USA > Indiana > The Indiana centennial, 1916; a record of the celebration of the one hundredth anniversary of Indiana's admission to statehood > Part 30
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APPENDIX CENTENNIAL ADDRESSES BY GOVERNOR SAMUEL M. RALSTON
(In addition to the Centennial addresses of Governor Ralston given at Corydon and at the Admission Day exercises which are included in the reports of these occasions, it is deemed proper in making as full a report as possible of the Centennial year to include the other Centennial addresses of the Governor, which are here grouped together. While the first address was delivered in 1915, yet it was in reality an address embodying a review of the state's development and calling attention to the approaching Centennial celebration.)
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ADDRESS OF GOVERNOR SAMUEL M. RALSTON AT THE PANAMA-PACIFIC EXPOSITION ON INDIANA DAY, JUNE 26, 1915
The Panama-Pacific Exposition marks an epoch in civiliza- tion. Not because it is a great World's Fair. There have been other record-breaking World's Fairs. But this event is epochal because the event behind it, the event it celebrates, is epochal-the construction of the Panama Canal. The world of commerce, and science and art-the world of civilization- has recognized that accomplishment as one of the colossal achievements of the human race.
Indiana, occupying as she does a proud position midway between the two great oceans-an imperial domain in the very heart of the continent-has her share in the proper American pride in America's most stupendous enterprise.
And, as Indiana is proud of the achievement lying back of it, so she is proud to have an honored part in this inspiring event-this offspring of the greater event. In speaking for my State on this particular day, I have no disposition to close my eyes to the brilliant chapter she has written in the his- tory of our country. She has not only achieved well for her- self, but she has wrought mightily for the nation of which she is a part.
SOME INDIANA ACHIEVEMENTS
The factors figuring most conspicuously in Indiana's his- tory and enabling her to make contributions to society, have been her natural advantages and the character of her citizens and of her institutions. In size, she is the thirty-fifth State of the Union, but the gifts bestowed upon her out of the lavish hand of Nature rank her among the first. While she has none of the precious metals, she has long attracted attention as a mineral producing and manufacturing, as well as an agricul- tural State. As a coal producing State, she ranks sixth. Last year the output of her coal mines was valued at $17,500,000. In stone production, she ranks fifth, with an output last year valued at $5,000,000. Her building stone finds a market in every civilized country. City halls and state capitols; royal
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homes and kingly palaces are constructed of it. Last year, her clay and clay products were valued at $8,500,000; from her own shale and limestone, she made and marketed 10,000,000 barrels of cement, valued at $10,000,000; her pe- troleum made almost a million barrels, valued at $1,250,000, and her lime output was valued at $350,000.
It is doubtful if any State in the Union excels our own In- diana in transportation facilities. Eight thousand miles of steam railroads, not including sidings, and two thousand miles of electric roads stretch across her surface. If this mileage were to cover the State in equidistant parallel lines from east to west, a traveler through Indiana from north to south would be expected to "stop, look and listen" about every three miles for an approaching train or car. Indianapolis, her capi- tal city, is the greatest interurban or electric traction road center in the world, and for a long time was also the greatest steam railroad center.
But all our transportation does not have to be carried on by rail. White river, the Wabash river, and the Ohio river, and our lake fronts afford us practically a thousand miles of waterway. In this connection, it is well to note that the four big dams the United States government is constructing on the Ohio-at Markland, Evans' Landing, Tobinsport, and Evansville-will connect us the year round by a nine-foot deep waterway with the Mississippi river.
Travelers tell us our wide-stretched plains and fertile soil; our landscapes overarched by blue skies and decorated by islands of forest ; and our beautiful region of lakes, are unsur- passed for restful and quiet beauty by anything they have seen abroad; while in other sections of the State Nature's rugged charm reminds them of Switzerland's grander scenery. There are no manifestations of nature in Indiana that are awe-inspiring, but here Nature's voice and beauty are eloquent of Nature's God and of his love and compassion for the chil- dren of men.
INDIANA'S PIONEERS
To this State, with these natural advantages and with pos- sibilities yet greater than these, our fathers came in search of homes. They came down from the hill slopes and up out of the valleys of Kentucky; from the plateaus of Tennessee; across the mountains from Virginia; up from the Caro-
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linas, and down the Ohio from Pennsylvania and the seaboard States. They came in search of wider liberty and larger op- portunities. Many of them had fought for their country's freedom in the Revolutionary war and took up land granted to them as war bounties. Hither they traveled in frail boats, rudely constructed wagons, and primitive ox carts; and their journey to their new homes, through a virgin forest and a trackless country, was under conditions that severely tested their patience, strength and endurance.
These early settlers of Indiana-our parents and grand- parents-were hardy, frugal and industrious. They were a rugged race and the strenuosity they had to assert in locat- ing themselves anew only better qualified them for the sturdy citizenship so essential to the proper development of a new community ; and for that matter, so indispensable to a healthy and progressive civilization.
Often the suffering endured and the heroism displayed in these forest exploits-in subduing wild nature and wild men -surpassed anything witnessed on the field of battle. In civilized war, there are nurses to care for the sick and wounded, and the sense of duty and discipline and the excite- ment of the engagements to urge the soldier forward. But a man and his wife, with their little family almost foodless, clotheless and penniless, burying all alone a child of their affection in the heart of the primitive forest, have little cheer or inspiration to urge them forward. They are wont to linger by the new-made grave, until, wounded in heart and broken in spirit, they are compelled to turn their backs upon this sacred spot to pursue their way to the little log homestead, to plod on wearily, in the midst of the silent forest that ever reminds them of the silent grave of their little one. Who, by any eloquence of speech, can tell of the suffering they en- dured and the heroism they displayed?
Home building in the new country-in Indiana, as in other States-was epoch-making. It was the planting of the seed for the civilization that was to follow. It was the building of the log cabin in the woods by one generation, that a later generation might enjoy the palace on the boulevard. It was the endurance by the farmer of the howling of the wolf and the screaming of the panther at the cabin door, that we might enjoy the strains of the orchestra in the park.
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We hear much of the strenuous life in these days, and yet neither the builder of a modern city nor the ruler of a State, displays the physical strenuosity our pioneer fathers and mothers did, in erecting their cabins and clearing their garden patches and bringing under their dominion enough of the earth to produce a few bushels of wheat and corn. Theirs also was the strenuous life. And we have made our progress by standing upon their shoulders. Much of our strength and capacity we have inherited from their virtues. What they felt and what they believed, they transmitted to their institu- tions and to us. They made it possible for us, their children, to participate in this world event, and cold, indeed, would be our hearts, if we could not pause long enough, amid the sounding of trumpets and the glare and dazzle of this occa- sion, to pay respect to their memory and acknowledge in rev- erence our obligations to them. Macaulay spoke prophetically when he said:
A people which takes no pride in the noble achievements of their ancestors will never achieve anything worthy to be remembered with pride by their remote descendants.
ORDINANCE OF 1787
The territory within the boundaries of Indiana was orig- inally, as you know, a part of the Northwest Territory, out of which five great States were afterwards carved. Over this domain the scepters of kings once held sway, but ultimately they were succeeded by republican institutions under Virginia, which State by the marvelous Ordinance of 1787, dedicated it to the nation. I characterize this ordinance as a marvelous instrument of government advisedly. Of it, Daniel Webster said :
I doubt whether one single law of any lawgiver, ancient or modern, has produced effects of more distinct, marked and lasting character than the Ordinance of 1787.
It is well to remember the words of Webster, in our search for the source of the ideals of those who builded our State for us.
The Ordinance of 1787 provided a form of government for the Northwest Territory that will serve as a model as long as free government lasts.
It guaranteed to the Territory free soil. It specifically
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stated that "neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except in punishment of crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall ever exist in said Territory."
It respected liberty of conscience. It specifically set forth that "no person demeaning himself in an orderly manner shall ever be disturbed or molested on account of his mode of wor- ship or religious belief."
It set a high value on education. It specifically declared that "Religion, morality and knowledge, being essential to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall be forever encouraged."
It guaranteed civil liberty by providing for "free speech, free press, free assembly, free petition, free trial by jury and for the writ of habeas corpus."
In addition to these fundamental principles of free gov- ernment, from which we should seek instruction and inspira- tion in these times of feverish excitement, this Ordinance took cognizance of the fact that material progress could not long be made, nor society long held together in peace, in the ab- sence of a proper regard for property rights; and so it stipu- lated against the impairment of contract; and that conviction of crime should not work corruption of blood nor forfeiture of estate.
It repudiated primogeniture, feudalism's relic of tyranny, that gave to the elder son the whole of his father's lands and houses to the exclusion of his other children and made it im- possible for nine-tenths of the people ever to have an interest in landed estates.
If it be asked whether these settlers of Indiana had a proper appreciation of the manifold advantages afforded them in their new home, I submit these words of one of the pio- neers as an answer to the question :
Lying directly across the track for all time of all the great artificial improvements that can be made connecting the East and the great Pacific, over the valley of the Mississippi; coupled with the fact that she is so highly favored in climate, soil, mineral, wood, water, and rock, we can see that Indiana combines all the elements of a great and growing State.
If it be asked, if our forefathers had a proper apprecia- tion of the principles and ideals embodied in the Ordinance of 1787, let me answer that these principles were set forth
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in Indiana's first Constitution, adopted in 1816; and as to whether or not these ideals played a part in the lives of In- diana's pioneers, I cite the fact that in Indiana's first Consti- tution there was to be found most humane provisions for the treatment of the criminal. Imprisonment for debt was in- hibited after the accused had surrendered his property. The penal code was to be founded on the principles of reformation, and not vindictive justice; and the legislature was charged with the duty of providing sufficient land, whereon those per- sons who, by reason of age, infirmity or other misfortunes have a claim upon society, may have employment and proper com- fort and in the language of that instrument, "lose by their usefulness the degrading sense of dependence."
Yes; these old settlers caught the ideals suggested by the great Ordinance, for in their first Constitution they also said :
It shall be the duty of the General Assembly as soon as circum- stances will permit, to provide by law for a general system of educa- tion, ascending in regular gradation from township schools to a State University, wherein tuition shall be gratis, and equally open to all.
Thus, it is seen that those who gave us the State we love, set for those following them an example which the citizen- ship of Indiana has always striven to emulate. While the early settlers, favoring common schools, did not make much headway for many years in the development of the state's educational facilities, on account of the difficulties they en- countered in making a living and in overcoming opposition to free schools, nevertheless, by the time she was a third of a century old, Indiana had succeeded in constructing a fine free school system. Her schools are, in truth, the source of her greatest strength. They develop her moral fibre, as well as train the mind, and without moral fibre the State is without enduring foundation. Across the threshold of the free school all pupils pass upon a level. The public school is a leveler, but it levels up and not down. It is a sort of a melting pot, by means of which the best there is in a pupil is gotten out of him and under conditions whereby all those sharing the melting process will derive advantages not otherwise possible for them to get. The boy and girl who have not attended the common schools are handicapped; for they will never know how to interpret accurately that ever present and constantly assertive thing we call the life of the common people. That
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life, like human progress everywhere, does not always move at the same speed. At times it seems to hesitate and appar- ently to slumber. Again, when the people are moved to great earnestness, its smooth surface is broken into a thousand forms, like the waves of the sea in a storm. And it is this indefinable something, for the want of a better name, we call the spirit of progress, or civilization. This upheaval of soci- ety becomes regulated and crystallizes into a demand. This demand must be analyzed and understood by the successful individual; and the boy who touches elbows with his com- panions in the common schools will in the end, in a majority of instances, have the clearest comprehension of these prob- lems, because he is in touch with the life of the common peo- ple. Such a youth, upon attaining the stature of manhood, will have a better understanding of the people's needs. He will sympathize more keenly with their demands, and with proper poise and without subserviency he can act more wisely in the part he plays in their government.
Indiana has long been widely reputed for her public school system and the high efficiency of her schools. They are con- stantly enriching society with a well-equipped citizenship. They have reduced the state's illiteracy until it now represents but six-tenths of one per cent of those ranging between the ages of ten and twenty years. Our schools are conducted on the theory that our State is secure just in the degree she rests on a patriotic and intelligent democracy.
EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION
Anyone who will take the pains to make the examination, will discover the State has shown in recent years a progressive spirit and materially strengthened her school system, by pro- viding uniform text-books; by requiring medical inspection and sanitary school buildings and playgrounds; by making fire drills compulsory ; by enacting a teachers' minimum wage law; by passing a compulsory education law; by the creation of the office of high school inspector; by creating consolidated schools, centrally located, with necessary equipment, good teachers and a course better planned to meet the needs of pupils; by increasing the tax rate for the three state educa- tional institutions, Indiana University, Purdue University, and the State Normal School, thereby enabling them to do with
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greater efficiency the work they are designed to accomplish, without having to practice the questionable tactics of the pro- fessional lobbyist; and finally and more recently, by placing upon her statute books a vocational educational law.
This latter law marks an epoch in popular education. It is a masterpiece of legislation. One of the greatest tragedies of this nation-and Indiana has had her part in it-has been the turning of boys and girls out of school without proper qualification by the vast majority of them to do their life work. A comparatively few of them have been taught very learnedly how to deal with Greek roots, but the tragedy lies in the fact that the great majority of them will have to deal, in the practical affairs of life, with beet roots and corn roots and wheat roots and a hundred other roots, on the flower and fruit of which the world must subsist; and about these teach- ers and schools have taught them nothing. Teachers and schools have taught them nothing of the plane and the mill; nothing of the forge and the factory. The tragedy lies in the fact, that coordination between the brain and hand has been neglected.
In her vocational legislation, Indiana has set about to make reparation, as far as she can, for her neglect of her youth in the past. The truth is now pressing upon her, as it never has before, that not more than fifty per cent of her pupils com- plete the work of the grades; that only a small per cent com- pletes the high school course; and that a very small part of high school graduates ever receive a college course. The mul- titude has been permitted to take up the thread of life with- out having a well fixed viewpoint of life. And the fault has been with the State.
Under this law the elements of agriculture, mechanics and domestic science will be taught in the district school. And it is fair to assume that hereafter a keener interest will be felt in those subjects. People are coming to understand, and the operation of this law will confirm their understanding, that the public is more interested in having a boy equipped for the farm or factory than it is in having him prepared to operate on Wall Street. We are looking at things differently from what we formerly did. We now know that domestic science serves society to a better purpose than does either the science of the stars or the thin polish of the finishing school. We
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appreciate that the kitchen is more of a factor in the family than it is possible for an observatory to be. The philosopher "who sitteth on the circle of the heavens" does not contribute in the same degree to the public welfare as does the man who develops a great industry in a manner so as to dignify labor and humanize capital. Indiana's vocational educational law is a long step forwards. It is a law adapted alike to the little Davids with their flocks of goats and sheep and the ambitious Jonathans with a thirst for power. It will afford opportu- nities alike to the boy of the cottage and the boy of the man- sion, to train their minds and skill their hands in equipping themselves to do the things they are best adapted to do.
WOMAN'S PART IN EDUCATION
In our efforts to increase our educational facilities and dif- fuse knowledge, the fact should not escape us that Indiana women have wielded a most potent influence. They have been tireless and wise in their efforts to build up and extend libra- ries throughout the State. They have been constant in urging civic improvement. They have favored the creation of a juvenile court. They have demanded pure food laws. They have long been abreast of all movements looking to the care of children; to the promotion of public morals, and to the ex- tension of literary work.
The Minerva Society, organized in New Harmony in 1859, was the first woman's club in the United States. This is a distinction for our State, of which Indiana women are justly proud. This organization was as much interested in educa- tional matters as it was in behalf of its own members; and as it was, I have no doubt, in the kindergarten of New Har- mony, the first school of the kind in the United States and the second in the world.
INDIANA'S NOTED MEN
Our State has produced many able men. They are too nu- merous to undertake to name them or even to designate those in any particular field of distinction. Often have they been called into the public service by the nation, and invariably they have shed luster upon their State. Indianians take pride in the fact that the present Vice-President of the United States, the scholarly and brilliant Thomas R. Marshall, is a
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native-born Hoosier, and that one of the Indiana Commission- ers to this Exposition, the well-poised and conservative Charles W. Fairbanks, occupied that office not long before him.
We have indeed produced statesmen who have ranked among the foremost of the nation. The fame of our scien- tists have long since excited favorable comment in other lands and they have been credited many times with having spoken the final word in their respective lines of research. In litera- ture, our writers have charmed, entertained and spoken with the weight of authority. Our poets have sung in rapturous strains of the innocence of childhood, the romance of youth, the strength and glory of middle life, and the sweet and solemn tenderness of age. They have plucked the earliest and fairest flowers of the human heart, and attuned the souls of men with the immortal music of the stars. Our soldiers have always brought honor to the State and their sacrifices and heroism have exalted our citizenship.
AGRICULTURE AND MANUFACTURING
The Hoosier farmer has taken his stand near the head in the agricultural column. He has come to know the value of scientific farming. He has ceased to exhaust his soil before renewing its strength by approved means of fertilization. And he applies the same up-to-date spirit in the growing and de- velopment of live stock. The result is our farms are among the most productive anywhere to be found and our breeds of horses, cattle, sheep and hogs are always in demand at paying prices. The farmer, always dependable in his citizenship, is now in the most thrifty class.
As a manufacturing State, Indiana has displayed wonder- ful genius, industry and progress. She makes all kinds of farm machinery and other labor-saving devices. Her plows are known everywhere. She has the largest wagon industry in the world ; a like claim can be made for one of her furniture factories, and she makes more lawn-mowers than any other State or nation. She is, beyond doubt, the second State in the Union in the automobile industry. Her business men are energetic and progressive and conduct their great enterprises along safe lines. The result is that, as a rule, there are no violent or serious disasters in the commercial life of the State.
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GREATNESS BASED ON MORAL QUALITIES
But the citizens of Indiana have not thought solely of their natural advantages and material progress. It is their philosophy that the grandeur of a State depends upon moral qualities. Superior numbers do not necessarily mean superior virtues. Territory is not always synonymous with honesty, nor wealth with patriotism; but love of country, supported by sacrifice, is a people's highest ethical expression. Back in Indiana we have learned that material progress is safe prog- ress so long as wealth does its part in suppressing vice, eradi- cating disease, and maintaining an enlightened democracy, properly safeguarded by law and order. Lawlessness, vice, disease, and ignorance unbridled do not exist where society is sound and democracy sane.
OUR BENEVOLENT INSTITUTIONS
Holding these views, our citizens have quite naturally given some time to doing the things suggested by the better impulses of the heart They have not neglected to cultivate sympathy for those of their fellows who have been bereft of reason, or in some other manner rendered dependent upon pub- lic favor. Therefore, out of hearts of love and in recognition of their duty to society, the people of Indiana are providing most generously for their insane, criminal and dependent classes. How to deal with these unfortunates properly is one of the most perplexing problems the State is called upon to solve. The rate at which they are increasing is appalling, and clearly indicates that improved methods must be adopted for dealing with the public wards of the State. Beyond doubt, Indiana has taken advanced grounds in the construction and management of her penal, reformatory, and benevolent insti- tutions ; and yet, as one interested in the inhabitants of these institutions and in those who may become inmates thereof, I have not the courage and the knowledge to assert that we have always taken the wisest course in the management of these institutions, or to prophesy as to what the future de- mand upon us will be in dealing with these objects of public care.
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