876,000, an average increase per year of $10,000,000 for the whole period.

"In addition to this great outlay by the nation and the states, America has just reason to be proud of the private benefactions which her philanthropic citizens are constantly making to her colleges and universities. In the founding of public libraries and in aid of the higher schools from 1871 to 1891 the amount of these gifts exceeded $80,000,ooo, or more than $4,000,000 a year. I have been pleased to observe that this great University has not been neglected in this regard. The wise beneficence of the late Hon. Henry F. Page, of Circleville, the widow of the late Hon. Henry C. Noble, and, more recently, of the Hon. Emerson McMillin, of Columbus, are examples worthy of emulation by those who have been favored by fortune. Surely accumulated wealth can find no object so deserving and so far-reaching in its benefits.

"But what has been the result of this unparalleled expenditure and munificence? We behold, first, the most satisfactory progress in the public schools, whose enrollment has now reached 13,203,877 pupils, or twenty-three per cent of our entire population, a greater percentage than that of any other nation in the world. The people were never more willing to pour out their treasure for the support of these schools. The annual expenditure in the United States compared with other countries shows how near they are to the hearts of the people. The expenditure in Italy is $7,000,000, or twenty-five cents per capita; in Austria, $12,000,000, or thirty cents per capita; in Germany, $26,000,000, or fifty cents per capita; in France, $31,000,000, or eighty cents per capita; in Great Britain $48,000,000, or $1.30 per capita; in the United States, in 1892, $156,000,000, or $2.40 per capita. Our census returns of 1890 show that eighty-seven per cent of our total population over ten years of age can read and write. 'In the history of the human race,' says Mulhall, the English statistician, 'no nation ever before possessed 41,000,000 instructed citizens.'

"But, Mr. President, we must not forget that the whole aim and object of education is to elevate the standard of citizenship. The uplifting of our schools will undoubtedly result in a higher and better tone in business and professional life. Old methods and standards may be good, but they must advance with the new problems and needs of the age. The collegiate methods of the Eighteenth Century will not suffice for the Twentieth, any more than the packhorse could meet the demands of the great freight traffic of today. This age demands an education which, while not depreciating in any degree the inestimable advantages of high intellectual culture, shall best fit the man and woman for his or her calling, whatever it may be. In this the moral element

must not be omitted. Character-Christian character-is the foundation upon which we must build if our institutions are to endure. Our obligations for the splendid advantages we enjoy should not rest upon us too lightly. We owe to our country much. We must give in return for these matchless educational opportunities the best results in our lives. We must make our citizenship worthy the great Republic, intelligent, patriotic, and self-sacrificing, or our institutions will fail of their high purpose, and our civilization will inevitably decline. Our hope is in the public schools and in the university. Let us fervently pray that they may always be generously supported, and that those who go out from these halls will be themselves the best witnesses of their force and virtue in popular government."-Columbus, Ohio, June 12, 1895.

AN AUXILIARY TO RELIGION.

"Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen:-I am very glad to join with the citizens of Youngstown in celebrating the completion of this beautiful building, dedicated to the young men for physical, moral, and religious training. I congratulate the young men upon their good fortune and unite with them in gratitude to the generous, public-spirited people through whose efforts this Christian home has been established. It will stand a monument to your city and an honor to those who have shared in its erection. It will be an auxiliary to all moral and religious effort. It will be the vestibule to the Church, and the gateway to a higher and better Christian life. It will not take the place of the Church, and other agencies for good, but it will supplement and strengthen them all.

"It is a good omen for our civilization and country when these Associations can be successfully planted as a part of the system of permanent education for the improvement and elevation of the masses; it is another step upward and onward to a higher and grander Christian civilization. It is another recognition of the Master who rules over all, a worthy tribute to Him, who came on earth to save fallen man and lead him to a higher plane. It is an expression of your faith in an overruling Providence, and strengthens the faith of every believer. You have been made better by the gifts you have bestowed upon this now completed undertaking; you have the approval of not only your own consciences, but you have the gratitude of the present generation, and you will have, in all time to come, the blessings of those who are to be the future. beneficiaries of this institution. Respect for true religion and righteous living is on the increase. Men no longer feel constrained to conceal their faith to avoid derision. The religious believer commands and re

ceives the highest consideration at the hands of his neighbors and countrymen, however much they may disagree with him; and when his life is made to conform to his religious professions, his influence is almost without limitation, widespread and far-reaching.

"No man gets on so well in this world as he whose daily walk and conversation are clean and consistent, whose heart is pure and whose life is honorable. A religious spirit helps every man. It is at once a comfort and an inspiration, and makes him stronger, wiser, and better in every relation of life. There is no substitute for it. It may be assailed by its enemies, as it has been, but they offer nothing in its place. It has stood the test of centuries, and has never failed to help and bless mankind. It is stronger today than at any previous period of its history, and every event like this you celebrate increases its permanency and power. The world has use for the young man who is well grounded in principle, who has reverence for truth and religion, and courageously follows their teachings. Employment awaits his coming, and honor crowns his path. More than all this, conscious of rectitude, he meets the cares of life with courage; the duties which confront him he discharges with manly honesty. These Associations elevate and purify our citizenship, and establish more firmly the foundations of our free institutions. The men who established this government had faith in God and sublimely trusted in Him. They besought His counsel and advice in every step of their progress. And so it has been ever since; American history abounds in instances of this trait of piety, this sincere reliance on a Higher Power in all great trials in our national affairs. Our rulers may not always be observers of the outward forms of religion, but we have never had a president, from Washington to Harrison, who publicly avowed infidelity, or scoffed at the faith of the masses of our people.

"It is told of Lincoln that he once called upon General Sickles, who had just been brought from the field to Washington City, having lost a leg in one of the charges at Gettysburg. His call was one of sympathy, and, after he had inquired into every detail of that great and crucial battle, General Sickles said to him:

“Mr. Lincoln, what did you think of Gettysburg? Were you much concerned about it?'

"Lincoln replied, 'I thought very little about Gettysburg, and I had no concern about it.'

"The general expressed great surprise, and said that he had understood that the capital was in a great panic as to the outcome, and asked: ""Why were you not concerned about the battle of Gettysburg?'

"Well,' replied the simple-minded Lincoln, 'I will tell you, if you

will not tell anybody about it. Before the battle I went into my room at the White House, I knelt on my knees, and I prayed to God as I had never prayed to Him before, and I told Him if He would stand by us at Gettysburg I would stand by Him; and He did, and I shall. And when I arose from my knees I imagined I saw a spirit that told me I need not trouble about Gettysburg.'

"May this institution meet the fullest expectations of its founders and projectors, and prove a mighty force in the well-being of the community! Interested as I am in every department of work in our state, I can not avoid especial and peculiar interest in anything which benefits the Mahoning Valley, the place where I was born, and where I spent my younger manhood, and around which cling tender and affectionate memories that can never be effaced. I am glad to share this day with you, to participate in these exercises which open the doors of this building to the young men of this valley, consecrated to honorable uses, and for their lasting good. I wish you prosperity in your workshops, love in your homes, and bid you Godspeed in this laudable work." -Dedication of Y. M. C. A. Building, Youngstown, O., Sept. 6, 1892.

PROSPERITY AND POLITICS.

"It is loudly proclaimed through the democratic press that prosperity has come. I sincerely hope that it has. Whatever prosperity we have has been a long time coming, and after nearly three years of business depression, a ruinous panic and a painful and widespread suffering among the people. I pray that we may be at the dawn of better times and of enduring prosperity. I have believed it would come, in some measure, with every successive republican victory. I have urged for two years past that the election of a republican congress would strip the democratic party of power to further cripple the enterprises of the country, and would be the beginning of a return of confidence, and that general and permanent prosperity could only come when the democratic party was voted out of power in every branch of the national government, and the republican party voted in, pledged to repeal their destructive and un-American legislation, which has so seriously impaired the prosperity of the people and the revenues and credit of the government.

"It is a most significant fact, however, that the activity in business we have now is chiefly confined to those branches of industry which the democratic party was forced to leave with some protection, notably, iron and steel. There is no substantial improvement in those branches of domestic industry where the lower duties or no duties on the democratic tariff have sharpened and increased foreign competition. These indus

tries are still lifeless, and if not lifeless, are unsatisfactory and unprofitable, both to capital and labor.

"There is a studied effort in certain quarters to show that the apparent prosperity throughout the country is the result of democratic tariff legislation. I do not think that those who assert this, honestly and sincerely believe it. It is worth remembering, and can never be forgotten, that there was no revival of business, no return of confidence or gleam of hope in business circles, until the elections of 1894, which, by unprecedented majorities, gave the popular branch of congress to the republican party, and took away from the democratic party the power to do further harm to the industries of the country and the occupations of the people. This was the aim, meaning and purpose of that vote. With the near and certain return of the republican party to full possession of power in the United States, comes naturally and logically increased faith in the country and assurance to business men that, for years to come, they will have rest and relief from democratic incompetency in the management of the industrial and financial affairs of the government. Whatever prosperity we are having (and just how much nobody seems to know), and with all hoping for the best, and hoping that it may stay and increase, and yet all breathless with suspense, is in spite of democratic legislation, and not because of it.

"The republican party never conceals its purposes. They are an open book to be read by every man. The whole world knows them; it has embodied them in law, and executed them in administration almost uninterruptedly since the 4th of March, 1861. It has bravely met every emergency in all those trying years, and has been adequate to every public obligation and public duty. It is dedicated to the people; it stands for the United States; it believes that this government should be run by ourselves and for ourselves; its simple code is home and country; its central idea is the well-being of the people and all the people; it has no aim which does not take into account the honor of the government and the material and intellectual well-being and happiness of the people. We can do no better than to stick to the old party-indeed, we can not do so well as to stick to the old party which guided the republic for a third of a century in safety and honor; which gave the country adequate revenue, and, while doing that, gave capital profitable investment and labor comfortable wages and steady employment; which guarded every American interest at home and abroad with zealous care; which never lowered the flag of our country, but whose business has ever been to exalt it, and whose principles, the application of which has made us a nation of happy homes, of independent and prosperous free-men."-Springfield, Ohio, Sept. 10, 1895.