The Centennial Vision for a Frontier Metropolis

On the occasion of the Centennial Anniversary of our National Independence, we come together to celebrate the birth of our nation. Looking into the future, I behold the state of Washington shining as a star of the first magnitude in the bright galaxy of States. Her hidden resources developed and utilized by the plastic hand of man, her deserts made to blossom as the rose, when the busy hum of the workshop and the factory will be throughout the land, when her broad area will be thronged with teeming millions, when her metropolis will throw out her network of commerce to all the civilized world.

We need reform in our commerce with foreign nations. If a farmer goes to the merchant and buys his goods on credit, and the products of his farm fail to meet his obligations, he finds himself financially embarrassed. The same law of trade applies to nations. Stop importing costly and useless fabrics and other foreign productions that we could do without, and turn the balance of trade in our favor, and we will soon stop the cry for more currency. I appeal to the ladies present for their aid in this great reform. I would not object to a lady putting twenty-five yards of American prints into a dress, if she would agree to wear no more imported silks.