ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 265 



When this beautiful and perfect building was erected 

 America was on the globe but was not on the map. Our 

 splendid continent lay smiling and waiting for the devel- 

 opment of the race which, in the years to come, would 

 teach the principles of freedom and self-government to 

 the world. 



The time in 1492 was propitious. The capture of Con- 

 stantinople by the Turks, in 1453, had scattered the phil- 

 osophers of the Greco-Roman empire all over Europe. 

 The opening of the New World brought with it a new era 

 to mankind. It is hard for us to realize the condition of 

 the world even in the brightest days of antiquity. 



Augustus Caesar never had a shirt on his back nor a 

 window pane in any of his palaces. He never saw an ear 

 of corn, a newspaper, nor a potato. Even the Turk who 

 completed the downfall of Rome never saw a pipe and 

 had not learned to love the American weed which now 

 makes the life of the Mohammedan happy on earth. Even 

 sixty-seven years ago there were no railways on the 

 globe, but now, if these arteries of commerce should 

 cease to circulate for a week the misery of the loss would 

 be beyond endurance. 



Today the aspiring candidate for a presidential nom- 

 ination sits in his distant home, and with a telephone at 

 his ear hears the shouts of his applauding friends a thou- 

 sand miles away, at a great national convention. 



Time is not measured by years but by events. Months 

 and years go by preparing for great events and when 

 they come they come like an electric shock. 



Discoveries are made — some by accident and some by 

 study. Those discoveries which are sought for are gen- 

 erally the most important. An astronomer may discover 

 a star which passes into the field of his telescope, but the 

 discovery has no such effect as that of the man of science 

 who weighs and estimates the perturbations of the plan- 



