gates of which
should be open to the oppressed of
every land and creed, and closed to
every form of political religious. or
Industrial bondage or persecution.
/ His colony welcomed alike those who
fed from political or social tyran-
ny, and those. whether Christian or
Jew, who sought liberty for con-
/ sciences sake. 1t was n high and hon
orable beginning; and l am proud,
indeed, of my Georgia ancestry, and
of the fact that my grandfather
grandfather, Archibald Bulloch. was
the first governor, or as the title then
went President of the new state
when the Continental congress, of
4 which he was also a member, declar-
ed that the Thirteen States had be-
come a new and Independent nation
Since then Georgia has grown at a
rate even more astounding than the
rate of growth of the nation as a
whole; her sons have stood high in
every field of activity. intellectual OF
physical; and rapid though her prog
ress has been in the past it bids fair
to be even greater in the wonder
full new century which has now fair
: ly opened.
Perhaps the very fact that am
half southern and half northern blood
and that for many years / was
brought into peculiarly close associa.
tion with the life of the great west
makes It natural for me to feel with
intensity the strong sense of kinshir
with every portion of our great com
mon country, which should be the
J birthright OF every true American
Since l have been president I have
! visited every state and territory within
, tn borders of the Union, save such as
, can only be reached by sea. l have
travelled from the Atlantic to the Pa
! citic. from the Great Lakes to the
Gulf. l have spoken at country fairs
to colleges. to commercial and bust.
ness organizations. to men of every
creed and parantage. The thing that
has struck me most has been the es-
} sential oneness, the essential unity
of our people.
In the fundamentals I have fount
American citizens to be just aboui
the same everywhere. In whatever
locality of the country we live, what
our fortune or occupation, there ex
!, lists about the same essential gooC
qualities and much the same short
:. comings in any gathering of our cit