96 NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 



SPEECH OF HONORABLE THEODORE E. BURTON 



United States Senator from the State of Ohio 



SENATOR BURTON: Mr. Toastmaster and Gentlemen of the 

 National Academy of Sciences: It is gratifying to every after- 

 dinner speaker to know that every subject is capable of a great 

 variety of interpretations. In the first instance, taking advantage 

 of this liberty, I wish to dwell upon a theory, involved but ac- 

 curate, which emphasizes the importance of your calling. I 

 refer to the dependence of popular government and liberty upon 

 the progress of science. That progress begins with the pure 

 sciences, then the applied sciences, then the varied labors of the 

 inventor, the mechanician, and along with these mankind obtains 

 a development under which he realizes his greater importance, 

 the sovereign becomes less and the individual more. 



In the early ages there were the Republics of Athens and 

 Rome, but popular government was limited to the size of a single 

 assembly. Widespread enjoyment of freedom under a great 

 Republic like ours was only possible with the development of 

 means of transportation; with the printing press; with the de- 

 velopment of manufactures, and of the work of the merchants, 

 under which those who had belonged to a servile class became an 

 important part in the body politic. Kings and sovereigns rec- 

 ognized that it was necessary to give to them their proper place; 

 that they increased the wealth or power of the country; that they 

 could not depend upon conquest alone, but needed the more 

 peaceful fruits of industry. 



Francis Baker lived under two sovereigns who wielded ab- 

 solute power — Queen Elizabeth and James I; but he blazed the 

 way for the development of modern science and invention, and in 

 the reign which followed there was an uprising against tyranny 

 and absolute power. 



Civil government, in its better development and greater equal- 

 ity, in all these things which make a man happier and more loyal 

 to his government, has kept pace with the locomotive, with the 



