The Leavenworth weekly times. [volume] (Leavenworth, Kan.) 1870-1880, 1878-09-05

When IN the administrations OF JOnn vler l
and James X. Polk, he represented Penn
sylvania district in the Congress OF the .
| nited States. He might pass stIll as a 1
young man ii his luminous record, made in |
two States and in both branches of Con-
eress, did not enable Us 10 measure t..e ripe !
three score years that crown mis- honoEed |
l.. I'd.
To trace the history and development of
Minnesota from Its organization in 1919, |
would lar transcend the proprities or even
the possibilities OF this occasion. But who
ever will enter into the details of the pro-
gress here made will find one of the most
remarkable advances of civilization ever
realized, and in a period so brief that it
does not comprehend the lie Of one genera
ton. In 1919 your territory contained but
twenty-six hundred inhabitants; to-day
your State has seven Hundred thousand
in lS49 YOU raised fourteen hundred BUSH
els OF wheat; last year you raised thirty
one million bushels; and these figures,
striking, even startling as thy are, form but
an index TO your marvellous progress in all
Inns Of material wealth. The pages oil
your sensus tables seem like a romance;
the statistics of your progress dazzle the
reader with their proportions, and almost
challenge his credulity. at every column
he peruses.
i am addressing an agricultural COM
munity. During all the depression OF
trade and commerce manufactures prevail
Tor these past hive years, you have steadily
progressed in comfort, independence and
wealth. While thousands elsewhere have
lacked employment, and many | fear have
lacked bread, no able-bodied man in Min
nesota has been without remunerative la
Dor, and no one has gone to bed hungry.
Your pursuits and their results form the
basis OF the ideal republic happily, indeed,
realized within your own borders. The
tendency OF all your industry is toward the
accumulation OF independent competency,
and does not favor the upholding OF colos-
sal fortunes. You are dealing daily with
the essential things of life, and are not
warped in your judgment nor detected
from your course by speculative and illus
DRY schemes OF advancement and gain.
You are land owners, free holders,
very proud title that comes to us with
centuries of civilization and strength
"a title that every man in this
country should make il his object to
acquire and to honor. Self-government
among the owners of the soil in America is
an instinct, and where the ownership is
widely distributed, good government is the
rule. Whatever disturbances therefore may
threaten the peace and order of society,
whatever wild theories, transplanted from
other climes, may seek foothoid here, the
Republic OF the United States rests secure
ly on that basis of agriculture where the
farmers OF the Revolution and the trainers
OF the Constitution placed it. The man
who possesses broad acres which he has
earned by the sweat OF his own brow, Is not
apt to fall in with the doctrine OF the COM
mnnist, that no one has a right to owner
ship in the soil the man who has the pro
duct OF his labor in wheat and in corn, in
pork and in beef, in hides and in wool
commanding gold and silver as they always
will in the markets of the worlds not TO
be led astIay with theories OF fiat paper and
absolute money, but instinctively consigns
such wild yagaries to the appropriate do
main Of flat folly and absolute nonsense. .
The farmers OF the Republic will control
its destiny. Agriculture, commerce and
manufactures, are ehe three pursuits that
enrich nation-but the greatest of these
is agriculture; for without its products the
spindle cannot turn and the ship will not
tive element in society, and in the end is
guiding, restraining, controlling force in
government. Against storms Of popular
fury; against frenzied madness that seeks
collision with established order; against
theories OF administration that have
drenched other lands in blood; against the
spirit OF enarchy that would sweep away
the landmarks and safeguards of Christian
Il.
farmers Of the United States will stand as
the shield and the bulwark-themselve
the willing subjects Of law, and therefore
its safest and strongest administrators.
Gradually the Government of the Re-
public is passing under the control OF the
Farmers of the Mississippi valley. Indeed
it is practically there to-day. The swell
ing and on-rushing tide OF population is
towards the broad plains and the rich acres
that lie between the two mountain ranges
OF the continent. The soil is so fertile, the
land so inviting. the area is so broad, that
no man may dare calculate the possibili-
ties Of this great region either as respects
production or population. Your own
State, peOp!ed more no more densely than
New York, would have Il population of
nine millions; peopled as densely as Mass
achusetts, you would have a population OF
sixteen millions. With the transfer of po-
litical control from the old States to the
new, there is also tranferred vast weight
OF responsibility. 1t is yours to-day; it
viii be yours still more tomorrow. Take
il; use it wisely and well for the advance
ment Of the whole-for the honor
OF all. The patriotic traditions of tho
''old thirteen" that. fought the battles OF
the Revolution, formed the Union of the |
States, and planted Liberty in the organic |
Law, will be your safest guide-your
highest inspiration. Many of you to-day |
mingle with your love for Minnesota, your
earlier affection for the old home and the |
old State far to the East, where an honored |
ancestry lie buried, and where the tender
est memories cluster around the familiar |
scenes Of days long past. /, is this kim
ship of blood, these ties OF relationship, |
that make US indeed one people-uniting |
the East and the West, the North and the |
South, in the indissoluble bonds of a COM
mon, and trust always beneficient Gov
eminent. /