Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1910-05-30
GOVERNOR SPEAKS
ON MEMORIAL DAY
At HIS BIRTHPLACE
Tendency Is to Curtail Liberty's
Privileges to a Few
He Says. i.

PEMBERTON, May 30.-Burlington
county's largest celebration of Memo
rial Day was held here and was made
prominent by reason of the presence OF
Governor John Franklin Fort. The
Governor lived here as a youth, ana
he was cordially welcomed by his fell
low townsmen. In his Decoration Day
address the State Executive said in
part:
Before referring to the day or its
exercises, l want. with your consent,
to talk a little of the past.
"T~hirty-six years g the fourth of
this month 1 left Pemberton as a
young man of % to a my home in
the city of Newark. Here my ancestors
had lived for almost two centuries.
Here all my boyhood days Except
while away a few years at SCHOOL, had
been spent. Here were practically all
my associates and friends. Around this
spot there clusters all that Is embraced
in the word home and all the affection
that goes with 1t. Those memories still
linger and that affection still abides.
did you ever ask yourself why 1t is
that so many country boys who go to
the city for their life work succeed?
To me the answer Is quite easy. First,
they have an exalted idea of the re-
quirements of the city; they think the
city demands greater exertion on their
part to advance, n they work as a
boy brought up in the city does not
think 1t necessary to work. Second,
they lake with them their closest
knowledge of human nature and their
firm belief in the common brotherhood
~ ThirH thaxy Pool thafr hoIp1aoo-
ness in the new and different sur
roundings, and they strive to make it
up by zeal and activity. Fourth, they
have the physical endowment which
the days of youth have given them, m
a healthy body has much to do with
the development of men in mental
pursuits. Fifth, they have learned not
only to labor, but to wait.
During these past years l have
many times wondered what caused this
section of the country, then called New
Mills, to be settled three centuries ago.
isolated as it was then.
"In those days, trade and ommerce
followed the navigable rivers into the
interior. Newark was on the Passaic,
Gloucester. one of the first settlements
in south Jersey, was on the Delaware,
as was also Buragton. Greenwich was
on the Cohansey which was an arm of
the Delaware. Elizabeth was on the
Arthur XIII, and Hackensack on the
Hackepsack. New Mills was twenty
five miles from any navigable stream.
Somerville n its environs was another
inland point, like Pemberton, to be set
tied very early. Possibly New Mills.
your former name, may suggest the
answer. The water-power here may
49, ---I Dz--st, 49, fort1fty
Of the soil had to do with 1t.
"When ! was a boy there was in my
fathers home the original grant fo~
our homestead. 1t bore the seal Of
Queen Anne and is now over 200 years
old It covered about 600 acres.
Even at that early period there was a
large settlement here. No historian has
told us why they came. The water
power and character Of the soil. coupled
with it's isolation. which permitted the
worship Of God with freedom, probably
were the chief causes.
Zone thing Is sure, this place was
always noted for the fervor of the re-
ligious belief of its people, and was
one of the first to establish a church
for the society called Methodists. Here
Captain and Bishop Asbury preached
more thar 1870 years ago. Just the char
acter of the religious services before
that l do not know. Probably Friends
and Baptists.
There has never been a time when
the flag stood for more than 1t does to-
day, nor has there ever been a time
when there was greater need of declar-
ing that fact. We have a liberty which
the fathers who pioneered this country.
and Of whom I have been speaking,
gave us. They gave It to us clean and
free for all to enjoy or equal terms.
1.-THE tendency in our day is to cur
tail this equal enjoyment, at least, to
limit its special privileges to a few. No
greater need to take ~reckonings and to
get some Of the simplicity and disin-
terested love of liberty Of the fathers
into public affairs. The future of the
country depends upon the yeomanry OF
the republic; upon the average citi-
zen who stands only for public good as
contradistinguished from s~elfishness
and personal gain. To inculcate a love
for the flag is to insure greater devo-
ton to the nation"