is to be computed at 3 1/2 per cent of such total estimated cost, and the value of the supervision at 1 1/2 per cent of such total cost. 4. It is expressly understood and agreed that the appropriation by the state of Nebraska for the work to be done at this time is limited to twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000), and that the construction and completion of said building and the liability of the first party to the second party is subject to future appropriations. 5. The second party will furnish as soon as practicable, a good and sufficient bond in the penal sum of ten thousand dollars ($10,000.00) in a surety company to be approved by the first party, conditioned on the faithful performance of his duties as architect and as a guaranty of the safe and sound construction of the building. In witness whereof, the first party has caused these presents to be signed by its president and attested by its secretary and corporate seal pursuant to a resolution of the executive board duly adopted on the date first above mentioned, and the second party has hereunto set his hand the day and year first above written.  NEBRASKA
STATE
HISTORICAL
SOCIETY,By
GEORGE L.
MILLER, President.Attest:
CLARENCE S.
PAINE, Secretary.GEORGE A. BERLINGROF, Second Party.
On this 22d day of December, 1908, before me, the subscriber, a notary public duly commissioned, qualified for and residing in the state and county aforesaid, personally appeared George A. Berlinghof, to me known to be the identical person who executed the foregoing instrument, and acknowledged that he executed the same as his voluntary act and deed. Witness my hand and notarial seal the day and year last above written. MAX
WESTERMAN, Notary Public.(Notarial Seal.) Commission expires August 3, 1909. An adjourned meeting of the board of
directors was held at the office of the Society, in Lincoln,
Nebraska, De- |
Chancellor E. B. Andrews moved that Professor H. W. Caldwell be made secretary pro tempore. Seconded by S. L. Geisthardt. Carried. Minutes of the meeting of December 22 were read and approved. Mr. Geisthardt made a statement of conditions confronting the board, and then, after some questions and discussion, Chancellor E. B. Andrews moved that the board reconsider its action of December 22, 1908, authorizing the building committee to enter into a contract with the George A. Shaul Construction Co., under their bid of $19,000. Seconded by S. L. Geisthardt. Carried. Chancellor E. B. Andrews then withdrew his motion, awarding the contract to the Shaul Construction Co., thus leaving the bids pending before the board as on December 22, 1908. Chancellor Andrews then made the following motion: WHEREAS, The building committee has not been able to obtain satisfactory guaranties for granite for the completion of the base of the whole building, and WHEREAS, There is only one bid before the board, accompanied by certified check, as required by the terms and conditions of bidding; Therefore, I move that all bids be rejected, and that new bids be invited for the construction of the base as specified, exclusive of granite. Seconded by Governor Sheldon. Carried. He then made the following motion, which was seconded by Governor George L. Sheldon. "I move further that the building committee, in connection with the architect, be authorized and instructed to invite proposals and |
procure options, if possible, from responsible companies or persons willing to furnish granite for a period of years, such proposals to be available either to this board or to any responsible contractor." Carried. A third motion was then made by Chancellor Andrews, as follows: "I move that the building committee be authorized and empowered to pay for the option provided for in the motion just now passed such amount as they shall consider fitting and proper." Seconded by S. L. Geisthardt. Carried. Moved that we now adjourn. Carried. H.
W. CALDWELL, Secretary pro
tempore.Approved January 13, 1909. A regular meeting of the board of
directors was held at the rooms of the Society in Lincoln,
Nebraska, January 13, 1909, present, Robert Harvey, vice
president, presiding, Professor H. W. Caldwell, S. L.
Geisthardt, Chancellor Samuel Avery, the secretary, and A.
E. Sheldon of the building committee. |
his bid of $10,120, whenever said Louis Jensen shall have complied with the prescribed conditions." Seconded by Mr. Geisthardt. Carried. Mr. Sheldon presented a bill of $86.82 for expenses to Washington, D. C., and Richmond, Virginia. The secretary moved that the bill be allowed. Seconded by Mr. Geisthardt. Carried. A motion to adjourn offered by the secretary, seconded by Mr. Geisthardt, was carried. CLARENCE
S. PAINE, Secretary.Approved April 13, 1909. The thirty-second annual meeting was
held at the Temple Theater, Lincoln, Nebraska, January
12-13, 1909. |
with their recapitulation or with comment. The record speaks for itself. For any needed elaboration which may be deemed necessary for the better information of the membership, as to the past work and present and future needs of the Society, I may safely rely upon members of the board of directors, and upon Secretary Paine and others who are fully equipped for imparting it. I make only one exception to my purpose not to discuss the work of the Society in detail when mere mention is made of the beginning of the construction of the new building for the Society for which an appropriation of $25,000 was made by the last legislature. A condition of the appropriation required that the Society be furnished by the citizens of Lincoln with an adequate and suitable site for the new building or it would lapse. The necessity was absolute. The facts were made known to the people of this city and especially to a few public-spirited citizens--to which class every great and growing city largely owes its prosperity and power--who stepped forward promptly as one man to meet the demands of the situation, and the Historical Society building became an assured fact. For my own part I have a very warm side for the thousands of men in this state and for the millions of men in the nation of whom these eminent citizens of Lincoln furnish a fine type. As a matter of fact all men of brains and capacity fully share my own pride in them. I am sure I should not commit a second offense as an amateur parliamentarian by ruling out of order a resolution of thanks from this Society to those enterprising citizens for their valuable services to the people of Nebraska in a critical emergency. Their names will not escape their appropriate place in future time when the roll of honor is called of those who made possible at this particular time the home of solid and enduring granite which is about to rise upon its foundation for the safeguarding and preservation, through all the future of our young commonwealth, of the memorials of its history, so precious to the living and so priceless to the unborn of this and future generations, which it is the exalted purpose and business of this Society to secure, at very reasonable cost and by every earnest endeavor. I indulge the hope and confide in the belief and expectation that Governor Shallenberger and the honorable gentlemen in control of the legislature will permit no backward step by any act of omission or commission that will delay for a single day the rapid progress of this building to early completion. This consummation would be sure to arouse the aspirations of a dozing public opinion to a greater appreciation of the great need, to realize the actual aspirations of the people of the state, and to awaken them to a new and higher sense of its dignity |
and power. In the presence of this building, rising upon its foundation into broad and beautiful proportions, nothing could prevent the early extirpation of the ramshackle ruin that projects itself as a hideous tumor on the superb site of a new capitol. For that edifice, massive, stately, is already in the minds of thousands of patriotic citizens as an early-coming symbol of the greatness of Nebraska in resources, in high achievements, in the evolution from naked barbarism and savagery of every element of a rising civilization of abounding promise, the unchallenged peer of any other purely agricultural state in the sisterhood of the Union. In closing the last address that I shall make before this honorable Society from the chair of its president, I wish to renew an expression of my great and grateful appreciation of the honor conferred upon me when I was chosen to this position by your favor. Words would fail me should I attempt to convey to you my deep sense of obligation for all the kindness and courtesy which I have received from this Society, its board of directors, executive officers and servants, during my terms of service. In affirming loyalty to the duty and industry of all these, I am almost ashamed to say that mistaken economy and want of fair play makes it clear to my own mind that the salaried servants of the Historical Society are not much more than half paid. It has been more than intimated in high quarters of political leadership that the platform of the political party now in control of the state government may furnish excuse for an undue economy of expenditures, insomuch that there is some apprehension, which I respectfully decline to share, that it may check our advance all along the line of educational progress by a narrow and cheap parsimony. But I must not detain you. I was about to say that I feel warranted by the use of my name as candidate for reëlection to the high office of president of the Nebraska State Historical Society to repeat what I have already said to the board of directors, that for purely personal and private reasons, which are of no concern whatever to you or the public, I must not be considered for election for another term. In many ways and for many reasons, final separation from the associations which I have greatly prized and the memory of which will be forever dear to me causes me sincere and deep regret. In both personal and official relations they have been a continual pleasure and satisfaction to me. I can anly (sic) add, in the good words of Tiny Tim, "God bless you, every one." Rev. William Murphy, of Seward, Nebraska, read the following paper |
It is noticeable in human affairs that
men, when on the point of assuming grave responsibilities,
or of discharging duties involving great and lasting
consequences, or of meeting appalling dangers, perceive a
feeling of oppressive awe overwhelming them. The analysis of
this feeling discloses a consciousness, how obscure soever
it may be in some cases, of responsibility to a higher
authority and of limitation of powers necessary to the
accomplishment. They consequently seek an increase of
physical force, where physical force is sufficient; or of
universal sentiment, where moral force is required; usually
of both; and, when results to be attained are most
momentous, every people has sought supernal aid. In all
important public matters the people of antiquity had
recourse to haruspicy, except the Israelites, who had
recourse to the oracle. This custom, then, is deeply
embedded in the nature of man. Cyrus would interpret the
rolling thunder as the voices of the gods directing him to
invade the boundaries of the Medes. Just before the battle
of the pyramids, Napoleon reminded his soldiers that from
their heights the eyes of forty generations were looking
down upon them. Urging the adoption of the declaration, John
Adams said: "Sir, before God, I believe the hour has come."
Promulgating the decree of emancipation, Abraham Lincoln
said: "And upon this act ..... I invoke the considerate
judgment of mankind and the gracious favor of Almighty God."
In the formula of last wills, Judge Maxwell, following the
precedent of the canons, begins with the phrase: "In the
name of God. Amen." With few exceptions the framers of the
constitutions of states, realizing the gravity and the
magnitude of the work imposed upon them, felt the need of
divine assistance and guidance and so declared in specific
terms; |
for they believed that "power" was "given them by the Lord, and strength by the most high, who" would "examine" their "works, and search out" their "thoughts." All of our state constitutions, except those of New Hampshire, Vermont, and West Virginia, have preambles containing most remarkable declarations. The articles of confederation had no preamble. As in law a preamble states the reason and intent thereof, it may be permitted to infer that a constitution states in its preamble the reason and intent of it. In nearly all the preambles the origin of government and the source of power are declared, together with ardent expressions of the most profound gratitude to that origin and source. These burning expressions represent a whole people "bowing their heads beneath the mighty hand of God," confessing that "there is no power but from Him" and that "by Him lawgivers decree just things." The declaration of independence, which may be considered the preamble to the constitution of the United States, blazing the way for the states, appeals "to the supreme judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor." Alabama, bowed down in reverence, avows that she "is profoundly grateful to Almighty God for this inestimable right,"-- of establishing a constitution--and invokes "His favor and guidance..." Arkansas is alike grateful "for the privilege of choosing our own form of government "; Indiana, "for the free exercise of the right to choose our own form of government"; Kansas, "for our civil and religious privileges." Missouri proceeds "with profound reverence for the supreme ruler of the universe," and is "grateful |
for His goodness"; and Wisconsin is grateful "for our freedom." Iowa is "grateful for the blessings hitherto enjoyed, and feeling our dependence upon Him for a continuation of those blessings..." "The people of Connecticut, acknowledging with gratitude the good providence of God, in having permitted us to enjoy a free government..." Rhode Island and New Jersey are "grateful to Almighty God for the civil and religious liberty which he hath so long permitted us to enjoy," and the former, furthermore, "is looking to Him for a blessing upon our endeavors to secure and transmit the same to succeeding generations." Georgia is relying upon the protection and guidance of Almighty God"; Louisiana is "grateful to Almighty God for the civil, political and religious liberties we enjoy... " Mississippi declares herself not only "grateful," but, further, invokes His "blessing on our work"; New York is grateful to Him "for our freedom"; Montana, "for the blessings of liberty"; North Dakota, "for our civil and religious liberty"; Maryland, South Dakota, Minnesota, for the same. Illinois declares herself "grateful to Almighty God for the civil, political and religious liberty which He hath so long permitted us to enjoy," and, in addition, is "looking to Him for a blessing upon our endeavors to secure and transmit the same unimpaired to succeeding generations"; and to the same "Almighty God" is Pennsylvania grateful "for civil and religious liberty"; more specifically Delaware enumerates that "through divine goodness all men have by nature the rights of worshipping and serving their creator according to the dictates of 'their consciences, of enjoying and defending life and liberty, of acquiring and protecting reputation and property," and Maine is "acknowledging, with grateful hearts,, the goodness of the sovereign ruler of the uni- |
verse in affording us an opportunity, so favorable to the design, and imploring His aid in its accomplishment." Massaschusetts effusively declares herself "acknowledging, with grateful hearts, the goodness of the great legislator of the universe, in affording us, in the course of His providence, an opportunity, deliberately and peaceably, without fraud, violence, or surprise, of entering into an original, explicit and solemn compact with each other, and of forming a new constitution of civil government, for ourselves and posterity; and devoutly imploring His direction in so interesting a design." In nearly similar language North Carolina avows herself "grateful to Almighty God, the sovereign ruler of nations, for the preservation of the American Union, and the existence of our civil, political and religious liberties, and acknowledging our dependence upon Him for the continuance of those blessings to us and our posterity," while South Carolina declares herself "grateful to God for liberty..." Texas "invoking the blessings of Almighty God"; Virginia "with gratitude to God for His past favors, and invoking His blessings upon the result of our deliberations..." Washington is "grateful to the supreme ruler of the universe for our liberties"; and Wyoming is "grateful to God for our civil, political and religious liberties." Finally, Nebraska, with California, Idaho and Nevada, is "grateful to Almighty God for our freedom." These preambles are the most deliberate and most solemn declarations of a whole people in their sovereign capacity. They demonstrate that the people who utter them are profoundly religious and in the deity recognize the true and only source of government. Even though the language of Maryland, Massachusetts and South Carolina contains reference to a "solemn compact," nevertheless they also declare, that there is a "supreme ruler |
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