USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > Official report of the centennial celebration of the founding of the city of Cleveland and the settlement of the Western Reserve > Part 37
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CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF THE CITY OF CLEVELAND.
Arlington, Vt. ; Ludlow W. Vinton, Brooklyn, N. Y. ; H. W. Spear, W. E. Reynolds and C. Creighton Carmine, U. S. Revenue Cutter Fessenden. There were also present members of the Centennial Commission, repre- sentatives of various military organizations, and prominent citizens. Vir- gil P. Kline, Esq., was to have been the toastmaster, but was unable to attend. His place was ably filled by one of the speakers of the evening, James H. Hoyt, whose ready wit and pleasing manner proved an interesting feature of the after-dinner speaking. He first introduced Governor Bushnell, who addressed the company as follows:
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen :
It is meet and fitting that the celebration which marks the close of the century of honor since the birth of the Western Reserve should have as a final incident the com- memoration of as glorious an event as was Perry's Victory. No page of American history contains a more splendid record than that of September 10, 1813, and of no achievement of arms should the American be more proud. The victory which Com- modore Perry gained that day, when the Ohio settlements were in their earliest in- fancy, and when a young and powerful nation was contending with a stronger one for the possession of territory which meant nearly all to the youthful government, should ever be a source of pride to the whole people. The history of that struggle upon the blue waters of Lake Erie has been told and retold; time has only mellowed the detail of the stirring story. All the facts are known and the tradition is one of glorious memory.
But Perry's victory, great as it was and fraught as it was with importance to the American nation, was but one of the many remarkable occurrences during the century of which we are so proud. The definition of honor when applied to a State is "a high standard of conduct," and surely all must admit that Ohio has not lacked in the his- tory and the natural attributes of her people which go to make up a record deserving to be called honorable. For a hundred years Ohioans have builded wisely, well and honorably. From the time that the forty-eight pioneers landed at the mouth of the Muskingum and raised the flag of freedom and established a civil government in the great Northwest Territory, from the day that Moses Cleaveland founded the town that is now this beautiful city of his name, from the period when Ohio was admitted to the Union, her people have had a high sense of right and have maintained an exalted standard of conduct. The first settlers of our State, whether from old Connecticut or old Virginia, were conscientious people- people who brought with them not only in- dustry and perseverance but also those religious principles which go so far to stamp the future history of a State.
" Fresh from the Revolution's fire, They came to hew the empire's way Through trackless wastes, and to inspire The sunlight of young freedom's day."
They founded a peerless State and, not content with such an achievement as Ohio, some of those pioneers and their children straightway kept up the noble work and carved four more great States out of the wilderness, thus dividing the Northwest Territory into five divisions, which for all time since their beginning have stood as resplendent as the stars on the blue field of our country's flag.
An honorable life, by its example, guides the follower to the pathway of right and leads to fortune and to fame. " A good name is better than riches." A good name And riches combined is surely better than either taken singly. Ohio has both, singly and collectively. Her right to a good name is founded upon her works during this century of honor. She has ever been loyal to the cause of liberty; not for one mo- ment has she ever faltered in devotion to the principles which her founders declared for. Our pioneers were patriots even when that which is now Ohio was pathless for- ests and smiling plains and rugged hills and fertile valleys, which had not cared to bring about any development. The natural impulse of our people has ever been to take wise and patriotic positions upon questions affecting the commonweal. As a community of good Americans our forefathers and those within the scope of more im- mediate history have labored always for posterity, for the advancement which promises the elevation of the people in industry and education, in the arts and sciences, and in all the evidences of progression which go to make a happy and contented people.
The evolution of Ohio was an honor to our people and a marvel to the world.
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The strides from frontier settlements to villages, from isolated clearings and patches to modest farms, were rapid and certain. The growth from village life to small munic- ipalities and to the era of larger agricultural development was not less wonderful, and from the modest beginnings of a great commonwealth we progressed with as as- sured a step as the people of any race under any condition. We were good husband- men; for that which nature gave us we speedily returned many fold. Through all trials Ohio passed practically unscathed, her armor of right unsullied and her flag of freedom unsoiled. There was always a welcome to the immigrant and a cordial greet- ing to the oppressed. The State was one of the first to build railroads, and, to her additional credit, it may be said that the earliest enterprises of that kind were of the underground order. No State which could welcome the advance of civilization as did Ohio, and which contained such a people, could tolerate slavery, and that blot can never be found upon any of the pages of her history. She has never repudiated a debt, and in all times when the resources of the State were needed she has given liberally and of her best blood. Always loyal to the nation, her responses to calls to maintain the integrity of the government and the honor of the flag were prompt and liberal. She gave the greatest number of troops from any Northern State for the war with Mexico, and of the entire Federal army in the War of the Rebellion one - eighth was from Ohio.
DRY GOODS "CROWD LE TH ALII
This general good record would entitle her to the fame she has earned abroad. If "to be a Roman were better than a king," as was once said in the olden time, so it would seem nowadays that to be an Ohioan would, at least, be better than any other kind of a man. Iler children to the number of a million and more are dwelling in the States west of her borders. The great Western country teems with Ohioans, or the sons and daughters of Ohioans. No arm has been more potent in the redemption of the vast "SNAP SHOT" OF PARADE ON EUCLID AVENUE. wilderness than that of Ohio. Her colonists have only stopped at the Pacific, and I am now told that much Ohio enterprise is manifest in Japan. So great has been the spread of the Ohio idea and talent that I have even heard that some bearing distinguished foreign names have owned her as their mother. A notable instance is that of a celebrated tenor, with a thoroughly Italian name, who was once asked by a lady what part of Italy he came from. The reply was, "My dear lady, I beg you will not betray my confidence. I was born in Ohio." I may remark here, incidentally, that there are many men I know who would rejoice if it had been their good fortune to have been born in Ohio. This general fame is, of course, largely founded upon the pre-eminence of our State in the way of being a model member of the Union.
But there are other reasons why the fame of Ohio should have gone abroad and penetrated the ways and byways of the world. There have been many of our dis- tinguished men and women whose names have been upon the lips of the nation. A hundred years ago there were Putnam, Cutler, Cleaveland, St. Clair, Harrison, Massie and a host of others, who were conquerors of the wilderness and leading pioneers of civilization. Later there came men who left their imprint upon the history of the State by reason of their service in government and in the political events of the time. These were such as Ewing, Corwin, Stanbery, Giddings, Stanton and Chase. There were statesmen and jurists, such as Wade, Waite, Swayne, Ranney and Thurman. There were historians and men of literature, such as Atwater, Howe, Howells and Hay. Science has had no more ardent devotees than those of Ohio. Men like Les-
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CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF THE CITY OF CLEVELAND.
quereux, and Edison, and Orton of the present day, have unfolded many of the secrets of nature of past ages and of the present.
The alarm which set the pulses of the nation throbbing and which resulted in the great Civil War put to the front such Ohioans as Grant, Sherman and Sheridan. It gave such a notable list of defenders of their country's honor as that of Hayes, Mc- Pherson, McDowell, Buell, Cox and the lamented Garfield. It furnished the opportu- nity for a host of brave and brilliant Ohioans to win golden spurs upon the field of battle and made the designation "Ohio soldier " the synonym for " brave and loyal man."
'The wise forethought of those who laid the foundation stones of our State enabled the youth with ambition to acquire such an education as would place him in a position where his talents could be recognized. Thus, by reason of the splendid educational facilities offered from almost the beginning of the State, it became possible for the Ohioan to make his mark in the world. How well it has been done these names that I have given will show. That the seed of ambition did not fall upon sterile ground is to be seen in the cases of such men as Grant, Hayes, Garfield and Harrison, all of whom, Ohioans and Ohio born as they were, became presidents of the nation. We have those who are yet to add more to Ohio's crown of jewels. We have Sherman, who has ever been an honor to his State; and we have . Mckinley, who is to be called to a higher field, where he will do still more credit to himself and to Ohio. We have the brilliant Foraker, who will make a shining record in the highest legislative body in the land.
These are but a few of the many who give cause for the fame of Ohio. But there are almost countless reasons for Ohio's proud position in the sisterhood of States. With becoming humility we acknowledge the vast bounty of a gracious Providence. We know that we have a soil almost unsurpassed in richness; that we have unequalled facilities for trade; that we have great mines and vast deposits of natural material which can be worked into articles of commerce.
The State is first in the nation in the number of farms, in the manufacture of agricultural implements, in quarry products, in brick and tile factories, in the number of churches, in the missionaries we send abroad to the heathen lands and in receipts for school purposes. There are doubtless many more things in which we stand at the head, but I have taken these examples at random. It should not be forgotten also that although we are the twenty-fourth State in area we are second in miles of rail- ways and second to none in respect to the ease with which the people of one section can reach another part of the State.
Well may we say that this has been a century of honor when we regard the evi- dences of advancement that Ohioans have wrought. If any further striking and significant illustration is needed, one has only to call attention to this splendid city of Cleveland, a place which in the century past has grown from a cabin to a municipality of 375,000 people and a wealth of $400,000,000. Cleveland is a grand object lesson of progress. No higher standard has been established in the last one hundred years. "Ohio's century of honor," therefore, is not a catch phrase; it is a living, actual fact, an assertion supported by the records of our country and by that which we can show to all men.
No better cause could have been given our people than that of celebrating the centennial of the history of this splendid section of Ohio, and I wish to add my further testimony to the general appreciation of the purpose for which the broad- minded and patriotic citizens of Cleveland and the Western Reserve have labored so long and with such successful results. If I may assume the right to do so, I here thank the gentlemen of the Centennial Commission, the director-general and his assistants, those who have contributed their share to the endeavor and all the people of the West- ern Reserve for their work and the fruit thereof. I offer this in the name of the State of Ohio, whose chief executive I happen to be. I do it because I know that Ohio prof- its by such a celebration. You have afforded a better understanding of that with which we all have good 'reason to be thankful for and to be proud of. This, indeed, has been a suitable tribute to "Ohio's century of honor."
Permit me now, Mr. Chairman, to offer my most grateful acknowledgments for the uniform kindness and courtesy that have been extended to me by officials and citizens during my visits to your city. And allow me to say also that the part I have taken in these Centennial celebrations will afford some of the pleasantest recollections of my life. I have greatly appreciated the privilege of serving as the honorary pres- ident of the Centenmal Commission, and I only regret that I have not been able to do more in the promotion of so worthy an undertaking. I wish you all continued happi- ness and prosperity.
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PERRY'S VICTORY DAY.
Following Ohio's Governor came the chief executive of Rhode Island, Governor Lippitt, who made a brief informal speech, saying in part :
We have been met with such unbounded hospitality that I feel as though I had not even left New England. To-day, particularly, in passing through the streets I was astonished at the large number of people and the interest which they manifested in the celebration. Another characteristic of the people of Cleveland which I noticed was the universal intelligence. It has also been a great pleasure to me to meet the distinguished senator from South Carolina (ex-Senator Butler), and to hear his re- marks at Perry's monument yesterday upon the unification of feeling and sentiment between the North and South, and that all sectionalism was about obliterated. I think, as he does, that there are no lines between the East and West, nor between the North and South, and that we have one individual country, for which all of us are willing to fight, and, if necessary, to die. This is certainly a land for all men to be proud of. The great power and the great strength which this nation is developing will be devoted to the right, and will be used to prevent the bullying, on this hemis- phere at least, of nations by foreign powers. It seems to me that the progress of your city in the last one hundred years is typical of that of the nation which is to come, and if we maintain this friendly feeling and exchange sentiments and interests in a common cause, there need be no fear for the future of the United States.
Hon. E. C. Dubois, of Rhode Island, was called upon to respond to the toast, "Our Guests.". He also spoke briefly, saying in the course of his remarks:
I am pleased to be here and to be permitted to speak in behalf of the numerous guests to whom you have extended your hospitality. I know something of the State of Ohio and the city of Cleveland from reading, but I had no appreciation of what this State and city really were. I thought a Connecticut Yankee could do almost any- thing, but I had no idea he could do so much. On behalf of all the representatives of our State, and personally, I wish to thank you for the exhibition of hospitality you have given us.
Rabbi Moses J. Gries responded in an eloquent manner to the toast, "The Message of the Centennial." He paid a glowing tribute to the soldiers and sailors of the late war, and to the wives and mothers who sent their husbands and sons to the front, and remained at home and directed their efforts toward partially ameliorating the condition of those who offered their lives to their country. "One symbol of the Centennial," the speaker said, "is the patriotism which it Has kindled. It teaches the lesson that we belong to the nation more than we do to the city and to the State. I rejoice in being a loyal Clevelander and a loyal Ohioan, but I thank God that I am an American. We are an individual country. We have proved to the world that people of every nation, every religion and every race can live together in peace and happiness. We like en- thusiasm, for the republic is in the midst of a crisis which we must trust .the wisdom of the people will enable us to pass through successfully. There is a deeper issue than that of 'gold and silver.' It is that of ar- raying one class against another, and our patriotism must and will stand the test."
The next speaker was Mr. Hoyt, who responded to the toast as- signed to him, "Retrospect and Prospect." Having happily introduced his subject, Mr. Hoyt said :
Now, at the end of this one hundred years, why has Cleveland accomplished so much? At the end of her next hundred years will she have accomplished much more? These are the questions which this Centennial celebration presses upon us for answer. They are practical questions of vital interest to us all. They should not be considered as merely speculative, or so discussed, as, for instance, a convention of old maids in
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CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF THE CITY OF CLEVELAND.
Boston the other day discussed the best methods of bringing up children. Cleveland is as great as she is for several reasons:
First, because of her environment. This representative and splendid Centennial celebration was not made possible when Grover Cleveland last July touched his finger upon the button which started the current which lighted and made resplendent our triumphal arch. It was made possible when Moses Cleaveland, in that July long ago, touched his foot on the banks of the Cuyahoga. It was the former, not the latter, contact which started those masterful and efficient forces into operation, which have made the city what she is and which have lighted and made to shine her real arch of triumph. Cleveland is well located. She is the center of a region which is destined to become the Essen of America, the Birmingham of the United States, unless unad- ventitious circumstances, which I forbear to mention, shall prevent. If her citizens are alive to her natural advantages, her manufactories, already numerous, will be greatly increased and their products will be vastly multiplied. Their chimneys, too, will belch forth an ever increasing cloud of smoke, which will shortly, not partly as it does now, but wholly obscure even
"The spacious firmament on high;"
unless a smoke preventer, in which Mr. Holden and another, who shall be nameless, are jointly interested, is generally adopted. Our city stands just where the coal of the South and the ore of the North meet in most profitable union, and the children's children of that union, already numerous, if they are properly taken care of and ma- tured, will become as countless as the sands on her shore. She possesses that price- less boon to a manufacturing center, cheap water transportation to points east and west and north of her. In retrospect, it must be said that hitherto her citizens have not been alive to her great natural advantages; but, in prospect, it is to be hoped that these natural advantages will be so availed of as that Cleveland a hundred years from now will be as much larger and as much more prosperous than the Cleveland of to- day, as the Cleveland of to-day is larger and more prosperous than the Cleveland of a hundred years ago.
Secondly, but Cleveland is what she is because of the sterling qualities that have entered into her citizenship; qualities as precious as
"Apples of gold in pictures of silver."
I use this bimetallic quotation in order to avoid all cause of offense in the present strained condition of the public mind. But, men and women have spent their lives here and have left impressions which I do not believe the years will wear away. I will not attempt to name them, because time would prevent my naming all of them and the omission of any would be invidious; but men of high aims and purposes have controlled the great business interests of the city and women of lofty ideals the social interests of the city ; and so the standard of honor among our business men has always been high and our social life has been and is refined and courteous and hospitable. Our city has not only been enriched by material bequests and gifts, bountiful and splendid gifts of parks and of art treasures and of libraries; gifts which will be en- joyed one hundred years from now quite as much as they are now; but she has been enriched, also, by the good names which her leading citizens have bequeathed to her, and "a good name is rather to be chosen than great riches." These legacies will make her rich in the next Centennial as well as now. But Cleveland is what she is because learning has been nurtured here. She turns from the evidences of her mate- rial prosperity and advancement to point with pride at her public school system, which is the best to be found anywhere in the land. She is not only a manufacturing city, but she is a university town. Her libraries are numerous and are well stocked, and learning and business go hand in hand together.
But again, my friends, she is what she is because her citizens love her. I heard a story the other day which perhaps will illustrate my meaning. During the late war the lines of the Union and Confederate forces were established at a distance perilously short. Each side had thrown up intrenchments, and if a soldier exposed himself ever so little he was fired at. Suddenly some one in the trenches began to sing " Home, Sweet Home." Instantly, and against the protests of the officers, the firing ceased. Muskets were thrown down, and the men of both armies, forgetting their animosity, helped to swell the chorus. We citizens of Cleveland do not always agree. We differ on polities and on religion, and on other matters. The fire of criticism, of crimination and reerimmation is often sharp; but all differences are forgotten as we join, as we are always ready to do, in the sweet chorus, "Home, Sweet Home." The structure of our present greatness rests on foundations which those who have gone before us have
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builded; but the foundations of the future city we are now building, let us lay them broad and deep.
I can, of course, only conjecture the prospect, for I am " neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet; " but my imagination is so stimulated by centennial enthusiasm (I have taken nothing else), that I can see in the future an imperial city, with more than a million inhabitants; a city where law is not feared because it is universally obeyed ; a city where taxes are cheerfully paid, because they are equitably assessed; a city of broad boulevards and of beautiful, spacious parks; a city with harbor facilities large enough and convenient enough to invite commerce, instead of driving it away; a city with an imposing city hall, not on the square, but by it; a city whose water supply is not adjacent to the mouths of its sewers; a city where garbage is burned and not hoarded; a great, a beautiful, a prosperous, a healthful city. But, my friends, we need not wait a hundred years for the fulfillment of this dream. If you and I do our part, we shall have such a city in your lifetime and in mine.
Mayor McKisson, as President of the Centennial Commission, then spoke the words which formally closed the celebration. His was the final address, and he spoke as follows:
Ladies and Gentlemen :
In the exercises of this Centennial it has been our aim to meet on the broadest grounds of patriotism and to recognize the event as a common people, so that in the records of history there may be proof anew that great municipalities are not indiffer- ent or ungrateful. The anniversary that we celebrate to-night is a proud one. This commemorative hour places before our view, after a lapse of many years, the structure of a great city. Eighty-three years ago to-day the patriotism of a fel- low countryman and his amazing achievements on the inland sea from off the north- western shore of the Western Reserve brought the State of Ohio and this section of our country into prominence. From that day to this she has been the Mecca of accomplishments through recognized ability, valorous in the record of her deeds through patriotism, and yet grateful to a great government. As true Americans should we not rejoice to remember those who made it possible that we may enjoy the privileges of a great city, and is it not also fitting and proper that we pay a just tribute to the brilliant Perry, who preserved our rights on the great lakes? It is not merely an event that we are celebrating this year in the exercises we have had, but a great cause. We are celebrating the victory of patriotism and the victory of liberty. We honor the victory, we celebrate the victory and stand ready to defend it by pa- triotism.
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