Ohio History Journal

132        Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.

 

Mrs. Bishop sang again. Her glorious voice was heard first

in Handel's "I Know That My Redeemer Liveth" and then in

"Comin' Thro' the Rye."

 

"THESE ARE MY JEWELS."

Hon. Emmett Thompkins, Congressman-elect from the 12th

Ohio District (Columbus) delivered an address replete with most

interesting historical and statistical information:

 

"Out of the days devoted to the exposition of the arts and the

products of the two Americas, this one is dedicated to Ohio, in order

that we, her citizens, should have special opportunity to make man-

ifest her worth to others and among ourselves to rejoice over her achieve-

ments and her status, and to hopefully contemplate, and find inspiration

for, the future. Ohio is a great State. One of the greatest of all the

States. That may sound like vanity and boastfulness. It is not. I have

heard many who never lived there, but who knew what they were talking

about, say the same thing. If such others so speak, why should it be

vanity or boastfulness for me to speak as they do? There are many

reasons for this conceded greatness, and reasons readily found and easily

understood.

"Location has had much to do in bringing about her present condi-

tion. It secured for her that sturdy and healthy pioneer population which

was richly capable of laying the civic and industrial foundations of the

commonwealth and the later population, descendant from these pioneers

or admitted from other places, which has builded wisely and well the

superstructure now resting so firmly and gracefully upon these foun-

dations.

"Many of the New Englanders at the close of the Revolution and

the establishment of the Union were content to stop where they were

and seek no further. The trials of the long struggle for independ-

ence had wearried them, and the magnitude of their achievements filled

their cups, so that they neither sought nor desired acquisition of ter-

ritory or change in conditions. Indeed, many of them believed and

urged that when the thirteen Colonies passed into the Union under the

Constitution the ultimate had been attained; that expansion of terri-

tory or migration of the inhabitants to outside fields were neither toler-

ated nor contemplated by the instrument and the spirit of the federation;

that the Appalachian range was the western boundary for all time,

and that whatever lay beyond should be the uninvaded home of the

Indian and the undisturbed lair of the wild beast. In short, they denied

the right and propriety of growth or change. Even to this day there

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are a few choice spirits who appear to think the same way, but hap-

pily for the country, they are growing fewer.

"To the contrary, there were many New Englanders of other

moods, notions and spirit. They looked across the lines marking the

narrow geographical area of the original Union. They were active,

progressive, expansive. They had climbed to the top of the Alleghe-

nies and from this lofty crest beheld the mighty West. They saw the

vast and unexplored forests, the undulating plains, the sweeping rivers,

the plunging waterfalls and curling brooks, the fertile valleys and ore-

filled hills, the changing skies and moving seasons lying between them

and the western line of the continent, and their souls were filled with

ambition and thrilled with hope. These people organized different land

companies, one distinctly known as the Ohio Company, and receiving

large grants at low prices and much encouragement from the general

government, they moved away from Massachusetts, Rhode Island and

Connecticut, sturdy men and women they were, and crossed the moun-

tains, threaded their way through unmarked forests and floated upon

the bosom of great rivers and their tributaries to stop at last within the

territory of what is now the State of Ohio. They stopped because they

had found that which they sought. These New Englanders settled prin-

cipally in the northeastern part and obtained lands which are still called

the "Western Reserve," and others in the southeastern part upon the

shares allotted by the Ohio Company obtained by it from the United

States. About the time of this invasion by the New Englanders,

another movement looking to the formation of Ohio had taken place.

That vast area stretching from Kentucky to the British Possessions had

been ceded by the State of Virginia and constituted what is known as

the "Territory Northwest of the Ohio River." This passed under civil

control in 1788, when Arthur St. Clair was inaugurated governor thereover

and upon this event great interest was aroused and Virginians, who were

always expansionists, left their native heaths and moving to the North-

west peopled the Symmes Purchase and the Virginia Military Survey,

where Chillicothe, our first State capital, is located.

"By these we see that the pioneers of Ohio, the first settlers,

they who laid the sills, who gave form and quality to our common-

wealth, were the sons and daughters of sturdy, conservative and wise

New England, and the sons and daughters of the brave, powerful and

dashing Virginia. Could origin have come from richer or more fruitful

source? Could any territory have been opened and settled by better

stock? Ohio was the chosen ground of these adventurous and progress-

ive pioneers because she lay in their path. The early descendants of

these New Englanders and Virginians, leaving the ancestral cabins and

seeking other fields, in time covered the whole territory, and thus

meeting and mingling they combined the best qualities of the different

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sections. Marriages between them were common, and as a result there

is not a day in the year nor a place in Ohio when and where you can

not find some person whose ancestors upon one side were from New

England and upon the other from Virginia.

"New England and Virginia! The leaders in the American Revo-

lution, the authors of the Declaration of Independence, the vigorous

advocates of the constitutional prohibition of slavery and the establish-

ment of the equality of all men before the law; ambitious, alert, pro-

gressive, wise and patriotic they mingled their blood, brawn and brains

upon the waiting and fecund soil of Ohio.

"The example set by these pioneers became effective and many

others left the East and Southeast to make their homes in the new and

wondrous land. Some, no doubt, had fixed their destination farther,

others no farther, but be that as it might have been, when the immigrant

reached Ohio he was attracted by her inducements, and there he stopped

and pitched his tent. Ohio is and always has been the gateway between

the East and the farther West. All immigrants and travelers passing

from one region to the other cross or touch her borders. The early

emigrant with his yoke of oxen, the later with his horses and "Quaker"

wagon, and the still later riding in the swiftly moving steam-drawn car,

seeking the "land of the setting sun," had to see Ohio, and seeing her

was caught by her charms and lingered with her.

"By reason of our location, so it appears, we have had opportunity

to arrest and hold the immigrant, domestic and foreign, and as a result

our population is composed of the best order of Americans and the best

classes of foreigners and their descendants, and all combine to give us

a citizenship unsurpassed in quality and in character.

"While location has had much to do in bringing about the present

condition of Ohio, there are other reasons to be considered, as supple-

mentary to and co-operative with location, and without which location

would have availed but little, and one is the material richness of the

State. No other like amount of surface in the whole Union contains

such variety of soil, forest and fruit trees, crops and stock, and equal

opportunity for profitable industrial enterprises.

"Old as she is, compared with other States, Ohio still has nearly

3,000,000 acres of timber-land, and among the trees growing thereon

can be found the oak, hickory, beech, poplar, sycamore, ash, chestnut,

cedar, elm and walnut, all sound and useful, and besides, not to more

than mention them, the dogwood, whose blossoms warn the farmer that

corn planting time has come, and the buckeye whose trunk made good

sugar-water troughs and a cradle for the baby in the early days, and

whose nuts furnished the nickname for our State.

"Of fruits there are raised all kinds, except such as grow only

in tropical climates, and if we have many summers like the present I

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Ohio Day at Pan-American Exposition.              135

 

would not be surprised to see plantations of bananas, oranges and cocoa-

nuts growing there. In the year 1899, there were 315,486 acres of apple

trees yielding 11,077,213 bushels; 30,309 acres of peach trees yielding

146,636 bushels, and 3,178 acres of pear trees yielding 73,236 bushels.

In all, 348,973 acres of apple, peach and pear orchards yielding in the

aggregate 11,297,083 bushels of fruit, and 1899 was a bad year, too.

There are not included in the official record the number of acres or the

yield of plums, apricots, cherries and quinces. By the way, and I came

near overlooking them, there are grapes growing in Ohio-all kinds.

In 1899 there were 13,629 acres of vineyards, which produced 31,127,743

pounds of this luscious fruit, out of which 489,060 gallons of wine were

pressed and the balance were consumed by us, the small boy, the birds

and bees and yellow jackets.

"Compared to the sweeping and far-reaching prairies and plains

of the distant West, Ohio can not be called a distinctly farming district,

yet in 1899 out of her 19,471,926 acres owned and taxed, 10,239,866

acres were under cultivation, and 5,849,010 acres in pasture, and the

balance was forest and other land. Upon that acreage which was devoted

to farming and pasture, there were owned in stock and produced in

crops in that year 551,923 horses; 1,253,945 head of cattle and milk

cows; 1,339,113 hogs, and 2,176,716 head of sheep, from which were

clipped 13,017,052 pounds of good wool.

"There were harvested 41,469,703 bushels of wheat; 185,710 bush-

els of rye; 173,206 bushels of buckwheat; 33,296,912 bushels of oats;

751,633 bushels of barley; 1,972,059 tons of hay and 749,225 tons of

clover; and there were dug 9,203,633 bushels of Irish potatoes, and

husked 111,159,200 bushels of corn. There were gathered 94,013 bushels

of sweet potatoes; 669,475 pounds of broom corn (we sweep a good deal),

and 861,809 bushels of odoriferous onions. Of sweets there were not

a few, for there were yielded 250,245 gallons of sorghum molasses:

983,667 gallons of maple syrup, and the busy bees gave us 1,052,616

pounds of honey.

"But these are not all that came from our farms that year, and it

was not a highly productive year, either. The dairies gave us for the

market 40,590,560 gallons of milk; 5,861,896 pounds of butter and

15,293,536 pounds of cheese. How many pounds of butter and cheese

and how many gallons of milk were consumed at home, there is no

method of ascertaining.

"The poultry yards that year presented and had officially recorded

60,376,116 dozen of eggs, and, no doubt, as many dozen escaped the

eye of the statistician. These statements when assembled challenge for a

moment our credulity and stagger the comprehension, but they are true;

and all is not told, because, no doubt, many of the products of the

farm have never been reported.

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136        Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.

 

"Great as are the agricultural and farming interests in Ohio, when

the soil so used is appraised for taxation at $599,678,045, there should

be added for our consideration before we can have an accurate notion of

what the worth of her ground is, the valuation of lots and lands lying

within towns and cities. Such lots and lands are appraised for taxation

at $674,526,676. And do not forget that real estate, as a rule, is

appraised for taxation at but 60 per cent. of its true value. Therefore,

it is fair to assume that the total value of real estate in Ohio in 1900 was

$2,125,672,860. Thus it is seen that mother earth, from whose bosom

we came and to whose eternal embrace we must return, has been won-

drously generous to us and to our neighbors. She is man's best and

most steadfast friend. Let us not abuse or neglect her. Let us cherish

and nourish her virtues, so that everywhere within our borders she shall

wear a golden crown and be clothed in the richest and fruitfullest raiment.

"I trust that figures have not become tiresome. Before we can

comprehend the material wealth of our State it is necessary to consider

them; and to them already given must be annexed a few more, and I

crave your indulgence.

"One of the most important factors in the wealth of a nation or of

a state is the employment of labor. The larger portion of the male popu-

lation of a district is devoted to manual toil. The 'hewers of wood and

carriers of water' constitute, probably, four-fifths of that population,

counting all departments; and it is absolutely essential to the welfare of

the state that these men be engaged in fairly and justly remunerative

work, because when labor is prosperous and contented then, and only

then, all is well. It is to be regretted thatwe have no law compelling

manufacturers to report to the several executive departments of the

government the number of persons employed, their wages, and the

amount of capital invested in their enterprises, together with the pro-

ducts thereof. The statistics at hand for 1900 are such as have been

derived from voluntary reports and by such inspection as our officials

had the time to make. In the year 1899 there were inspected 3,782 shops

and factories, and the factories and shops reporting to the Commissioner

of Labor Statistics were 2,362, employing 149,388 persons, to whom

were paid $67,555,815.29 in wages. The amount invested in these estab-

lishments was $256,453,091, and the value of the goods manufactured

$305,061,085. The steel industries reporting to the same department

were 71, with a capitalization of $17,895,472, employing 21,314 hands,

paying them $12,673,188 in wages and producing $72,708,924 in goods.

This report seems meagre, indeed, when we realize that the chattel

wealth of the State exceeds one billion of dollars, and that in iron alone

there were blasted and sold on the market in one year 13,620,700 tons

of pig iron.

"The coal business cuts an important figure. Of the 88 counties

in the State, 30 are coal producing. In 1899 there were 1,113 mines

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Ohio Day at Pan-American Exposition.              137

 

operated; 28,028 persons employed, price of mining 66 cents per ton,

and 15,908,934 tons of coal were dug from the mines and sold on the

market. There is but one other State in the Union that can equal this

showing.

"Railroading demands notice. Railroads are the great developers

and civilizers. They open the country and carry prosperity and educa-

tion along with passengers and freight. Show me a State with but few

railroads and I will show you one where the people are ignorant and

lazy, and where the thistle and the briar reign undisturbed. But show

me a State with many such roads and I will show you one where the

people are intelligent and thrifty and where the land yields its utmost.

"In the year 1900 there were 87 companies operating steam rail-

roads in the State of Ohio, with 13,254 miles of track therein; with

$306,904,600 of capital stock, paying for that year $6,367,746.04 in

dividends, using equipment costing $573,674,616.86, earning for their

shareholders $86,049,117.88, employing 67,834 persons, distributing in

salaries and wages $37,190,857, and carrying 27,364,106 passengers and

123,639,177 tons of freight, and turned into the public treasury $2,187,232

by way of taxes on property, and $383,218 more by way of exactions for

the mere privilege of doing business therein. All in the State of Ohio

and all in one year.

"Within the last few years a 'new Richmond' has entered the field.

It is the interurban railroad, operated by electricity. In every direction

these lines are reaching out and binding the country with the town, and

town with town, in quick communication. How many miles there are

already constructed I can not tell, because such companies are not yet

under the supervision of the Commissioner of Railroads, but the record

shows that 33 new companies were organized last year with capital aggre-

gating $10,352,000, and more are to follow.

"Banking has an important place. In the year just named we had

259 National banks, with total assets of $62,128,039, and State banks

and Savings societies, with valuation for taxation amounting to

$18,558,494. And it is fair to assume, although there is no way of

finding out exactly, that the deposits in these various banks and private

banks not reported, amounted to a billion dollars.

"So much for the material wealth of Ohio. That wealth which has

form, substance, weight and lasting qualities, but with all these she

would be 'poor as winter' if there was not something besides. That some-

thing can be supplied from social, moral and mental conditions. It

requires the educated mind, good morals and pure social qualities to

get the best out of material things. Have the people of Ohio such minds,

morals and social qualities? 'By their fruits ye shall judge them" "In

the year 1900 there were organized 317 benevolent and other social cor-

porations, and 98 churches, and 22 colleges and libraries. It can not be

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ascertained with exactness how many churches, schools and libraries

there are in Ohio, but they are on every hand. We have four universi-

ties sustained by the public funds, and there must be more than 20 pri-

vate colleges. The school-houses are always in sight, and the State

appropriated $1,764,939 last year for their support, and there is not a

boy or a girl in all Ohio under 16 years of age who is not compelled by

law to go to school, and none so poor that he or she can not have books

and other necessaries, because the State will furnish them when there is

any need.

' 'Thereby abideth faith, hope and charity, but the greatest of

these is charity.' No State is kinder to or more thoughtful of her unfor-

tunates and afflicted than Ohio is. She has seven hospitals where the

sick in mind find care and comfort, and last year she gave $1,504,000

for their support. The deaf mutes, who can not voice their gratitude

nor hear the laughter of their playmates, are not left in ignorance; nor

are the blind from whose minds the glorious shapes and colorings of

the earth are shut out, suffered to remain in total darkness, for Ohio has

erected a noble institution of learning for each of them and appropriated

last year for the support of the former $145,000 and to the latter $85,000,

"To him who bore the heat of battle in his country's cause and is

now old and infirm, his State extends a generous hand and leads him

to a beautiful Soldiers' Home at Sandusky, where with his old com-

rades in arms he can pass his closing days in comfort and in honor.

"Nor are the orphans of such men forgotten, because at Xenia

there has been established a large, comfortable and even magnificent

home for the orphans of soldiers and sailors. Besides these, there are

57 children's homes supported by taxation, and in every county and in

every city there may be found hospitals, nurseries, homes and retreats

for the infirm and the tender. Glorious State, none is more charitable

to and thoughtful of her unhappy ones.

"But these mentioned are not all. There are other sources from

which she draws her greatness. Ohio was organized as a State on the

29th day of November, 1802. She then had a population of 45,365, as

determined by the census of 1800. By the last census this population

had grown to 4,157,545, which is a million more than inhabited all the

colonies when they struck for freedom. This population, mighty as it

is, is tranquil, peaceful, and law-abiding. This condition rests upon the

deep, underlying and all-pervading spirit of patriotism. The love of

country- divine--eternal - which engenders respect for and obedi-

ence to law and public order. It glowed in the embers upon the first

settler's hearth; it was heard in the ring of the ax as the pioneer sunk

it deep in the trunk of the shuddering oak; in the song he sang as he

thrust the plowshare into the teeming earth; in the stories he told when

night shut down, and with his children they sat in the cabin and read

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Ohio Day at Pan-American Exposition.               139

 

each other's faces by the light of the flickering knot; and from him,

fastening itself with unyielding hold upon each generation, through all

the intervening years with their vicissitudes, trials and tests, untarnished

and undiminished and only stronger, purer and sweeter, this spirit of

patriotism has come to us and is with us this day.

"Ohio has sent her sons to every battlefield where the liberty of

men or the relief of the oppressed was at issue. In the great Civil War

where liberty and the Union were at stake, she sent 310,654 volunteers

to the front. These brave sons were at Gettysburg, Vicksburg, the

March to the Sea, at Nashville, at Chattanooga and at every spot where

the stars and stripes fluttered and the cannon thundered. And under

countless heaps of earth, all over the land of the South, by the side of

the weaving pine, beneath the mountain's frowning top, at the riffled

brook, by the lily-covered pond, they are sleeping on and on, waiting for

the final trump which shall marshal them for the Grand Review before

the Throne on High.

"What State in that mighty struggle equalled her in the commanders

furnished? Grant, Sherman, Sheridan, McPherson and the McCooks!

Where can their peers be found? The very sounding of their names

starts the war spirit and urges us to victorious combat. Their fame will

live as long as men inhabit the earth, and their praises will be spoken

wherever tongues articulate.

"In the late War with Spain, where the relief of the oppressed was

all we sought, Ohio paid her full share. Ten regiments marched forth

from the farm, the shop, the store and the office. Some were at Porto

Rico, some at Santiago, and the others chafing under the restraints of

the camp were all anxious to fire a shot. The first fully equipped and

ready for battle volunteer regiment in the United States to reach the

camp of mobilization was the First Ohio Volunteer Infantry, which

pitched its tents at Chickamauga.

"Not in war alone has Ohio acquired fame and honor. Her sons

have left their deep impress in all the higher walks; in oratory, states-

manship, finance, at the bar, in the pulpit, and in art and letters. Who

could surpass the versatile Corwin, the scholarly and magnetic Garfield,

the rugged and convincing Wade, the edifying and classical Cox, when

listening thousands, rapt and eager, broke into echoing applause?

Whence came wiser statesman than Harrison, Hayes, Stanton and

Brough; greater financiers than Chase, Sherman, and the Rockefellers;

greater lawyers than Peter Hitchcock, the elder Ewing, Rufus P. Ran-

ney, Matthews, Swayne and Waite, and greater preachers than Ames

and Simpson? In the presidential chair Ohio has placed the two Harri-

sons, Grant, Hayes, Garfield and McKinley; in the cabinet, Meigs,

McLean, Corwin, Stanberry, Ewing, Taft, Dennison, Stanton, Chase,

Sherman, Foster, Day, Hay, Delano and Cox; on the Supreme bench of

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the United States, Chief Justices Chase and Waite, and Associate Jus-

tices Swayne and Matthews - distinguished all. To art she gave Powers

and his chisel, and to letters, Howell and Reid.

"To-day her sons are dwelling in every clime and every State and

territory in the Nation, sent thither to expend the strength and utilize

the genius drawn from their native soil, and they are doing it. Go

where you may-no matter how remote the spot-there you will find

the Ohio man and find him counting for something. In the Senate of the

United States and in the House of Representatives her sons are found

speaking for other and younger States; in State offices throughout the

West, North and Southwest, Ohio "boys" are filling places of the highest

responsibility, doing honor to themselves and to their native State.

Way over in the Philippines, in our new possessions, with thousands of

leagues on sea and land between him and his home, Ohio's noble son

was, on the 125th anniversary of the Declaratoin of American Independ-

ence, inaugurated as first civil governor of the Archipelago. There in

the Orient, among the oppressed and the ignorant, amid the gloom of

four hundred years of unrelenting tyranny, the torch of enlightenment,

civilization and liberty was raised by the strong, kind and just hand of

William H. Taft, to go down in darkness no more forever.

"To the highest legislative body in the Union now, as in the past,

we make contribution to the ablest, most prominent and most effective

of its membership, from both the leading parties. And with all these,

ample in his strength, whose every artery is filled with romping blood

and every fibre thrilling with vitality; in the noonday of his accom-

plished manhood, trained and well poised, Ohio has given to our coun-

try and to the world, one of the three greatest of all presidents, that

profound statesman, superb soldier and gentle Christian, William

McKinley.

"I have stated some but not all the reasons for Ohio's greatness.

It may be proper to add that her financial integrity has never been ques-

tioned from the days of "wildcat" banking to the gold standard, and her

credit is so good that she can borrow all the money needed at 3 per cent.

Her total State debt is but $450,000, bearing that rate of interest. More

than half of this will be paid next year, and the balance one year later.

So that by this day in 1903 Ohio will not owe one cent. It is fair to

mention another thing. Critics and reviewers say that all Ohio men are

politicians, and say, besides, that politicians are dishonest. They may

be half right. We may be all politicians, but the truth is that while

our State officials receive smaller salaries than are paid in States not

so large or so rich, but one breath of scandal or formal charge of crime

against State officials has ever stained her record in all her life. They

are, have been, and will be honest.

"And now the tale is told, and poorly told. More and better things

could be said and better said. The field is a fruitful one and large.

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Ohio Day at Pan-American Exposition.              141

 

More than a century of civilization and nearly a hundred years of state-

hood make a long stretch of time and offer unaccounted opportunities

for growth and development, and these have not been neglected. 'Tis

a mighty transition from the cabin of the pioneer to the mansion of

the day; and this evolution hath been wrought slowly, steadily, and

securely. The mind leaps the intervening years since the smoke of the

lonely fire curled through the gloomy forest and pauses to contemplate the

wondrous work of time and its generations of men. We proudly pon-

der over what has been accomplished and from the noble fabrics now

erected catch hope and inspiration. Let us go on waxing stronger, richer,

and better; and here and now dedicate our lives and aspirations to the

purpose of filling the years to come with achievements still greater than

those which glorify the present."

 

SENATOR MARCUS A. HANNA.

Senator Marcus A. Hanna was the last speaker and he re-

ceived an ovation. The plaudits that greeted him surpassed the

welcome accorded any other figure of the day. The genial and

good-natured Senator was in "fine feather" and entered most

heartily into the spirit of the occasion. His beaming features ex-

panded in a merry smile as he waited for an opportunity to be

heard. He spoke "off-hand" in his characteristic terse and force-

ful manner.

 

"I presume I would please this audience," said Senator Hanna,

"after Mr. Tompkins's lengthy and able speech, by simply adding bully

for Ohio and let it go at that. (Laughter.) I want to say a word about

this exposition and its practical results, however, even at the expense of

your patience. On behalf of all Ohio, I want to thank the President of

the Pan-American Exposition Company, the Mayor of Buffalo, the citi-

zens who conceived the idea, and the Board of Directors who carried

it out, for making the exposition a success. I was here at the ceremo-

nies on Dedication Day. When I returned to Cleveland, it having been

advertised that I was here, I was asked what I thought of the exposi-

tion. Well, I had been here only one day-only one day, remember-

and I replied that you had a very nice Midway. (Laughter and cheers.)

"My text to-day is 'The Commercial Relations of the American

Continent,' and we must not lose sight of the important, in contempla-

tion of the purely pleasureable. We must not lose sight of the business

side of the exposition, while 'flying the goose.' Coming at a time when

the commercial interests of the American people are becoming awakened

to the needs of the hour, coming at a time when the United States has

first taken its place in the front rank of commercial supremacy, the Pan-

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