Preble County, Ohio - Chapter 13: Ohio in the Centennial - Address of Edward D Mansfield, Ll. D., Philadelphia, August 9, 1876, 1881

ONE hundred years ago the whole territory, from the Alleghany to the Rocky mountains, was a wilderness, inhabited only by wild beasts and Indians. The Jesuit and Moravian missionaries were the only white men who had penetrated the wilderness or beheld its mighty lakes and rivers. While the thirteen old colonies were declaring their independence, the thirteen new States, which now lie in the western interior, had no existence, and gave no sign of the future. 'The solitude of nature was unbroken by the steps of civilization. The wisest statesman had not contemplated the probability of the coming States, and the boldest patriot did not dream that this interior wilderness should soon contain a greater population than the thirteen old States, with all the added growth of one hundred years.

Ten years after that, the old States had ceded their western lands to the General Government, and the Congress of the United States had passed the ordinance of 1785, for the survey of the public territory, and, in 1787, the celebrated ordinance which organized the Northwestern Territory, and dedicated it to freedom and intelligence, became a law.

Fifteen years after that, and more than a quarter of a century after the Declaration of Independence, the State of Ohio was admitted into the Union, being the seventeenth which accepted the constitution of the United States. It has since grown up to be great, populous and prosperous under the influence of those ordinances. At her admittance, in 1803, the tide of emigration had begun to flow over the Alleghanies into the valley of the Mississippi, and, although no steamboat, no railroad then existed, nor even a stage coach helped the immigrant, yet the wooden "ark" on the Ohio, and the heavy wagon, slowly winding over the mountains, bore these tens of thousands to the wilds of Kentucky and the plains of Ohio. In the spring of 1788 - the first year of settlement - four thousand five hundred persons passed the mouth of the Muskingum in three months, and the tide continued to pour on for half a century in a widening stream, mingled with all the races of Europe and America, until now, in . the hundredth year of America's independence, the five States of the Northwestern Territory, in the wilderness of 1776, contain ten millions of people, enjoying all the blessings which peace and prosperity, freedom and christianity, can confer upon any people. Of these five States, born under the ordinance of 1787, Ohio is the first, oldest, and, in many things, the greatest. In some things it is the greatest State in the Union. Let us, then, attempt, in the briefest terms, to draw an outline portrait of this great and remarkable commonwealth.

Let us observe its physical aspects. Ohio is just onesixth part of the Northwestern Territory - forty thousand square miles. It lies between Lake Erie and the Ohio river, having two hundred miles of navigable waters, on one side flowing into the Atlantic ocean, and on the other into the Gulf of Mexico. "Through the lakes, its vessels touch on six thousand miles of interior coast; and, through the Mississippi, on thirty-six thousand miles of river coast; so that a citizen of Ohio may pursue his navigation through forty-two thousand miles, all in his own country, and all within navigable reach of his own State. He who has circumnavigated the globe, has gone but little more than half the distance which the citizen of Ohio finds within his natural reach in this vast interior. Looking upon the surface of this State, we find no . mountains, no barren sands, no marshy wastes, no lavacovered plains, but one broad, compact body of arable land, intersected with rivers, and streams, and running waters, while the beautiful Ohio flows tranquilly by its side. More than three times the surface of Belgium, and one third of the whole of Italy, it has more natural resources in proportion than either, and is capable of ultimately supporting a larger population than any equal surface in Europe. Looking from this great arable surface, where upon the very hills the grass and the forest trees now grow exuberant and abundant, we find that underneath this surface, and easily accessible, lie ten thousand square miles of coal, and four thousand square miles of iron - coal and iron enough to supply the basis of manufacture for a world! All this vast deposit of metal and fuel does not interrupt or take from that arable surface at all. 'There you may find in one place the same machine bringing up coal and salt water from below, while the wheat and the corn grow upon the surface above. The immense masses of coal, iron, salt and freestone deposited below have not in any way diminished the fertility and production of the soil. It has been said by some writers that the character of a people is shaped or modified by the character of the country in which they live. If the people of Switzerland have acquired a certain air of liberty and independence from the rugged mountains around which they live; if the people of southern Italy, or beautiful France, have ' acquired a tone of ease and politeness from their mild and genial clime, so the people of Ohio, placed amidst such a wealth of nature, in the temperate zone, should 'show the best fruits of peaceful industry and the best culture of Christian civilization. Have they done so? - Have their own labor and arts and culture come up to the advantages of their natural situation? Let us examine this growth and their product.

The first settlement of Ohio was made by a colony from New England, at the mouth of the Muskingum. It was literally a remnant of the officers of the Revolution. Of this colony no praise of the historian can be as competent, or as strong, as the language of Washington. He says, in answer to inquiries addressed to him: *No colony in America was ever settled under such favorable auspices as that which has just commenced at the Muskingum. Information, prosperity, and strength will be its characteristics. I know many of the settlers personally and there never were men better calculated to promote the welfare of such a community;" and he in which he would sooner settle than in this western region. This colony, left alone for a time, made its own government and nailed its laws to a tree in the village, an early indication of that law-abiding and peaceful spirit which has since made Ohio a just and well-ordered community. The subsequent settlements on the Miami and Scioto were made by citizens of New Jersey and Virginia, and it is certainly remarkable that among all the early immigration, there were no ignorant people. In the language of Washington, they came with *'information," qualified to promote the welfare of the community.

Soon after the settlement on the Muskingum and the Miami, the great wave of migration flowed on to the plains and valleys of Ohio and Kentucky. Kentucky had been settled earlier, but the main body of emigrants in subsequent years went into Ohio, influenced partly by the great ordinance of 1787, securing freedom and sthools forever, and partly by the greater security of titles under the survey and guarantee of the United States government. Soon the new State grew up, with a rapidity which, until then, was unknown in the history of civilization. On the Muskingum, where the buffalo had roamed; on the Scioto, where the. Shawnees had built their towns; on the Miami, where the great chiefs of the Miamis had reigned; on the plains of Sandusky, yet red with the blood of the white man; on the Maumee, where Wayne, by the victory of the "Fallen Timbers," had broken the power of the Indian confederacy - the emigrants from the old States and from Europe, came in to cultivate the fields, to build up towns, and to rear the institutions of Christian civilization, until the single State of Ohio is greater in numbers, wealth, and education, than was the whole American Union when the Declaration of Independence was made.

Let us now look at the statistics of this growth as they are exhibited in the census of the United States. Taking intervals of twenty years, Ohio had a population: in 1810, of forty-five thousand three hundred and sixty-five; in 1830, nine hundred and thirty-seven thousand nine hundred and three; in 1850, one million nine hundred and eighty thousand three hundred and twentynine; in 1870, two million six hundred and sixty-five thousand two hundred and sixty. Add to this the increase of population in the last six years, and Ohio now has, in round numbers, three millions of people - half a million more than the thirteen States in 1776; and her cities and towns have to-day six times the population of all the cities of America one hundred years ago. This State is now the third in numbers and wealth, and the first in some of those institutions which mark the progress of mankind. That a small part of the wilderness of 1776 should be mere populous than the whole Union was then, and that it should have made a social and moral advance greater than that of any nation in the same time, must be regarded as one of the most startling and instructive facts which attend this year of commemoration. If such has been the social growth of Ohio, let us look at its physical development. This is best expressed by the aggregate productions of the labor and arts of a people applied to the earth. In the cen- sus statistics of the United States these are expressed in the aggregate results of agriculture, mining, manufactures and commerce. Let us simplify these statistics, by comparing the aggregate and ratios as between several States, and between Ohio and some countries of Europe.

'The aggregate amount of grain and potatoes - farinaceous food - produced in Ohio in 1870, was one hundred and 'thirty-four million nine hundred and thirty-eight thousand four hundred and thirteen bushels, and in 1874 there were one hundred and fifty-seven million three hundred and twenty-three thousand five hundred and ninety-seven bushels, being the largest aggregate amount raised in any State but one, Illinois, and larger per square mile than Illinois or any other State in the country. The promises of nature were thus vindicated by the labor of man; and the industry of Ohio has fulfilled its whole duty to the sustenance of the country and the world. She has raised more grain than ten of the old States together, and more than half raised by Great Britain or by France. I have not the recent statistics of Europe, but McGregor, in his statistics of nations for 1832 - a period of profound peace - gives the following ratios for the leading countries of Europe: Great Britain - area one hundred and twenty thousand three hundred and twentyfour miles; amount of grain, two hundred and sixty-two million five hundred thousand bushels; rate per square mile, two. thousand one hundred and ninety to one. Austria - area two hundred and fifty-eight thousand six hundred and three miles; amount of grain, three hundred and sixty-six million eight hundred thousand bushels; rate per square mile, one thousand four hundred and twenty-two to one. France - area two hundred and fifteen thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight miles; amount of grain, two hundred and thirty-three million eight hundred and forty-seven thousand three hundred bushels; rate per square mile, one thousand and eighty to one. The State of Ohio - area per square miles, forty thousand; amount of grain, one hundred and fifty million bushels; rate per square mile, three thousand seven hundred and fifty. Combining the great countries of Great Britain, Austria, and France, we find that they had five hundred and ninety-four thousand seven hundred and eighty-five square miles and produced eight hundred and sixty-three million one hundred and forty-seven thousand three hundred hushels of grain, which was, at the time these statistics were taken, one thousand four hundred and fifty bushels per square mile, and ten bushels to each one of the population. Ohio, on the other hand, had three thousand seven hundred fifty bushels per square mile, and fifty bushels to each one of the population; that is, there was five times as much grain raised in Ohio, in proportion to the people, as in these great countries of Europe. As letters make words, and words express ideas, so these dry figures of statistics express facts, and these facts make the whole history of civilization.

Let us now look at the statistics of domestic animals. These are always indicative of the state of society in regard to the physical comforts. The horse must furnish domestic conveyances; the cattle must furnish the products of the dairy, as well as meat, and the sheep must furnish wool.

Let us see how Ohio compares with other States and with Europe: In 1870, Ohio had eight million eight hundred and eighteen thousand domestic animals; Illinois, six million nine hundred and twenty-five thousand; New York, five million two hundred and eighty-three thousand; Pennsylvania, four million four hundred and ninety-three thousand; and other States less. The proportion to population in these States was, in Ohio, to each person, 3.3; Illinois, 2.7; New York, 1.2; Pennsylvania, 1.2. Ed

Let us now see the proportion of domèstic animals in Europe. The results given by McGregor's statistics are: In Great Britain, to each person, 2.44; Russia, 2.00; France, 1.50; Prussia, 1.02; Austria, r.oo. It-will be seen that the proportion in Great Britain is only twothirds that of Ohio; in France, only one-half; and in in the course of civilization, the number of animals diminishes as the density of population increases; and, therefore, this result might have. been expected in the - Old countries of Europe. But this does not apply to Russia or Germany, still less to other States in this country. Russia in Europe has not more than half the density of population now in Ohio. Austria and Prussia have less than one hundred and fifty to the square mile. The whole of the north of Europe has not so dense a population as the State of Ohio, still less have the States of Illinois and Missouri, west of Ohio. Then, therefore, Ohio showing a larger proportion of domestic animals than the north of Europe, or States west of her, with a population not so dense, we see at once there must be other causes to produce such a phenomenon.

Looking to some of the incidental results of this vast. agricultural production, we see that the United States exports to Europe immense amounts of grain and provisions; and that there is manufactured in this country an immense amount of woolen goods. Then, taking - these statistics of the raw material, we find that Ohio produces one-fifth of all the wool; one-seventh of all the cheese; one-eighth of all the corn, and one-tenth of all the wheat; and yet Ohio has but a fourteenth part of the population, and one-eightieth part of the surface of this country.

Let us take another - a commercial view of this matter. We have seen that Ohio raises five times as much grain per square mile as is raised per square mile in the empires of Great Britain, France and Austria, taken together. After making allowance for the differences of living, in the working classes of this country, at least two-thirds of the food and grain of Ohio are a surplus beyond the necessities of life, and, therefore, so much in the commercial balance of exports. This corresponds with the fact, that, in the shape of grain, meat, liquors and dairy products, this vast surplus is constantly moved to the Atlantic States and to Europe. The money value of this exported product is equal to one hundred million dollars per annum, and to a solid capital of ome billion five hundred million dollars, after all the sus- of a century after the Declaration of Independence was made. And now, it may be asked, what is the real cause of this extraordinary result, which, without saying anything invidious of other States, we may safely say has never been surpassed in any country? We have already The first is that it is a compact, unbroken body of arable land, surrounded and intersected by water-courses, equal to all Next, that it was secured forever to freedom and intelligence by the ordinance of 1787. The intelligence of its future people was secured by immense grants of public lands for the purpose of education ; but neither the blessings of nature, nor the wisdom of laws, could obtain such results without the continuous labor of an intelligent people. Such it had, and we have only to take the testimony of Washington, already quoted, and the statistical results I have given, to prove that no people has exhibited more steady industry, nor has any people directed their labor with more intelligence.

After the agricultural capacity and production of a country, its most important physical feature is its mineral products; its capacity for coal and iron, the two great elements of material civilization. If we were to take away from Great Britain her capacity to produce coal in such vast quantities, we should reduce her to a thirdrate position, no longer numbered among the great nations of the earth. Coal has smelted her iron, run her

But when we compare the coal fields of Great Britain with those of this country, they are insignificant. The coal fields of all Europe are small compared with those of the central United States. The coal district of Durham and Northumberland, in England, is only eight hundred and eighty square miles.. There are other districts of smaller extent, making in the whole probably one-half the extent of that in Ohio. The English coal beds are represented as more important, in reference to extent, on account of their thickness. There is a small coal district in Lancashire, where the workable coal beds But this involves, as is well known, the necessity of going to immense depths and incurring immense expense. On the other hand, the workable coal beds of Ohio are near the surface, and some of them require no excavating, except that of the horizontal lead from the mine to the river or the railroad." In one county of Ohio there are three beds of twelve, six and four feet each, within fifty feet of the surface. At some of the mines having the best coal, the lead from the mines is nearly horizontal, and just high enough to dump the coal into the railroad cars. These coals are of all qualities, from that adapted or manufacturing iron. Recollecting these facts, let us try to get an idea of the coal district of Ohio. The bituminous coal region descending the western slopes of the Alleghanies, occupies large portions of western Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee. I suppose that this coal field is not less than fifty thousand square miles; exculsive of western Maryland and the southern terminations of that field in Georgia and Alabama. Of this vast field of coal, excéeding anything found in Europe, about one-fifth part lies in Ohio. Professor Mather, in his report on' the geology of the State (first geological report of the State), says:

'" The coal measures within Ohio occupy a space of about one hundred and eighty miles in length by eighty in breadth at the widest part, with an area of about ten thousand square miles, extending along the Ohio from Trumbull county in the north to near the mouth of the Scioto in the south. The regularity in the dip, and the moderate inclination of the strata, afford facilities to the mines not known to those of most other countries, especially Great Britain, where the strata in which the coal is imbedded have been broken and thrown out of place since its deposit, occasioning many slips and faults, and causing much labor and expense in agairi recovering the bed. In Ohio there is very little difficulty of this kind, the faults being small and seldom found."

Now, taking into consideration these geological facts, let us look at the extent of the Ohio coal field. It occupies, wholly, or in part, thirty-six counties, including, geographically, fourteen thousand square miles; but leaving out fractions, and reducing the Ohio coal field within its narrowest limits, it is ten thousand square miles in extent, lies near the surface, and has on an average twenty. feet thickness of workable coal beds. Let us compare this with the coal mines of Durham and Northumberland (England), the largest and best coal mines there. "That coal district is estimated at eight hundred and fifty square miles, twelve feet thick, and is calculated to contain nine billion tons of coal The coal field of Ohio is twelve times larger and one-third thicker. Estimated by that standard, the coal field of Ohio contains one hundred and eighty billion tons of coal Marketed at only two dollars per ton, this coal is worth three hundred and sixty billion dollars, or, in other words, ten times as much as the whole valuation of the United States at the present time. But we need not undertake to estimate either its quantity or value. If is enough to say that it is a quantity which we can scarcely

After coal, iron is beyond doubt the most valuable mineral product of a State. As the material of manufacture, it is the most important. What are called the "precious metals" are not to be compared with it as an element of industry or profit. But since no manufactures can be successfully carried on without fuel, coal Iron is unquestionably the next. Ohio has an iron district extending from the mouth of the Scioto river to some point north of the Mahoning river, in Trumbull county. The whole length is nearty two hundred miles, and the breadth twenty miles, making, as near as we can ascertain, four thousand square miles. The iron in this district is of various qualities, and is manufactured largely into bars and castings. In this iron district are one hundred

Although only the seventeenth State in its admission, I find that, by the census statistics of 1870, it is the third State in the production of iron and iron manufactures. Already, and within the life of one man, this State begins to show what must in future be the vast results of coal and iron, applied to the arts and manufactures. In the year 1874, there were four hundred and twenty thousand tons) of pig iron produced in Ohio, which is larger than the product of any State, except Pennsylvania. The product and the manufacture of iron in Ohio have increased so rapidly, and the basis for increase is so great, that we may not doubt that Ohio will continue to be the greatest producer of iron and iron fabrics, except only Pennsylvania. At Cincinnati, the iron manufacture of the Ohio valley is concentrating, and at Cleveland the ores of Lake Superior are being smelted.

After coal and iron, we may place salt among the necessaries of life. In connection with the coal region west of the Alleghanies, there lies in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio, a large space of country, underlaiu by the salt rook, which already produces immense amounts of salt. Of this, Ohio has its full proportion. In a large section of the southeastern portion of the State, salt is produced without any known limitation. At Pomeroy and other points, the salt rock lies about one thousand feet below the surface, but salt water is brought easily to the surface by the steam engine. There, the salt rock, the coal seam, and the noble sandstone lie in successive strata, while the green corn and the yellow wheat bloom on the surface above. The State of Ohio produced, in 1874, three million five hundred thousand bushels of salt, being one-fifth of all produced in the United States. The salt section of Ohio is exceeded only by that of Syracuse, New York, and of Saginaw, Michigan. There is no definite limit to the underlying salt rock of Ohio, and therefore, the production will be proportioned only to the extent of the demand.

Having now considered the resources and the products of the soil and mines of Ohio, we may properly ask how far the people have employed their resourses in the increase of art and manufacture. We have two modes of comparison - the rate of increase within the State, and the ratio they bear to other States. The aggregate value of the products of manufacture, exclusive of mining, in the last three censuses was: in 1850, sixty-two million six hundred and ninety-two thousand dollars; in 1860, one hundred and twenty-one million six hundred and ninety-one thousand dollars; in 1870, two hundred and sixty-nine million seven hundred and thirteen thousand dollars.

The ratio of increase was over one hundred per cent. in each ten years, a rate far beyond that of the increase of population, and much beyond the ratio of increase in the whole country. In 1850, the manufactures of Ohio were one-sixteenth part of the aggregate in the country ; in 1860, one-fifteenth part; in 1870, one twelfth part. In addition to this, we find, from the returns of Cincin- products of Ohio in 1875, must have reached four hundred million dollars; and, by reference to the census tables, it will be seen that the ratio of increase exceeded that of the great manufacturing States of New York, Massachusetts and Connecticut. Of all the States admitted into the Union prior to Ohio, Pennsylvania alone has kept pace in the progress of manufacture. Some little reference to the manufacture of leading articles may throw some light on the cause of this. In the production of agricultural machinery and implements, Ohio is the first State; in animal and vegetable oils and in pig iron, the second; in cast iron andin tobacco, the third; in salt, in machinery and in leather, the fourth. These agriculture have entered into the manufactures of the This great advance in the manufactures of Ohio, when we consider that this State is, relatively to its surface, the first agricultural State in the country, leads to, the inevitable inference that its people are remarkably industrious. When on forty thousand square miles of fifty million bushels of grain, and produce manufactures to the amount of two hundred and sixty-nine million dollars (which is fifty bushels of breadstuff to each man, woman and child, and one hundred and thirty-three dollars of manufacture), it will be difficult to find any community surpassing such results. It is a testimony, not only to the State of Ohio, but to the industry, sagacity and energy of the American people.

Looking now to the commerce of the State, we have said there are six hundred miles of coast line, which embraces some of the principal internal ports of ihe Ohio and the lakes, such as Cincinnati, Cleveland, Toledo and Portsmouth, but whose commerce is almost wholly inland. Of course, no comparison can be made with the foreign commerce of the ocean ports. On the other hand, it is well known that the inland trade of the country far exceeds that of all its foreign commerce, and that the largest part of this interior trade is carried on its rivers and lakes. The materials for the vast consumption of the interior must be conveyed in its vessels, whether of sail or steam, adapted to these waters. Let us take, then, the ship-building, the navigation, and the exchange trades of Ohio, as elements in determining the position of this State in reference to the commerce of the country. At the ports of Cleveland, Toledo, Sandusky and Cincinnati, there have been built one thousand sail and steam vessels in the last twenty years, making an average of fifty each year. The number of sail, steam and all kinds of vessels in Ohio is eleven hundred and ninety, which is equal to the number in all the other States in the Ohio valley and the upper Mississippi.

When we look to the navigable points to which these vessels are destined, we find them on all this vast coast line, which extends from the Gulf of Mexico to the Yellowstone, and from Duluth to the St. Lawrence.

imports and exports of the principal articles of Cincinnati amount in value to five hundred million dollars; and when we look at the great trade of Cleveland and Toledo, we shall find that the annual trade of Ohio exceeds seven hundred million dollars. The lines of railroad which connect with its ports are more than four thousand miles in length, or rather more than one mile in length to each. ten square miles of surface. This great amount of railroads is engaged not merely in transporting to the Atlantic and thence to Europe, the immense surplus grain and meat in Ohio, but in carrying the largest part of that great surplus, which exists in the States west of Ohio, the granary of the west. Ohio holds the gateway of every railroad north of the Ohio, from the Mississippi to the Atlantic, and hence it is that the great transit lines of the country pass through Ohio.

Let us now turn from the progress of the arts to the progress of ideas; from material to intellectual development. It is said that a State consists of men, and shows that no art or science, wealth or power, will compensate for the want of moral or intellectual stability in the minds of a nation. Hence, it is admitted that the strength and perpetuity of our Republic must consist in the intelligence and morality of the people. A republic can last only when the people are enlightened. This was an axiom with the early legislators of this country. Hence it was that when Virginia, Connecticut, and the original colonies ceded to the General Government that vast and then unknown wilderness that lay west of the Alleghanies, in the valleys of the Ohio and Mississippi, they took care that its future inhabitants should be an educated people. The constitution was not formed when the celebrated ordinance of 1787 was passed. That ordinance provided that, "Religion, morality, and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall be forever encouraged ;" and by the ordinance of 1785 for the survey of public lands in the Northwestern Territory, section sixteen in each township, that is, one thirty-sixth part, was reserved for the maintenance of public schools in said townships.. As the State of Ohio contained a little more than twenty-five millions of acres, this, together with two special grants of three townships to universities, amounted to the dedication of seven hundred and forty thousand acres of land to the maintenance of schools and colleges. It was a splendid endowment, but it was many years before it became available. It was sixteen years after the passage of this ordinance (in 1803), when Ohio entered the Union, and legislation upon this grant became possible. The constitution of the State pursued the language of the ordinance, and declared that *schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged by legislative provision." The governors of Ohio, in successive messages, urged attention to this subject upon the people; but the thinness of settlement, making it impossible, except in few districts, to collect youth in sufficient numbers, and impossible to sell or lease lands to advantage, caused the delay of efficient school system for many years. In the year 1825, however, a general law establishing a school

This was again enlarged and increased by new legislation in 1836 and 1846. From that time to this, Ohio has had a broad, liberal and efficient system of public instruction. The taxation for schools, and the number enrolled in them at different periods, will best show what has been done. In 1855 the total taxation for school purposes was two million six hundred and seventy-two thousand eight hundred and twenty-seven dollars. The proportion of youth of schoolable age enrolled was sixty-seven per cent. In 1874 the amount raised by taxation was seven million four hundred and twenty-five thousand one hundred and thirty-five dollars. The number enrolled of schoolable age was seventy per cent., or seven hundred and seven thousand nine hundred and forty-three dollars.

As the schoolable age extends to twenty-one years, and as there are very few youth in school after fifteen years of age, it follows that the seventy per cent. of schoolable youths enrolled in the public schools must comprehend nearly the whole number between four and fifteen years. It is important to observe this fact, because it has been inferred that, as the whole number of youth between five and twenty-one have not been enrolled, therefore they are not educated. This is a mistake; nearly all over fifteen years of age have been in the public schools, and all the native youth of the State, and all foreign born, young enough, have had the benefit of the public schools. But in consequence of the large number who have come from other States and from foreign countries, there are still a few who are classed by the census statistics among the "illiterate ;" the proportion of this class, however, is less in proportion than in twenty-eight other States, and less in proportion than in Connecticut and Massachusetts, two of the oldest States most noted for popular education. In fact, every youth in Ohio, under twenty-one years of age, may have the benefit of a public education; and, since the system of graded and high schools has been adopted, may obtain a common knoWledge from the alphabet to the classics. The enumerated branches of study in the public schools of Ohio are thirty-four, including mathematics and astronomy, French, German and the classics. Thus the State which was in the heart of the wilderness in 1776, and was not a State until the nineteenth century had begun, now presents to the world, not merely an unrivaled development of material prosperity, but an unsurpassed system of popular education.

In what is called the higher education, in the colleges and universities, embracing the classics and sciences taught in regular classes, it is the popular idea, and one which few dare to question, that we must look to the Eastern States for superiority and excellence; but that also is becoming an assumption without proof; a proposition difficult to sustain. "The facts in regard to the education of universities and colleges, their faculties, students and course of instruction, are all set forth in the complete statistics of the bureau of education for 1874. They show that the State of Ohio had the largest num- ber of such institutions; the largest number of instructors in their faculties, except one State - New York; and the largest number of students in regular college classes, in proportion to their population, except the two States of Connecticut and Massachusetts. Perhaps, if we look at the statistics of classical students in the colleges, disregarding preparatory and irregular courses, we shall get a more àccurate idea of the progress of the higher education in those States which claim the best. In Ohio, thirty-six colleges, two hundred and fifty-eight teachers, two thousand one hundred and thirty-nine students - proportion, one in one hundred and twenty-four; in Pennsylvania, twenty-seven colleges, two hundred and thirtynine teachers, two thousand three hundred and fifty-nine students - proportion, one in one hundred and fifty; in New York, twenty-six colleges, three hundred and fortythree teachers, two thousand seven hundred and sixtyfour students - proportion, one in one hundred and seventy-six; in the six New England States, seventeen colleges, two hundred and fifty-two teachers, three thousand three hundred and forty-one students - proportion, one in one hundred and five; in Illinois, twenty-four colleges, two hundred and nineteen teachers, one thousand seven hundred and one students - proportion, one in one hundred and forty.

This shows there are more collegiate institutions in Ohio than in all New England; a greater number of college teachers, and only a little smaller ratio of students to the population; a greater number of such students than either in New York or Pennsylvania, and, as a broad general fact, Ohio has made more progress in education than either of the old States which formed the American Union. Such a fact is a higher testimony to the strength and the beneficent influence of the American Government than any which the statistician or the historian can advance. "

Let us now turn to the moral aspects of the people of Ohio. No human society is found without its poor and dependent classes, whether made so by the defects of nature, by acts of Providence, or by the accidents of fortune. Since no society is exempt from these classes, it must be judged not so much by the fact of their existence, as by the manner in which it treats them. In the civilized nations of antiquity, such as Greece and Rome, hospitals, infirmaries, orphan homes, and asylums for the infirm, were unknown. These are the creations of Christianity, and that must be esteemed practically the most Christian State which most practices this Christian beneficence. In Ohio, as in all the States of this country, anti of all Christian countries, there is a large number of the infirm and dependent classes; but, although Ohio is the third State in population, she is only the fourteenth in the proportion of dependent classes. The more important point, however, was, how does she treat them? Is there wanting any of all the varied institutions of benevolence? How does she compare with other States and countries in this respect? It is believed that no State or country can present a larger proportion of all these instituions which the benevolence of the wise and good have suggested for the alleviation of suffering and misfortune, than the State of Ohio. With three thousand five hundred of the insane within her borders, she has five great lunatic asylums, capable of accommodating them all She has asylums for the deaf and dumb, the idiotic, and the blind. She has the best hospitals in the country. She has schools of reform and houses of refuge. She has "homes" for the boys and girls, to the number of eight hundred, who are children of soldiers. She has penitentiaries and jails, orphan asylums and infirmaries. In every county there is an infirmary, and in every public institution, except the penitentiary, there is a school. So-that the State has used eyery human means to relieve the suffering, to instruct the ignorant, and to reform the criminal, There are in the State eighty thousand who come under all the various forms of the infirm, the poor, the sick, and the criminal, who, in a greater or less degree, make the dependent class. For these the State has made every provision which humanity or justice or intelligence can require. A young State, developed in the wilderness, she challenges, without any invidious comparison, both Europe and America, to show her superior in the development of humanity manifested in the benefaction of public institutions.

Intimately connected with public morals and with charitable institutions, is the religion of a people. The people of the United States are a Christian people. The people of Ohio have manifested their zeal by the erection of churches, Sunday schools, and of religious institutions. So far as these are outwardly manifested, they are made known by the social statistics of the census. The number of church organizations in the leading States were: In the State of Ohio, six thousand four hundred and eighty-eight; in the State of New York, five thousand six hundred and twenty-seven; in the State of Pennsylvania, five thousand nine hundred and eighty-four; in the State of Illinois, four thousand two hundred and ninetyeight. It thus appears that Ohio had a larger number of churches than any State of the Union. The number of sittings, however, was not quite as large as those in New York and Pennsylvania. The denominations are of all the sects known in this country, about thirty in number, the majority of the whole being Methodists, Presbyterians and Baptists. Long before the American Independence, the Moravians had settled on the Mahoning and Tuscarawas rivers, but only to be destroyed; and when the peace with Great Britrin was made, not a vestige of Christianity remained on the soil of Ohio; yet we see that within ninety years from that time the State of Ohio was, in the number of its churches, the first of this great Union.

In the beginning of this address, I said that Ohio was the oldest and first of these great States, carved out of the Northwestern Territory, and that it was in some things the greatest State of the American Union. I have now traced the physical, commercial, intellectual and mora] features of the State during the seventy-five years of its constitutional history. The result is to establish fully the propositions with which I began. These facts have brought out:

First. That Ohio is, in reference to the square miles of its surface, the first State in agriculture of the American Union ; that, too, notwithstanding it has eight hundred thousand in cities and towns, and a large development of capital and products in manufacture.

Second. That Ohio raised more grain per square mile than either France, Austria or Great Britain. They raised one thousand four hundred and fifty bushels per square mile, and ten bushels to each person. Ohio raised three thousand seven hundred and fifty bushels per square mile, and fifty bushels to each one of the population; or, in other words, five times.the proportion of grain raised in Europe.

Third. Ohio was the first State of the Union in the production of domestic animals, being far in advance of either New York, Pennsylvania or Illinois. The proportion- of domestic animals to each person in Ohio was three and one-third, and in New York and Pennsylvania less than half that. The largest proportion of domestic animals produced in Europe was in Great Britain and Russia, neither of which come near that of Ohio.

Fourth. The coal-field of Ohio is vastly greater than that of Great Britain, and we need make no comparison with other States in regard to coal or iron; for the ten thousand square miles of coal, and four thousand square miles of iron in Ohio, are enough to supply the whole American continent for ages to come.

Fifth. Neither need we compare the results of commerce and navigation, since, from the ports of Cleveland and Cincinnati, the vessels of Ohio touch on fortytwo thousand miles of coast, and her five thousand miles of railroad carry her products to every part of the American continent.

Sixth. Notwithstanding the immense proportion and products of agriculture in Ohio, yet she has more than kept pace with New York and New England in the progress of manufactures during the last twenty years. Her .coal and iron are producing their legitimate results in making her a great manufacturing State.

Seventh. Ohio is the first State in the Union as to the proportion of youth attending school; and the States west of the Alleghanies and north of the Ohio have more youth in school, proportionably, than New England and New York. The facts on this subject are so extra-

The proportion of youth in Ohio attending school to the population, is one in four and two-tenths; in Illinois, one in four and three-tenths; in Pennsylvania, one in four and eight-tenths; in New York, one in five and twotenths; in Connecticut and Massachusetts, one in eight and seven-tenths.

These proportions show that in the west, and not in the east, education is now advancing; and it is here that .we see the stimulus given by the ordinance of 1787, is working out its great and beneficent results. The land grant for education was a great one, but, at last, its chief effort was in stimulating popular education; for the State of Ohio has taxed itself tens of millions of dollars beyond the utmost value of the land grant, to found and

We have seen that above and beyond all this material and intellectual development, Ohio has provided a vast benefaction of asylums, hospitals, and infirmaries, and special schools for the support and instruction of the dependent classes. There is not within all her borders a single one of the deaf, dumb, and blind, of the poor, sick, and insane, not an orphan or a vagrant, who is not provided for by the broad and generous liberality of the State and her people. A charity which the classic ages knew nothing of, a beneficence which the splendid hierarchies and aristocracies of Europe cannot equal, has been exhibited in this young State, whose name was unknown one hundred years ago, whose people, from Europe to the Atlantic, and from the Atlantic to the Ohio, were, like Adam and Eve, cast out - *'the world before them where to choose."

Lastly, we see that, although the third in population, and the seventeenth in admission to the Union, Ohio had, in 1870, six thousand four hundred churches, the largest number in any one State, and numbering among them every form of Christian worship. The people, whose fields were rich with grain, whose mines were boundless in wealth, and whose commerce extended through thousands of miles of lakes and rivers, came here, as they came to New England's rock-bound coast -

The church and the school-house rose beside the green fields, and the morning bells rang forth to cheerful children going to school, and to a Christian people going to the church of God.

Let us now look at the possibilities of Ohio in the future development of the American Republican Republic. The two most populous parts of Europe, because the most food-producing, are the Netherlands and Italy or, more precisely Belgium and ancient Lombardy; to the present time, their population is, in round numbers, three hunded to the square mile. The density of population in England proper is about the same. We may assume, therefore, that three hundred to the square mile is, in round numbers, the limit of comfortable subsistence under modern civilization. It is true that modern improvements in agricultural machinery and fertilization have greatly increased the capacity of production, on a given amount of land, with a given amount of labor. It is true, also, that the old countries of Europe do not possess an equal amount of arable land with Ohio in proportion to the same surface. It would seem, therefore, that the density of population in Ohio might exceed that of any part of Europe. On the other hand, it may be said with truth that the American people will not become so dense as in Europe while they have new lands in the west to occupy. This is true; but lands such as those in the valley of the Ohio are now becoming scarce in the west, and we think that, with her great capacity for the production of grain on one hand, and of illimitable quantities of coal and iron to manufacture with on the other, that Ohio will, at no remote period, reach nearly the density of Belgium, which will give her ten million of people. This seems extravagant, but the tide of migration, which flowed so fast to the west, is beinning to ebb, while the manufactures of the interior offer greater inducements.

With population comes wealth, the material for education, the development of the arts, advance in all the material elements of civilization, and the still grander advancement in the strength and elevation of the human mind, conquering to itself new realms of material and intellectual power, acquiring in the future what we have seen in the past, a wealth of resources unknown and undreamed of when, a hundred years ago, the know how easy it is to treat this statement with easy incredulity, but statistics is a certain science; the elements of civilization are now measured, and we know the progress of the human race as we know that of a cultivated plant. We know the resources of the country, its foodproducing capacity, its art processes; its power of education, and the undefined and illimitable power of the human mind for new inventions and unimagined progress. With this knowledge, it is not difficult nor unsafe to say that the future will produce more, and in a far greater ratio, than the past. The pictured scenes of the prophets have already been more than fulfilled, and the visions of beauty and glory, which their imagination failed fully to describe, will be more than realized in the bloom of the garden which republican America will present to the eyes of astonished mankind. Long before another century shall have passed by, the single State of Ohio will present four-fold the population with which the thirteen States began their independence, more wealth than the entire Union now has; greater universities than any now in the country, and a development of arts and manufacture which the world now knows nothing of. You have seen more than that since the constitution was adopted, and what right have you to say the future shall not equal the past?

I have aimed, in this address, to give an exact picture of what Ohio is, not more for the sake of Ohio than as a representative of the products which the American Republic has given to the world. A State which began long after the Declaration of Independence, in the then unknown wilderness of North America, presents to-day the fairest example of what a republican government with Christian civilization can do. Look upon this picture and upon those of Assyria, of Greece or Rome, or of Europe in her best estate, and say where is the civilization of the earth which can equal this. If a Roman citizen could say with pride, ** CZvus Romanus sum," with far greater pride can you say this day, "I am an American citizen."