"That the acquisition of this territory was accomplished through peaceful means rather than by bloodshed was another triumph for civilization. While wars have come since, and may come in the future, the plan of arbitration which has been adopted so generally by this and other nations may perhaps have had its inception in this peaceful solution of a burning and important question to this country. Our Union now is one that is composed of commonwealths bound together by all that means common interest, the common weal and common protection of all the people. It leads to the hope that when the representatives of all of the states have decreed by a majority that which is for the best interest of the whole country, then these questions should no longer be the subject of partisanship or party differences, but the government should have the loyal support of all who believe in America and her future. The same laws govern us, the same protection should be and is accorded to every citizen, and there is no individual or isolated community that does not share in the prosperity of all others whose interests are on the same plane of equality. For a time natural advantages may unduly favor one section of the country, but the accumulation of wealth brings about the development of the natural resources by which other sections are built up, and their people share in the general prosperity. Our State perhaps has benefited more through the development of the west and the northwest territory than almost any other commonwealth. The natural valleys which permitted the building of the Erie canal and the connection of the Great Lakes with the harbor of New York brought this territory in close communication with the Atlantic seaboard. The growing demands of the world led to the cultivation of the fertile fields of the west, the development of the mines and the building up of cities and manufactures, until to-day we have other ports whose facilities have been increased by the improvement of waterways and the building of thousands and thousands of miles of railroad. While there may be an apparent decrease in some localities and a corresponding benefit in others, yet so intimate are our connections and associations that the prosperity of one, instead of being a menace to the growth of any other locality, really aids in building it up. So diversified are our interests, so skillful our people, that we may compare the whole Union to a great workshop, one vast cultivated field of industry, all laboring, not for the advancement of separate cities or localities, but for the continued growth of our common country.