“Past performances—­the record—­furnish the best indication of a man’s mind, and the executive acts and legislative recommendations of the Governor of Ohio during the past six years have been studied with great care.  That they have won approval is a source of gratification and satisfaction that will endure.  We are in this country face to face with gigantic problems.  They cannot be left unsolved.  That would be blindness.  They cannot be considered in the gathering darkness of reaction, they must be viewed in the brightening dawn of a new day.

“Before us we have the examples of restrained liberties and of unfulfilled desires.  It is dangerous to trust reactionary forces with power.  It may become a little short of menacing to the stability of our institutions and to the orderly processes of development.  It is well to sound a word of warning, calmly but ever seriously.

“As has been observed, actions furnish the basis of determination of fitness for further service.  What better guarantee of cordial and sound industrial relations between employee and employer than legislation which follows the lines of the Ohio workmen’s compensation law?  Under its influence, industrial conditions have improved, life and limb have been conserved, the workmen’s families are happy in their security and a new era has dawned for millions of people.  It was enacted when legislation of this sort was an experiment in America.  If every state in this Union had a law of this sort our nation would have solved half of its industrial problems.  Our courts are free from the vexatious litigation that fosters criticism and they are trusted as never before in history.  It has been a factor of no small importance that enabled our state to uphold the sovereignty of the law without repressive measures directed against freedom of speech and pen.

“Educational activities have been quickened and rural life has been regenerated through modem school legislation.  To the boys and girls of our rural districts there are coming schools which will be second to none in our most progressive cities, and one of the reasons for draining of the country districts of population will be checked.  It has given an impetus to church and community life that is of greatest importance.

“These things are cited not because there is any disposition to urge that there should be encroachment by the federal government on local control.  It is the healthful, reasonable individualism of American national life that has enabled the people of this country to think for themselves.  We have no will to impair their independence.  The central government can assist and give encouragement to state movements if the men called to high positions are in sympathy with progress.  A reactionary central government can demonstrate likewise that it has no sympathy with men of vision who ever have difficult tasks in bringing about the taking of forward steps.