Cedar Falls gazette. [volume] (Cedar Falls, Iowa) 1860-1895, 1870-02-11
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iowa TNenty-five Years
....r. ,a.a- A GO.

Ex-Lieut. Gov. Eastman, Of Eldo-
ia, wrote the following letter to the
Pittsfield, N. H., Times, which shows
a marked difference between the
Iowa of to-day and of twenty-five
years ago, and as to that, of the
whole country as well--such growth
and material progress as the world
never before witnessed:
ELDoRA, Iowa, Oct. L, 1869.
DEAR TIMES :-Twenty>five years
ago this day, / left Pittstield, In the
daytime, on Holt brakes stage, to
artifice my own fortune in the then
far off West. West and still west
waru rode, (but not all the way in
that STAGE for one full month, till
the 18th of Nov. 1914, crossed the
Father of Waters into the then ter
ritory of Iowa, and the same day
became an affiliated Hawkeye.
What stupendous changes have
been wrought In these fieeting years I
Then Iowa had one DISTINGUISHED
delegate In Congress. Now it has
two Senators and six Representa-
tives. Then, by loose count, large
estimate and liberal allowance for
unborn babes, Iowa claimed to have
rs, l52 souls or rather bodies, for /
will not go blind on the souls of all
Of them. Now Iowa rejoices in a
population Of / ,033, 961 free people.
Then Iowa imported bread-stufis.
Now it has a million OF cattle, q mill
lion and Il half Of sheep. and rs many
more hogs; grows annually sixty
million bushelsof corn and this year
has given to the garners af the hus-
bandman. twenty-five million bush
els OF wheat, more than two thirds
Of which will he exported to feed the
hungry world, .'...
Then l.a people Of Iowa moved
and travelled ia wagons and i'm tie
saddle, across the country aud thro'
the streams without roadt or bridges
Now the State Is gridironed over
with more than loo miles OF iron
rails, upon which more than two
hundred locomotives are In perpetual
motion, drawing heightened trains
of commerce to the marta. Then
TWO thirds Of Iowa was owned and
peopled by numerous tribes Of wild
Indians. Now Iowa has one hun
dred counties in which municipal
hw is "adn4ini.tered, and liberty
guaranteed to every one BY al en-
lighteEed people. Then Iowa had
no system OF common schools. Now
it has cash fund Of $780,, los and
land fund not sold, OF ct $3.50 per
acre, $4,000, COO, equaling over four
and half millions of dollars. It
has over 500 school houses, worth
over $4,000, 600, In which, by law,
school must be kept at least six
months in each year. 1t expends
over $73Q,000 annually In building
and repairing school houses. It has
about 375, 900 pupils, and employs
10000 teachers, and pays them one
million, three hundred thousand
dollars anuually. Besides this. Iowa
has siXty-thrce Academies, Colleges
and Universities, and 22l newspa.
pers with asylums for the deaf, the
mute, the blind and the insane, with
mahy other public edifces; and owcs
no deJi3.
twenty-five years ego Iowa was
on the extreme border Of civilization.
All west of it for ! 800 miles to the
Pacific Ocean was one vast mountain
wilderness. Now that is all States
and territories, teeming with mill
lions Of civilized people subject 10
the municipal law. Then there were
but two States and one Territory
west Of the Mississippi. Now there
are eleven States and nine organized
Territories. Surely Westward the
star Of empire takes It's way.
Then the railroad car ran from
Boston to Erie, in Pennsylvania
Now it crosses the continent and
waters its steed in the Pacific. Then
the telegraph wire extended all the
way from Washington to Baltimore,
and began to talk by saying James
X. Polk was dominated. Now Il
stretches under the ocean and around
the world.
Then this nation was half slave
and half free. Now Mason and Dix
OTIS lire IL blotted out, and every
man owns himself. Twenty-Five
years ago this government was an
experiment, and reprOach and by
word In the mouths Of Kings and
M0narchs. Through great tribula-
ton it has come out refined and puri-
fed, and now before the world it
stands first in wisdom, greatest in
power, and noblcst in generosity.
It's Statesmen are teaching the Mon
archs of the world, and the power of
its political ecouomy, like the rock
cut out Of the mountain, is rolling
on and onward, with majestic sway,
and crowns and thrones and princi-
palities are fleeing before it, like
shadows Of night before the bright
morning sun, and crumbling and
wasting away, and the surging masses
of the people Of all nations are
stretching out their arms to embrace