Semi-weekly herald., 1911-09-14
AmFRICANISM

Said Governor John A. Dix of New
York, in an address in Richmond, Va,
at the fifth annual International Tax
conference: "Sixty years ago if an
inhabitant Of the United States had
been asked ms to his citizenship he
would have replied, am Virginian,
a New Yorker, citizen of Missouri or
Massachusetts,, as the case might be.
Today his response would be, am
an American" This was true sixty
years ago" of the latitude in which
Governor Dix was speaking at that
motion, but 1t was not true of the
latitude of the region in which he re-
sides. A resident of the Old Domin
ion or of the Carolinas would have
emphasized his particular state in an
swering to the query of his citizen
ship, but the resident of any Of the
old Middle States or of New England
would, in making a response, have
usually ignored his local habitation,
and have mentioned his country in.
stead. Neither "sixty years ago. nor
ever would resident of any of the
Northwestern States have mentioned
his own little parish in such u con-
nection.
II wish to speak today not as a
Massachusetts, man, nor as North
ern man, but as an American" These
were the words, uttered sixty years
ago, by a man whose name travelled
far in the old days, and who always
and everywhere placed his country
first. The man was Daniel Webster,
and the words were the beginning of
the Seventh of March" speech.
Though in that address Webster
talked peace, conciliation, compro-
mise, his words had the broad nation
alistic spirit behind them. They ap-
pcaled equally to the resident of
Maine and of Florida. They were the
words of a man who recognized the
residents of the South and of the
North, of the West and of the East
az his countrymen. A few years later
there was man named John A. Dix
also of New York, in an important
position under the government of the
nation who, in a grave crisis, tele-
graphed to one of his subordinates in
New Orleans, "If any one attempts to
haul down the American flag, shoot
him on the spot" He did not call it
the Louisiana flag or the New York
flag, but the American flag. That
was the nationalistic spirit, which pre-
vailed throughout Governor Dix's To-
cnlity five or six decades ago, as it
does there and all over the country
now. So far as regards one-haf of
the country, the spirit which placed
the nation above the state, and which
made the New Yorker, the Kansas
man and the Vermonter an American
first, is not new.
General Cass of Michigan, secretary
Of state in Buchanan's cabinet, in tell
ing William H. Trescott of South
Carolina the attitude Of some of his
associates in that presidents council,
said: II speak to Howell Cobb and
he tells me he is Georgian; to John
B. Floyd, and he tells me he is
Virginian; to you, and you tell me you
are Carolinian. l am not Michi-
gander. / am citizen of the United
States" The divergence in the atti-
tude of these men, all belonging to
the same party, and all members of
the council of the same president, tell
the story of the difference in view he
tween the average residents of the
North and South half century ago
regarding their relation to the geu-
eral government. Governor Dix should
consult the records of the time before
he talks so confidently about the
change which has come all over the
country in the past five or six decades.
Globe Democrat.