The Hillsdale standard. [volume] (Hillsdale, Mich.) 1851-1909, 1865-03-14
The Great West.


Mr.. Theodore Tilton, Editor of tn
New York Independent, has just
ed home from his visit out West. Th'
following account of his trip show
that he is slightly " enthused:"
"A trip offour thousand miles through
the heart of the West awakens a kind
ling thought ofthe greatness of the Re
public. The West is the Empire
fact unacknowledged at the East, be
cause the East knows not the West
But an impartial traveller soon perceive,
that the East is not the country. New
York and New England are but tn,
thumb and forefnger; the West is thu
rest of the hand.
"A Western visit in summer is bes
for seeing the country in winter, bes
for seeing the people. And are they
not the healthiest, friendliest, most hos
pitable of the human race? What 9
"Scotch welcome" may be, we know
not; but if better than Western well
come, it is better than plain man de
serves. Jostle a Westerner in the
street, and at once you are acquaintan-
ces; meet him the next day, and you
are old friends. A shake of the hand
in the West has more grip in it than be.
tween New York and Bangor. Child
of the East, the West is the chief
crown of the parent. The universal
New England clement westward is not
only the best part of the West, but the
best part of New England; for only the
courageous, the energetic, and the con.
quering have had the will to quit East.
ern homes for Western prairies. Thus
the early Pilgrims to New England
have their truest sons in the later Pill
grims from New England. A Yankee
therefore, does not come to his fullest
stature in Yankeeland the grown Yam.
kee is the Western. AT the East he is
geranium in pot, thrifty and prim
at the West, a geranium in garden,
where he grows rank, exuberant, and
generous. New countries greaten mems
souls.
Does the West seek heraldic sign?
Let it choose shock of corn. o boun.
teous land of small houses and large
barns! So fertile is the Great Valley,
that as 'Jerrold says Of Australia, "On
lY tickle the earth with hoe, and she
laughs with a. harvest!" Though beat
EN- down from their full height by SHOWS
cornstalks are yet standing in January
so high that one riding among them on
tall horse, and rising in the stirrups,
cannot touch the tops The prairies-
commonplace, sad and sublime-ave
the garden of the world! May they
ever rnake farmers rich, and cattle fat
Trade, the maker of cities, has am
phibious opportunities in the West
The Mississippi and its tributaries yield
forty-eight thousand miles of waters
angered by steamboat whecls--a chan.
mel of navigation long enough to twice
grid the globe! Already the great
lakes arc partners with the Atlantic, ir
a direct trade with Europe. The rail
roads are wearing out their tracks witt
hand work, and paying State debts
with their profits. Chicago counts 25C
trains coming and going daily, at hel
depots, and says to New Yorker
Z" Sir, you have not halfso many !" And
New Yorker must say to this won
drous water-lily ofLake Michigan, GAL
hail Chicago-bazaar Of the West, and
miracle of cities 70
The daily paper of New York scat
ters its leaves very tbinly through the
West. Mr.. Greely's Weekly Tri5un.
goes everywhere, but the metropolitan
dailies set westward only until, like {
tide-streak, they meet the counter-cur
rent of the Cincinnati press, chiefly the
Commercial and Gozet,e; which in turn
cover the country as the waters do the
sea, till they meet the wide spread Chi
cago Tribune; which, in like manner
divides the Southwest with the st
Louis Republican and the Democrat. =
All these journals are able and infuen
tial-growing richer than their breth
rem in New York. The great influence
which the New York p.ess undoubted
ly exerts up, II the whole country is, il
the west an influence not directly upor
the people, hnt upon the journals. Blu
even this influence is diminishing, no
increasing. New York perhaps will al
ways remain the metropolis of the Un
icn but it can never become like Paris
to France.
With sorrow we confess that th,
Legislature of Illinois is body of fine
looking men. than the Legislature o
New York-better heads for photo
graph. And if Washington shonld b.
captured by rebels, the Missouri Con
stitutional Convention would be no bat
exchange for Congress-for then w
would get the prohibitory Amendmen
without further delay. Throughout TIN
West, patriotism burns like flame
as if it caught extra fire from the sun
set. We may be pardoued for men
tioning that good woman now livin,
in Abraham Lincoln's home at Spring
field, planted handful of mornin.
glory seeds at the foot of pillar by tn
rear-stoop, and was surprised to fin'
the mass of growing vines howerinor i'm