ADDRESS BY GOVERNOR A. V. DONAHEY
At the annual meeting of the Ohio State
Archaeo-
logical and Historical Society the
audience was favored
by the presence and encouraging words
of Governor
A. V. Donahey. A most cordial reception
was accorded
to the Governor and he responded with
the following
address:
Governor Campbell, Ladies and
Gentlemen:
I came here this afternoon to loan my
presence for a
few minutes and to say that I am deeply
interested in the
archaeological and historical work of
our state. I might say
that when I served as auditor of state I
always aided this
organization in every way I could,
believing, as I did, that the
work you are leaving to posterity will
be most valuable. I have
often thought that no public official is
fully qualified, and no
citizen is fit to exercise the power of
voting, until he or she
has studied the past.
You have here a great collection. Ohio
far excels many
states of our union in its collection of
antiquities. I remember
visiting Minnesota, in company with Dr.
Thompson and other
educators, a few years ago. I
investigated that feature there
and found that Ohio can well be proud of
its work in that line
and of the splendid work done by this
Society in the past.
When I moved into the Governor's mansion
I found there
a number of splendid bookcases, built
into that home, but I
found that save about twenty volumes
dealing with history we
had little in that line. We did not have
even a set of the re-
ports of the Ohio State Archaeological
and Historical Society.
I would like to suggest that a set of
those reports be sent to
the mansion and placed there, as a part
of its library. I want
to assure you that the set I have in
private life I have taken
great pleasure in reading.
I remember when I became auditor of
state I wanted to
know what other auditors of state had
said. I struggled with
reports covering fifty or sixty years,
and finally I came across
a report that stood out -- the report of
old John Brough, after-
wards Governor of Ohio. His report shows
that he under-
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628 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications stood affairs of state. He presented his report in a splendid manner. Being further interested in this great statesman I looked into the annuals of your Society, and I found there two articles on John Brough, as Governor and as Auditor of State. The more I studied that character the more I realized that he was one of the outstanding statesmen of our state. His |
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record as Governor stands along with that of our friend here [Governor Campbell]. Yesterday a prominent citizen of Cleve- land visited me, and I said to him, "Do you know that John Brough lies buried in Cleveland?" He said, "I do not." There are probably not five dozen among the citizens of Cleveland who know that John Brough's body lies there. |
Address by Governor A. V. Donahey 629 I want to say that as long as I am Governor of Ohio, and always as a private citizen of Ohio, I shall be interested in your work in every possible way. I believe that this Society is doing a splendid work, and there is ever more work to do. I want you to command me, either in public or private life, whenever I can be of service to this organization. [Applause]. |
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