hat land from a wilderness, and they made of
Ohio the most prosperous, the richest and fairest commonwealth the
world has ever known. In Ohio was the beginning of that magnificent
march of progress which adds luster to the history of the northwest,
as an evidence of growth and progress unexampled in the previous
history of mankind. Think of it, my countrymen! Within one hundred
years, more than 30,000,000 people have grown up in a country once
people alone by Indian tribes, and that 30,000,000 of people are
among the most prosperous and powerful peoples of the whole world.

"I want to defend our Ohio people against another charge that is
very often made against them, especially in this city of New York.
They charge us with being fond of office. Why, my countrymen, I
can show by statistics--and statistics never lie--that Ohio never
had her fair share of the public offices. I have not brought any
of the statistics with me, for fear some know-nothing might cry at
our after-dinner speech 'Figures.' Still we never had our share
of the public offices, or if we had we always filled them well,
and performed our duties honorably.

"Now, gentlemen, only one or two other thoughts, and then I will
leave you. In the early times, migration was always to the westward.
Nobody thought of coming east. Therefore it is that out of the
eight sons of Ohio who are now Members of the United States Senate,
all moved westward; and out of some thirty or forty or fifty Members
of the House of Representatives who were born in Ohio, and who
didn't stay in Ohio--and they are only a small part of them--all
went westward. The reason was that 'Westward the star of empire
wends its way.' But latterly the star of empire seems to have
settled about this city of New York, until more than 200 Ohio men
can sit down to an Ohio feast in the city of New York. There is
another reason--there is more money in New York than anywhere else
in the country. Not that our people have a fondness for money,
but they have come here to better their condition--and I hope in
God they will. They not only better their own condition, but the
condition of all around them, and I can pick out from all over this
community, and from this little dinner party, men who came from
Ohio poor, but with an honest endeavor to do what was best for
themselves and their families, and here they are, rich and happy.

"One word more, worthy fellow-citizens. We love Ohio. We love
Oh