Daily Kennebec journal., 1916-12-23
Maine's Centennial-1920

A Portland paper recently found
that it had grievance and. so think
ing. decided to state it as follows:
Missouri, which was admitted to
the Union as state In 1920, Is pre-
pairing to properly observe the centen-
NAL, and the State Historical Society
has appointed a committee of 1000 to
have general charge of It, Maine and
Missouri were admitted as states at
the same time as q compromise
measure. Maine came into the Union
as a free state and Missouri as a slave
state. The admission Of both of them
at the same time prevented giving the
slavery party two additional votes in
the Senate and did not disturb the
balance of power between the two
parties as It then existed. These two
states therefore have much in COM
mon. although they are unlike in
many ways. Their admission to the
Union Of States followed three years
of conflict in Congress such as never
attended the admission of any other
states. The observance of the centen-
NAL of their admission will attract
nation wide attention. Maine will. OF
course plan some kind of an observ-
exposition large enough to turn the
tide Of travel in our direction. and to
properly advertise our many attrac-
tions and opportunities. 1t is none too
early for the people Of Maine to arouse
themselves and lay their plans for this
event. The incoming Legislature should
make some provision for It,"
&~ <Ia0 at
ton of a public official who has fol-
lowed for years the work of the Legis-
lature He smiled as he read and for
time his remarks followed very closely
the Irishman's description of Gen
y Grants speech-"He made bow and
!. that was all he said." He finally recov-
. ersd and said:
Y "Now II he had only read about. to
Say nothing Of having attended the last
Z legislative session, he would have
i known that other bright men had
thought of the same thing, to the ef-
& feet that the following resolve was
passed.
Az, !" .f{epoived, that committee OF
kteeM w persons be appointed from
E3hia. Legislature, three by the Presl-
aentkpf the Senate and four by the
Her of the House, to be known as
MAINE 1920 Legislative Committee
iose duty shall be to confer with the
Estate board of Trade 1920 Committee
! with the view of devising plan for a
celebration by the State of the 1OOth
I, anniversary of the admission of the
, state of Maine to the Union and the
Booth anniversary of the landing or the
Pilgrims
5 .'Tkis was House Document No. 752.
It went through the usual channel and
without the slightest opposition became
a law, being approved on March rs,
1915 by Governor Curtis.
'sPresident Hcrsey of the Senate ap-
pointed on behalf of the Senate as
members of that committee: George e.
Emery of Sanford; Martin L. Bartlett
ct waterville, and Leslie Boynton OF
Jefferson.
Speaker Trafton of the House ap-
pointed on behalf Of the House as
members Of that committees: Enoch c.
Greenleaf Of Portland; William b.
Bragdon of Westbrook; Leon F. Hig-
gins Of Brewer; S. C.. c. Ward Of Au-
gusta-
1T would seem to be not only fair
but proper to allow these well-known
gentlemen to report to the incoming
Legislature as to progress in the di-
rection Of plans for Names Centenni-
al, before jumping any other action, 1t
would seem to me-although may be
mistaken. I am willing to wait and
from what I have heard the report will
be rather interesting"