108 THE RETROSPECT OF THE YEAR. 



to it had struck the right chord in the minds of many. He 

 then traced the growth of a nation from its beginning and 

 showed that the substitution of industrial combination for 

 competition, now going on all over the world in such a 

 marked degree, was in strict accordance with the law of 

 natural evolution. He then attempted to prove that the 

 only natural method by which unity could be accomplished 

 would be by having the government, either national, state 

 or municipal, assume the responsibility of all our indus- 

 tries. As it now carries our letters, why not our telegrams ; 

 as it carries our small bundles, why not our large ones 

 and our persons as well ; as it furnishes us with water, 

 why not with food. This would be true democracy. 



Monday, Jan. 19,1891. — Col. Henry Stone, of South 

 Boston, lectured on "General Sheridan," who was born at 

 Albany, N. Y., of Irish parents then just arrived in this 

 country. When he was very young the family removed 

 to Ohio : his early life was one of poverty. After attending 

 school for a short time he became clerk in a country store 

 at two dollars per month; in 1848 he entered West Point 

 and was there five years. His first service was on the Pa- 

 cific coast; when the rebellion broke out in 1861 he was a 

 lieutenant in Oregon but received the appointment of cap- 

 tain and was ordered to St. Louis ; at the end of the first 

 year of the war his duties were obscure and insignificant, 

 but in May, 18G2, he was appointed colonel of the Mich- 

 igan Cavalry. From that time his progress was unexam- 

 pled ; in consequence of great skill and bravery exhibited, 

 he rose in eight months from captain to major general. 



The attention of General Grant was attracted by his 

 conduct and when the former was made general-in-chief, 

 Sheridan was called to the cavalry works of the army 

 of the Potomac. His career in that position is well known ; 



