The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1912-09-05

seventy per cent. OF the ballots were re-
turned. Wireless received Pa votes; the tele.
phone. lS5; the aeroplane. 1877; radum, 165:
antiseptics and antitoxn. lao; spectrum analy-
sis, 126. and x-ray, Ill, they being thus chosen
the seven greatest modern achievements.
The Panama Canal received 100 votes, anaes-
thesia "a and synthetic chemistry 81.
The phonograph is certainly wonder.
while it furnishes enchanting entertainment
for those now living. The voices of the pres =
ent may be kept in storage for the edification
OF the yet unborn generations. We are today
wondering how it would be possible for science
to make progress in the next 60 years equal to
what has been achieved in the past GO years.
Now if science shall continue to harness cleo
tricity in all its ramifcations and possibilities,
what may we not expect? The most wonder
full events OF the 18th century came upon US
in such rapid succession that we were not
able to comprehend their mighty Significance.
We thought almost a miracle was wrought
when the telegraph was brought into success
full operation. The electric light hung in the
balance for while, but it came, and came to
stay. The tallow dip was laid aside as one of
the landmarks of progress. The automobiles
that now roam over your hills were hardly
dreamed of 60 years ago.
| AS We review the chequered kaleidoscope
of the past 60 years it arouses thoughts of
of the grand possibilities of life. No people
who have lived prior to our time have been
permitted to witness such an aggregation of
scientific developments and geographical dis
covery and all that tends to enlightenment
education and Christianity which in the past
80 years have made strides never before
dreamed of in the worlds history. Science
and Uncle Sam are engaged in an engineering
scheme that is attracting the special attention
of the civilized world. We talk fuently about
the short cut by way of the Panama canal
But when we try to grasp compre- ensive
idea of what has been required in its con-
struction we find ourselves absolutely be-
wlldered. Thirty-fve thousand laborers have
been employed for years. The machinery
consists in part of $50 engines, 100 steam
shovels, 500 steam drills, and 1890 cars The
canal will be operated by electricity and will
have some heavy work to perform. The gates
are feet thick. 65 feet long, from 40 to IS
feet high and weigh from 300 to 600 tons. The
spill or waste water will furnish power to
generate electricity. Twenty-Five hundred
men will be regularly employed in its opera
ton. Picture in your minds eye the grand
leviathans of the deep traversing Uncle Sans
highway from ocean to ocean, IS feet above
sea level. President Roosevelt said This
conquest of peace will in its great and far
reaching effect stand as among the very
greatest conquests, whether of peace or of
war; which have ever been won by any of the
peoples of mankind. And say to you today
it is grand to have lived in the past 60 years
| when the march of progress has been without
parallel in the worlds history"
We are living today not for ourselves alone
but for generations who will follow after we
are gone. He who cannot gather lessons of
profit from the past is unworthy of the time
in which he lives.
The discovery of gold and oil have added
immensely to our wealth, while all the wonder
full and intricate uses of electricity have ami
hilated distance and brought US into close
touch with the everchanging scenes of the
worlds Grand Drama. Having obliterated
sectional lines by the arbitramert of war we
are to day living in the grandest country upon
which the sun ever shone. Happiness is as
sured to every man, woman and child who
reads the bible and practice it's precepts. The
early settler on leaving home took his axe and
spotted the trees as a guide for his RETURN
otherwise he was liable to be in the condition
of Lo, the poor Indian, who when asked if he
was lost replied, Indian not lost; wigwam
lost"
The Old Pine Tree State has during the past
generation been beacon light to the world in
morality, temperance. sobriety and loyalty
to the government. The history of its grand
men is interviewer with the best statesman
ship of the 18th century. The following
names are familiar to the American people:
Longfelow, Dow, Blaine, Hamlin, Hale, Ding
ley, Reed, Frye, the Morrills and Washburns
The following is editorial in the Philadel-
phia Inquirer:
LAST OF THE WASHBURNS.
This country Is not noted for its families
famous for intellectual achievements from
generation to generation. The Adams family
| is generally considered notable exception
but there are others. Former Senator William
ID. Washburn, of Minnesota, is dying, and this
calls to mind that he is the last of seven sons
who have had remarkable careers. These sons
came fire N good old Massachusetts stock, from
the then Maine district, and most of them
went West to achieve fame, although one
stayed at home to be Congressman and Cover
nor and one went to the Pacific Coast, where
he had notable career in public life. At one
one time three of these brothers sat in Con-
gress."
The history of the State will be unique in
having produced the man with indomitabe
courage and scientific knowledge to plant Old
Glory in the ice bound region of the North
Pole. The old political saw is familiar to
every school boy: LAS Maine goes, so goes the
Union" The stumps of the primeval fore st
have but recently decayed on the fields where
your mowers and binders move unrestricted
today.
Sixty years ago immense herds of buffalo
roamed at will over western praires. And
today few are on exhibition as living curos-
tiles. The mighty onward march of progress
respected but lightly the claims of Lo the
poor Indian, who had preempted the broad
acres OF the new country for his hunting
grounds Today find this same Lo, the
poor Indian, on the band wagon of progress
and marching to the music of civilization
| The present generation spared the hard
ship, privation and poorly paid labor of level
ing the prlmeval forests and removing OBJ
structions to the husbandmans plowshare
! Seventy years ago the old spinning and flax
wheel with hand-oom were in common use
and every stitch of clothing was hand and
home made and the smoothing iron was used
as pattern to make the boys cap. AS our
minds revert back for so years and we try to
comprehend what has been achieved in that
time the thought staggersour imagination while
it gives to life in this goth century grandeur
that language is powerless to express I'm
agne, If you can, the stupendous shock to the
human race if it were possible that the wheel
of time should be set back to period of time
60 years in the past. Startling events have
come upon us in such rapid succession we
have been unable to keep abreast of the times,
At General Grants reception in Chicago in
1872 Mark Twain responded to the toast "Uur
Babies" He said: ave haven't all had the good
fortune to be ladies'; We haven't all been gen.
erals or poets or statesmen, but when the toast
works down to babies we stand on common
ground. Among the three or four million
cradles now rocking in the land are some
which this nation would preserve for ages as
sacred things, if we could know which ones
they are. And now in his cradle, somewhere
under the flag, the future llustrious command
erin chief of the American armies is so little
burdened with his approaching grandeurs and
responsibilities as to be giving his whole STRAIT
egic mind at this moment to trying to find out
some way to get his own big toe into his