Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 49, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 December 1895 — INDIANA CENTENNIAL [ARTICLE]

INDIANA CENTENNIAL

COMMISSIONER SHIRLEY’S IDEA OF WHAT IT OUGHT TO BE. He Favors Making: It Strictly • State Affair and Think* That Indiana Alone Should Provide All Necessary Foods. Hon. C. C. Shirley of Kokomo, member of the Indiana centennial commission for the Tenth congressional district, thinks that the proposed celebration should be a great state affair rather than an interstate enterprise. In expressing his views regarding the matter he says: “After considerable reflection upon the subject of the proposed centennial celebration, I have formed in my mind an outline of wliat it seems to me that event ought to be. The details, however, are so indistinct and imperfectly formed that 1 find it difficult to express my conception of theaffair. Some general conclusions I have reached though are as follows: “I believe the event should be strictly a state affair intended to exhibit the growth, development and resources of a hundred years of progress. The territory now ont of the state, but which formerly constituted a part of the original territory of Indiana, ought perhaps to be urged to join us in the movement; the other stares and the world at large we shall of course invite to participate, but rather as our guests than otherwise. I am not disposed to look favorably upon the proposition to make it either in name or in fact a mid-continent exposition. To make it such will be at once to invite comparison with the World’s Fair, the National Centennial at Philadelphia, and the more recent expositions at San Francisco and Atlanta. What we want is to bring the greatest possible good to the state, and in the greatest possible degree to spread its fame. This, I think, can only be done by preserving, in its name and in its scope and purpose, the central idea of a state event, and the greatest state event of its kind that ever occurred. “I do not believe that we should be able to enlist federal aid to promote the enterprise. It is true, the general government has contributed to the Atlanta exposition, but the conditions there were exceptional. The general feeling that it would be a gracious thing to do because the event was strictly southern contributed largely to it, and after all it was regarded as a wonderful achievement to have induced congress to vote au appropriation for anything less than a strictly national affair.

“I approve the suggestion of Judge Martindale that out ofVie event should spring some permanent memorial, which I am inclined to think should be a building in which should be collected and treasured whatever may be found of such vast interest aud value as to deserve perpetuation. This memorial should of itself be a thing that would confer lasting credit upon the state. In its construction it should suggest the history, the progress, the art, the education, the industries and the wealth of the state; and upon it, if the idea is to be successfully carried out, should be expended a sufficient sum of money to erect a structure so beautiful and permanent in its character as to invite the admiration of the whole country. This necessarily means that I do not believe the other suggestion, also of Judge Martindale, that the building now occupied by the institution for the blind should be utilized for this purpose, is practicable. It is a shabby old structure at the best, and the permanent building in which is to be housed the best results of tne ci ntury’s growth must be the creation ♦.d the offspring of this culminating event. The grounds of the institution tor the blind are admirably suited to our purpose; but if the state will devote it to our purpose, the first improvement I would suggest would be to raze tiie present structure to the ground. “It would be impossible to enlist sufficient interest, or raise sufficient money to fittingly celebrate -hfie event, or even to construct the memorial above suggested, unless the occasion is so far popularised as to arouse the interest of all the people of the state, particularly the common people. There will have to be a certain amount of pageantry and entertainment, which will necessarily take the form, in a general way, of some of the former expositions, upon which, if we accomplish the purpose of our commission’s creation, we shall be able to improve, at least, in some degree. “To these ends we must have a law permitting cities aud counties to vote contributions for the purpose of making exhibits of their own peculiar resources, and iii addition seek from the legislature the broadest possible encourage ment and patronage. Then there should be placed a sufficient amount of stock lithe company charged with the execu tion of the plan among the enterprising

people of the rtute, and particularly the city ot li.fii.iuapo’is, as was done at Chicago, to raise such a fund as the liberal p!au upon which this scheme must be oarried out, if carried out at all, will require. To promote and effect this purpose is iu my notion the duty to which the Indiana centennial commission should dedicate itself earnestly aud unceasingly.” Commissioner John H. Weathers of Leavenworth, says: “The state of Indiffca has never had an exhibition of her resources that did her credit. While the great states about her aud the great cities near her have spent time and energy in holding celebrations and exhibitions of their resources and growth, onr state has failed in that respect. We have a great state. AU she needs is adto be brought into public notice. No more fitting way to do this could be suggested than by the contemplated centennial. Her history, her growth, her commercial importance, could be thus shown and the public eye of the nation directed to her greatness. That such a celebration would be of incalculable advantage to the state, to all of her citizens, cannot be gainsaid. Let us have the centennial. Let there be no stint nor false economy urged against it. Let ns have a celebration that will pay the debt of onr east neglect to our great commonwealth.”