GREATNESS OF OHIO.

[Address delivered at the Centennial Celebration of the Admission of Ohio into the Federal Union, held under the Auspices of the Ohio Republican Association of Washington City, May 23, 1903.]

BY HON. D. K. WATSON, PRESIDENT OF THE ASSOCIATION.

One hundred years ago a portion of what was known as the Northwest Territory was admitted as a State into the Federal Union. By an act of Congress the people of the future state were to give it a name. Subsequently the name Ohio was selected.

It was the fourth state admitted into the Union since the establishment of the Federal Government on the 4th of March, 1789.

During the present week the people of Ohio have duly celebrated this event, and it is eminently proper for this Association, in this formal way and in the capital of the nation, to recognize the centennial of the admission of its state into the Federal Union. It is the only time in a hundred years such a celebration would have been appropriate, and it will be another hundred years before it will be appropriate again.

In area the state is not large, being less than the average area of the states which constitute the Union and embracing about. twenty-six million acres of land or forty-four thousand square miles of territory, which is subdivided into eighty-eight counties.

Geographically, the location was exceedingly favorable for future development. The great Northwest Territory a hundred years ago was attracting the attention of the nation and the world. Ohio, bounded on the south by the Ohio river and on the north by Lake Erie, constituted the gateway through which the mighty tide of population passed on its western march, and in addition to those who moved there for the purpose of establishing homes, many who had determined to locate farther west were induced by the fertility of her soil, her favorable location, and her bright prospects, to settle and remain within her boundary. From the day when she was admitted as a state she has been a most conspicuous part of the Federal Union.

Her first capital was Chillicothe; her first United States Senators, Thomas Worthington and John Smith; her first representative in Congress, Jeremiah Morrow.

Her first constitution was adopted in 1802, which she was required to adopt before she could be admitted into the Union. Her present constitution was adopted in 1851.

So marvelous had been the progress of the state to the year 1825, that General Lafayette who visited it in that year, said it was "the eighth wonder of the world."

It was not within the wisdom of man at the time Ohio was admitted into the Union to foresee how wonderful was to be her progress and how marvelous was to be her social, religious, educational, political and military influence upon the Republic. Planting herself upon the principles of religious liberty and political freedom, as enunciated in the ordinance for the government of the Northwest Territory, the Bill of Rights in the first constitution provided:

1st. All men are born equally free and independent, and have certain natural, inherent and unalienable rights; amongst which the enjoying and defending life and liberty, acquiring, possessing and protecting property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.

2d. There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in this State, otherwise than for the punishment of crimes, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.

3d. All men have a natural and indefeasible right to worship Almighty God, according to the dictates of conscience; that no human authority can, in any case whatever, control or interfere with the rights of conscience; that no man shall be compelled to attend, erect or support any place of worship, or to maintain any ministry, against his consent; and that no preference shall ever be given, by law, to any religious society or mode of worship, and no religious test shall be required, as a qualification, to any office of trust or profit. But religion, morality and knowledge, being essentially necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of instruction shall forever be encouraged by legislative provision, not inconsistent with the rights of conscience.

Concerning the freedom of the press, the constitution contained the following:

The printing presses shall be open and free to every citizen who wishes to examine the proceedings of any branch of government, or the

conduct of any public officer; and no law shall ever restrain the right thereof. Every citizen has an indisputable right to speak, write or print, upon any subject, as he thinks proper, being liable for the abuse of that liberty. In prosecutions for any publication respecting the official conduct of men in a public capacity, or where the matter published is proper for public information, the truth thereof may always be given in evidence.

On the subject of education, it provided:

That no law shall be passed to prevent the poor in the several counties and townships within this State from an equal participation in the schools, academies, colleges and universities, which are endowed, in whole or in part, from the revenue arising from donations made by the United States, for the support of schools and colleges; and the doors of the said schools, academies and universities, shall be open for the reception of scholars, students and teachers, of every grade, without any distinction or preference whatever, contrary to the intent for which said donations were made.

The result of her wise and liberal course in reference to education may be seen when we recognize that there are to-day in Ohio more colleges than in any state in the Union, and that of her population which numbers more than four millions of people, more than ninety per cent can read and write.

Some conception of her commercial progress may be had when we realize that there are almost twelve thousand miles of railroad within her borders, that each of her eighty-eight counties is traversed by railroads; and that her five largest cities considered in their numerical order are larger than any five cities in their numerical order in any state in the country.

Conspicuous as Ohio has been in every attribute which contributes to the dignity and worth of statehood, her preeminence is more marked by reason of the world-wide fame and influence attained by so many of her distinguished citizens than from any other cause. I have always thought that the union of the thirteen original states into one republic was the world's greatest achievement in the domain of civil or political government, and that it was a great thing for a single state to be a member of the Federal Union. It brings it strength and solidity, and safety in time of but while it is a great thing for a state to be an integral part of the Union, it is a far greater thing to be a presidential state of the Union, a state to which the other states look for

war;

presidents, to have one of her citizens, or one who had been born within her borders, and had become a citizen elsewhere, selected as the representative citizen of the nation. Such is the highest honor a state can achieve. Such a state is Ohio. Counted by this test, she has furnished six presidents of the Republic, or more than one-fourth the whole number of presidents who were elected. By the same test, she has also furnished one-tenth of the present United States Senators, one-twelfth of the members of the present House of Representatives, one-fourth of the Chief Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States, five Associate Justices of that court, sixteen cabinet officers,one chief justice and two associate justices of the Court of Claims, and two chief justices and one associate justice of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia, and one Speaker of the House of Representatives. A little more than fifty years ago five native boys were living in Ohio each of whom became president of the United States. In addition to this array of genius our state has sent forth sons who have become eminent as leaders in other states; for forty years the State of Indiana has been represented and is still being represented in the United States Senate by men born in Ohio, and almost every state in the mighty West is represented in official life by men native of our own state.

But our State has made other conquests in the domain of civil affairs. The history of her judiciary is the history of a long line of eminent judges, many of whom acquired national fame as jurists, while her representatives in Congress have been prominent as orators, financiers and statesmen. Thomas Corwin was probably unsurpassed as a popular orator by any American, while as great debaters in the National House of Representatives, Schenck, Shellabarger, Bingham, Garfield, McKinley, and others I might name, were hardly equaled, and Simpson, a native of the state, was the most eloquent bishop of the republic, and Gunsaulus, another native, is the ablest pulpit orator of the country.

Yet more distinguished have been her sons in the camp, on the march, and in the field of battle. In the War of 1812, though she was young and weak in numbers, she furnished her just proportion of troops, who fought valiently for their flag and country. In the war with Mexico her soldiers were brave

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and gallant and the brilliant Hamer, whose cloquence as an orator had won him national fame and who as a member of Congress had appointed Grant to West Point, met his death in the storming of Monterey. But it was in the great civil war between the states in which she received her greatest renown because of the radiant glory which her sons won in that immortal struggle. The greatest generals of that war were from Ohio. The three who, by the common consent of the world, displayed the greatest military genius and led the armies to the greatest success in that awful struggle, and whose names fill the universe with glory, were her sons. In addition to this, she furnished nineteen major-generals and fifty three brigadier-generals.

men.

Proud as we are of this wonderful record of the sons of our noble state in the conflict for the preservation of the Union, we are equally proud of the fact that her contribution to the rank and file of the army was three hundred and forty thousand Of this number it has been said six thousand five hundred and thirty-six were killed outright in battle; four thousand six hundred and seventy-four were mortally wounded and died in hospitals; thirteen thousand three hundred and fifty-four died of disease contracted in the service; and that eighty-four out of every thousand enlisted men from Ohio lost their lives in the war for the Union. With the exception of those who were taken prisoners at Saratoga and Yorktown, the entire loss in battle of every kind, in both the British and American armies during the war of the Revolution was twenty-one thousand five hundred and twenty-six, being four thousand less than Ohio's loss in the War of the Rebellion.

No wonder it has been said that President Lincoln was accustomed to ask, just before a great battle was to be fought, "How many Ohio soldiers would take part;" and on one occasion when some one inquired why he always asked that question, replied, "Because I know that if there are many Ohio soldiers to be engaged, it is probable we will win the battle, for they can always be relied upon in such an emergency."

Flattering as this record is, it hardly surpasses the contribution which Ohio made to the civil side of that great contest. So conspicuous were her sons in the administration of the