VII. Speech at the Washington County Fair, Sandy Hill, N. Y., August 27, 1907. Fellow Citizens: I am very glad that the first County Fair that it is my good fortune to visit should be held in Washington County, the home of my early childhood. When I came down the streets a few minutes ago on the way to these grounds forty years were obliterated, and in front of the old barn I saw a little child being lifted by his father, to sit upon the creamcolored family horse, and I saw a little chair upon a small stoop in which that little child used to sit. I heard, dimly, but memory could almost reconstruct the scene perfectly, the strains of martial music, and saw in my mind's eye the brave men gathered together, and not for show, solemnly surrounded by tearful friends in the awful hour of the Nation's peril. Men gathered to say good-by, and the pastor, my father, close at hand saying a word of comfort as those men were ready to march to the front in the defence of the Union,—dimly, and yet I can see it. And I remember in a faint way, but still the agony of it impressed my childish heart, the awful strain, the cry of anguish when the news came of the death of our martyred President. Though we may travel widely through the world, and life may bring to us many changes of scene and vicissitudes of fortune, yet we never grow old in our hearts. And nothing can take away from us the memories of our early years or destroy the affection that we hold,— whatever changes of population or changes in external conditions may affect the scenes of our early life, for that which, as a child, we learned to call home. And to me, the world in those days was bounded by Glens Falls and Fort Edward, and the centre of it was Sandy Hill. Now, I did n't come here to-day to tell you how to run your industries, or to manage your farms. You know a great deal more about that than I do, and because I have been chosen Governor of the State, I don't assume suddenly to have acquired a great deal of information about your business. You know what is good for you in your daily vocation; you know what you need, and I don't assume to appear here as an instructor. I do come here simply to show my pleasure at the opportunity of greeting my fellow citizens, and to talk over with you in an informal and direct way some of the matters that immediately concern you and me in connection with the administration of our government. We do not properly consider government as something aloof from us. We constitute the people of the State, and there is no one who is not affected by good or bad administration. I hope the time will come when every one engaged in industrial employment will have closely at his heart the needs of those engaged in agriculture, and those who are devoted to the cultivation of the soil should have consideration and concern for the lot of those who are sweating in the factory and shop. We are necessary to each other. We are one people, and we should learn to know that in connection with matters of government there can be no division into classes, either according to fortune, or according to lot and vocation. But we shall be successful or the reverse, according to the realization of our common citizenship and our determination all to pull together to make this the greatest and most prosperous country the world has ever known. Now, the principles of government are very simple. The principles of government may be difficult in their application, but they are obvious to any student, to anyone who pauses for a moment to consider the affairs of his State. Fundamentally, the great thing is local government. When we think of administration, we are accustomed to look far away from home, to Albany, to a remote place where sit the leaders of the State. The place to look primarily in order to secure good government and good administration is at your own home. We have great need to emphasize the importance of local government and the sense of accountability to each locality or community of those who in that locality or community have immediate charge of local affairs. Now it is a principle of administration that you want to have done locally all that you can get done locally, and as little done away from home as may be necessary to the maintenance of free institutions. That is the way to have good government, and therefore, to the extent of my ability, during the legislative session, I aimed to refer to local communities the matters which should be within their exclusive control. It is not the proper thing to run to Albany to see whether the salary of some local official should be increased. It is not the proper thing to run to Albany to get a special bill relating to this or that matter, which properly should be committed to the discretion of the local board. The true rule of government is to have the local board attend to the things that affect the locality, and to have the people of the community hold that local board responsible for the way it does business. It has been said to me again and again, not by representatives of this county I will say, but by representatives of other counties: "Why, that will never do. You don't know our condition. If the local board is to attend to this matter, what will become of us? We can't get anything done!" My friends, that means that you have no confidence in free institutions. You can't expect good republican government, unless in each locality there is good citizenship enough to hold men accountable for the performance of a public duty in connection with those matters which every citizen knows affect him and his business in the running of the community in which he has his home. And therefore I say the first principle of |