Ohio Day at the Jamestown Exposition. 175
thusiastic way which ever distinguishes Southern hosts in re- ceiving their guests. Governor Swanson's remarks, entirely ex- temporaneous, were among the most brilliant and eloquent which the writer has ever heard upon a similar occasion. The Gov- ernor dwelt at some length upon the respective histories of Ohio and Virginia, their ties of relationship, Ohio being practically the first born child of Virginia, and in periods of most glowing rhetoric he pictured the loyalty of the Ohio troops and the Vir- ginia soldiers in the late Civil War, closing with glowing trib- utes to the character and nobility of each of the two great leaders in that war, Grant and Lee. Following Governor Swanson, Governor Harris was intro- duced and responded to Virginia's welcome in the name of Ohio and her people. Governor Harris' address is herewith given, but it is a source of great regret that we are unable to include his splendid introductory remarks or to give a proper idea of the fine spirit of dignity, manliness and Americanism which capti- vated his audience. ADDRESS OF GOVERNOR HARRIS. We are frequently reminded that we are passing through the com- memorative period of our national history. Since we arrived on the |
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prime importance to the event that this exposition commemorates. |
176 Ohio
Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
The men who formed the first permanent
English settlement on this
continent will ever stand forth in bold
outline on the pages of history.
For months, through stormy seas, they
sought the land of promise, and
declared, when they had found it, that
"heaven and earth had never agreed
better to frame a place for man's
habitation." There was much of truth
in the estimate, but the conditions
under which the first settlers began life
in the new world changed this seeming
paradise into a vanishing illusion.
The story of their struggles and
sacrifices at Jamestown, their varied and
romantic relations with the primitive
inhabitants, their heroic suffering
through "the starving time"
and their ultimate success in opening up the
way for the westward course of
Anglo-Saxon civilization will live in
legend and song for all time. It would
be superfluous indeed, to dwell
upon it here. It belongs to the
elementary history of our country.
The introduction of slavery in 1619 and
the institution of represen-
tative government in the same year were
momentous events in our colonial
annals. Under the providence of God, the
former passed away and the
latter became universal in America. The
little legislative assembly in
Jamestown became the forum in which
Patrick Henry bade defiance to
George the Third of England. It later
expanded into the Republic of
today. Modern representative government
began in the Old Dominion.
It is her never-failing tribute to the
nation and the world.
If the greatest gifts of a state are its
illustrious men, Virginia will
ever have valid claim to preeminence. In
later years Ohio has justly
claimed that to her has descended the
honorable title of "mother of
presidents." Of the seven men
elected to that high office in the last 40
years, five were born in Ohio. We have
presidential timber for the
immediate future, and we believe that
the supply will not be exhausted
for at least forty years to come. And
Ohio is proud of the names that
she has given to history; but the
eminence of Virginia is secure. No other
commonwealth can point to a George
Washington, the Father of his
country, or a Thomas Jefferson, the
author of the Declaration of Inde-
pendence and the expounder of the
constitution, or a Patrick Henry, who
made the stirring appeal: "Give me
liberty or give me death!"
In this ter-centennial year, Ohio reads
with special interest and
pride the history of the Old Dominion,
the parent commonwealth of the
Buckeye State. In the French and Indian War, Washington, then a
young colonel, with a commission from
Virginia, rendered distinguished
service in aiding to wrest the Ohio
Valley from the French. In the
Revolution, George Rogers Clark, by his
daring and brilliant expedition,
overthrew the British and secured to
Virginia and, through her, to the
nation, the extensive and fertile
territory beyond the mountains. As
one of your statesmen has well and truly
said: "This man was not acting
in the conquest of the Northwest under
the Continental Congress. He
was not in the service of the United
States. He conducted his own ex-
peditions under a commission from
Patrick Henry, the first American
governor of the Old Dominion. His
soldiers were Virginians, enlisted and
Ohio Day at the Jamestown
Exposition. 177
paid by the State of Virginia-the only
one of all the states that con-
ducted war on her own account and at the
same time joined her sister
colonies in paying attention to her
British brethren."
Our debt of gratitude does not end here.
After Virginia generously
yielded her claims to this vast domain
beyond the Ohio, her maternal
interest did not cease. In framing the
Ordinance of 1787, the magna
charta of liberty in the Northwest, her
early statesmen rendered distin-
guished and salutary service. In that
famous compact occurs this clause
that has figured prominently in our
history:
"There shall be neither slavery nor
involuntary servitude in the said
Territory, otherwise than in the
punishment of crimes whereof the party
shall have been duly convicted."
This section of the Ordinance, with a
slight verbal change, later
became a part of the Constitution and
made liberty universal in America.
While there is still some controversy as
to its authorship, there is no
question in regard to Virginia's
attitude. She gave it her most cordial
support. As the mists that float between
the early and the later days of
our history pass away and we see in clearer
perspective the long line of
events that connect the present and the
past, Ohioans will appreciate more
fully their obligation to the parent
state for the fundamental act that
made the Old Northwest, from the hour of
its organized existence, the
abode of civil and religious liberty.
Nor shall we forget that in later
years when an effort was made to modify
the compact and nullify the
provision for universal freedom, that it
was an eloquent senator from
Virginia, John Randolph of Roanoke, who
came at the head of a Con-
gressional committee to its defense and
declared:
"The rapid population of the State
of Ohio sufficiently evinces that
the labor of slaves is not necessary to
promote the growth and settlement
of that region. * * * The committee deem
it highly dangerous and
inexpedient to impair a provision wisely
calculated to promote the hap-
piness and prosperity of the
northwestern country, and to give strength
and security to that extensive
frontier."
The most cursory review of the relations
of the two states would
be incomplete without references to the
great civil conflict that for a time
separated them and arrayed them in
contending armies. It is gratifying
to realize, however, before a generation
has passed away, while those
who fought on either side are still
living, that we have entered upon a
new era of "more perfect
union" and are today, as never before in our
history, "one and
inseparable." On the graves of the
departed, we lay
the tribute of peace and unity.
No more shall the war cry sever,
Or the winding rivers be red;
They banish our anger forever
When they laurel the graves of our dead!
Vol. XVII. 12.
178 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
Under the sod and the dew,
Waiting the judgment day;
Love and tears for the Blue,
Tears and love for the Gray.
With no bitterness, with pride and
gratitude and love rather, we
recall that what was the Old Dominion
and now is Virginia and Ohio,
gave to history that modest soldier,
that resolute leader, that silent man
or destiny, that "Wellington of
American army," Ulysses S. Grant, and
that it also gave that manly man, that
intrepid soul, that military genius,
that lion-hearted son of chivalry,
Robert E. Lee. At Appomattox, Ohio
and Virginia, incarnate in these two
brave men, brought to an end the
saguinary struggle and arranged the
terms of an enduring peace.
I cannot refrain, in this
connection, from repeating the words of your
eloquent statesman, Senator Daniel:
"And now in contemplating that
subject, the rise, the fall and the
obliteration of slavery, and the
permanent establishment of the Union, it
comes before my mind like the figure of
some slender sapling into whose
side is driven a wedge. When the war
ended that wedge had been with-
drawn. The sides of the young tree
sprang together, the sap formed a new
bark around it and now it rises over us
and for us all, a stately oak
which extends its roots deep down into
the earth and waves its leaves
among the stars of heaven."
And we knew that what the Senator said
was true, when we sud-
denly found ourselves face to face with
the armaments of Spain,--when
we saw the Daniels and the Grants and
the Lees don the blue and take
their places under the flag to do battle
for the American ideals of
humanity, liberty and independence.
With the partiality and filial devotion
of an elder child, we con-
gratulate the parent commonwealth upon
the achievements of the past
and the bright prospect with which she
enters upon a new century.
Nature blessed her with rich gifts, the
extent of which even yet is not fully
realized. What a variety of scene and
soil and climate and products and
resources from the mountains to the sea!
The broken counties of the
west are rich in coal. Iron abounds. The
mineral industries of the state
are still in their infancy. What has
been brought to the surface is most
certainly but a prophecy of the wealth
stowed away in the mountains.
The growing scarcity of timber has
multiplied the value of the forests.
The valleys and arable uplands are
growing, in increasing abundance,
cereal and orchard products. Tobacco is
no longer king. The scepter
has passed to corn. The cultivation of
vegetables and smaller fruits has
made the favored section around us the
garden of the Republic.
The rivers, as they descend in their
swift course to the lowlands and
the sea, are constant sources of power
that is yet to be harnessed for
the service of man. Add to this the coal
fields, and who can measure the
energy that this grand old commonwealth
is to contribute to the produc-
Ohio Day at the Jamestown
Exposition. 179
tive and beneficient agencies of
civilization. In every fiber she feels a thrill
that revives and animates the New South.
The Yankee is coming with his machine.
If in the past he has
been somewhat troublesome at long range,
he will be found a thrifty,
agreeable and useful neighbor. He
appreciates the natural advantages of
the sunny southland. You have here in
close proximity the raw ma-
terials and the power to convert them
into finished products. The appli-
cation of capital and Yankee ingenuity
is yet to light in greater numbers
throughout the state the forge and
furnace fires and set in motion the
"whirling spindles and turning
wheels." Commerce by rail and inland
waters and the sea is to receive a new
impetus. Virginia is to find new
strength in the diversified industries
that have made her daughter, Ohio,
pre-eminent among the states of the
Middle West. And from no other
section in this broad land will come a
more hearty God speed on this
prosperous career than from the loyal
sons and daughters of the Buckeye
State.
In this message of good will from my
state I bear the greeting of
many native Virginians who are now
Ohioans by adoption. It is a fact
that while Ohio today includes in her
population natives from each of the
New England states, and the Atlantic and
Gulf states from North Caro-
lina to Texas, she has a larger number
of Virginian birth than she has
natives from all of those states
combined.
In conclusion, I wish to thank the Ohio
Commissioners for the fidel-
ity with which, under circumstances at
times somewhat discouraging, you
have administered the trust imposed by
the joint-resolution under which
you were appointed. You were early on
the ground. Your promptness
is to be commended. Your exhibits in the
departments of archaeology and
education and agriculture and mines and
other industries are highly
creditable. Your state building is a
faithful copy of historic Adena, the
home of Thomas Worthington, by birth a Virginian,
and by choice and
the favor of his fellow-citizens a
distinguished pioneer statesman of Ohio.
Your memorial is happily chosen and full
of appropriate suggestion.
In the name of Ohio, a "state most
largely composed of territory
ceded to the United States by
Virginia," I wish you and the entire man-
agement a larger measure of patronage
and success through the remaining
days of this "Ter-Centennial
Exposition."
After Governor Harris had concluded his
address Mrs.
Blanche Armstrong Weinschenck, formerly
of Ohio, rendered
the hymn "Lead Kindly Light."
Her sweet tones, wonderful
range and absolute knowledge of her
beautiful art and the
fact that she stood near the bust of
McKinley before which was
a bouquet of his favorite carnations,
brought home to the au-