The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1927-03-31
MARYLAND DAY ADDRESS
DELIVERED HERE SUNDAY
By DIR. Thomas w. Koon, Mayor
Of Cumberland, To Large Au-
dience at Maryland Theatre

first proprietary province and was the
conception of George Calvert, the first
Lord Baltimore. The privileges con-
veyed by the charter were the most
complete ever granted by an English
sovereign to a subject. The prov
ince was entirely self governed, all
laws being made by the people and
needed no confirmation by the King or
parliament. BY an express clause
the King renowned for himself and
his successors forever all right of tax
alton in Maryland.
George Calvert was born about
1880 in Yorkshire, England. In 1891
he obtained the degree of Bachelor
of Arts from Trinity College, Oxford,
England; after his graduation he
broadened his education by extended
travel on the continent Of Europe.
In 1919 he was appointed Secretary of
State for life and became very much
interested in the colonization Of the
new world, until the year 1925 so far
as is known solely on political social
and economic grounds. 1t was his
desire to promote the glory and eX
pansion of the English nation, and
held that position until 1925 at which
time he resigned after a public avow-
al of his conversion to the Catholic
faith, which was more or less at that
time under the ban of the British law,
after that another notion began slow
ly to take shape in his mind. He
would provide not only a refuge in
America for his prosecuted CO.
reHgionist but those of other Chris
tian faith as well. Calvert invited
men of all Christian faith to join with
him and go to the new world. On
June 9, 1647, George Calvert, the
first Governor of Maryland, died,
leaving a memory still dear to Mary
landers. He was a brave, broad
minded man. Maryland's political
and religious history is long and in
teresting, much too long for any such
meeting as this. In 1891 Maryland
coded to the United States the pres
ent District of Columbia to be the
permanent seat of the Federal Gov
eminent.
For nearly two hundred and fifty
years after the discovery of the new
world had been made known to the
nations of the Eastern Hemisphere,
by the great navigator Columbus,
this country lying along the base of
theAlleganies was trackless wilder
ness in its progress from the sea-
shore to the mountain Businesses.
The new corners seemed content to
settle down upon the coast, whence
they could look out upon the expanse
of ocean which separated them from
the ideas and theories they had left
forever when they spread their sails
to the heaven invoked breezes which
We're to watt them to a strange but
prolific world.
For nearly two centuries and a half
had the gorgeous hues of the autumn
tinted these boundless forests ere the
white man came to behold their beau
ties. These mountains and valleys
were peopled by the Red Men, whose
history was dimly preserved in unsub-
stantial legend, and who were destin-
ed to yield their possessions to the
sure encroachments of the Anglo Sax
on intelligence. There is no history,
either written or oral, to enlighten US
than about 1928 of this Western
Maryland. About that time there was
small Indian town at the junction of
two streams, viz, the North branch of
the Potomac River and Wills Creek
with an unpronouncable name. this
was at a point about where Cumber-
land now stands. The first map on
record as to Western Maryland was in
1751, so you can see the slow progress
which was made in the development
Of this Western part of our state,
but year after year the colonists
fought and toiled and suffered and in
creased. Today we tell the history of
our country's life, recount the lofty
deeds of vanished years, the toll, the
suffering, the defeats and victaries of
heroic men, of men who made our ma
:tion great and free. We see the first
ships whose prows were gilded by the
Western sun, we feel the thrill of dis
covery when the new world was
found, we see the oppressed, the serf,
the peasant and the slave, the adven-
turous, the proud, the brave sailing
an unknown sea, seeking a home in
unknown lands. We see the settle
ments, the little clearing, the block
houses and the forts, the rude and
lonely huts. Brave men, true women,
builders of homes fellers of forests,
founders of states, this is our heri-
tage and such was our forefathers.
Separated from the old world, away
from the heartless distinction of
caste, away from sceptres and titles
and crowns, they governed them