The comet. (Johnson City, Tenn.) 1884-1916, 1911-09-21

/ the city, but had upbraided some OF
my Tennessee friends because while
| had been in other parts of Tennes.
see, had never seen anything in the
| way of a monument or memorial to
| that grand man, John Sewer. Gap
plause). And finally enc of them told
me that there was one in the court
house yard in Knoxville, and / took
| time, running the risk of missing my
train, to go and take my hat off before
| that monument to that grand old pic
neer.
| Now, we had pioneers up in the
great northwest; they were brave and
hardy men but their careers all diff
fered from that of John Sewer, which
/ have always thought was one of the
most remarkable careers recorded In
history.
Our pioneers came after the revolu-
ton, and had no share Ia that great
struggle with John Sewer and Rich.
ardson and Shelby and his associates.
They all came after there was an au-
thority under which to come, but
have known of men from other lands
who are familiar with that story ex-
press their deep interest in that first
effort after the great revolution at
commonwealth building in this coun-
try. They not only made homes in
the wilderness, they not emily fought
the savage and the wild beast, they
not only helped to win the battle for
Independence, but they went to work
themselves and established a system
of government on the great principles
for which our ancestors had been con-
tending for thousand years, and they
put them into practical operation.
They did not do it to establish an in
dependent empire, but they went to
seek and establish sister states, and
when North Carolina would pay no
attention to them and had ceded the
land to the government (Which it had
not yet accepted), they got up that
wonderful creation in the midst of the
American continent, that state of
Franklin. (Applause). And having
been all my life, while child by com
pulsion of my good father, student
OF history, have always regarded that
as one of the greatest, one of the most
significant incidents illustrative of the
character of the American people.
But they, down in the middle of the
wilderness, first established homes;
then as homes gathered round the
spirit of patriotism was aroused
What is patriotism? The love of home
Why does man love his native land?
Because somewhere In it was the
house where he was born; the soil on
which his foot trod; his school house
and church, and all the associations
of his childhood; and around that
home there weCe ether homes, and
thus they form the great common.
wealth and they can defy all attempts
at destruction and become the Father
land for which everyone is willing to
live and to die.
Now, after having established their
homes in the wilderness they proceed
ed, just as naturally as the birds build
their nests, or as water flows down
hill, to create government, for we
are the only race left in the world
that is capable of creating work in
that direction; and 1t was very ap-
propriate, having in mind ever since
was invited here the story of that
first and only governor of that unique
state of Franklin, and the first gov
ernor of your great commonwealth,
that should come here from the most
unique assembly think that the world
ever knew-the gathering of all the
governors of the commonwealth of
the United States. /
find great many people that do
not understand what that is-its pur-
pose or its character. Now, the pres
ident invited the governors in 1908 to
come to Washington for conference
on the subject of conservation of nat
ural and national resources, and some
body while they were there fell on the
happy thought that it would be good
idea fer the governors of all of the
states in the union to meet and con-
fer on their own account, and 1t was
proposed that they should do IL the
next, year. and invitations were sent
ont, and the next year in Washington
a large number of the governors gath
cred, and the next year 1t was repeat
ed and this year 1t was repeated
again; the last year in Kentucky and
this year in New jersey, and it has
become undoubtedly permanent in
stitution.
Why do / say 1t is unique? Because,
in the first place, there is no country
in the world that has such officers as
our chief executives, national or state.
Here are 93,000.000 people, all
of them citizens of the states. Now
we talk about being a citizen of the
United States---no one is a citizen of
the United States unless he lives In
the District of Columbia without being
a citizen of one of these states. Each
one of them is settled by all the
strains OF blood which made our peo-
Pile what they are--the Puritan, the
Cavalier, the Irish, the German, the
Weishss Having settled in the wilder
ness they began to find homes and
build up the csmmony ealth under
which they are breathing the love of
liberty. There are In the United
States forty-six, and there will soon be
men who are selected by ]
our process of choice from these great
,ommonwealths to be entrusted with
heir chief authority; to have all the ,
authority that the American people are
willing to give to a chief executive. {
NJ, -, III 49, .