The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1886-01-01
there many indelible evidences of
loyalty to government in the scars and

loyalty to government in the scars anG
armless sleeves.
Is this the reason why we are brand.
ed as revolutionists and taunted with
disloyalty?
1t has been my fortune to have wit
messed many distinguished bodies OF
representatives but have never seen
body of men characterized by high
erloyalty to the Union and in the main
characterized by more intelligence than
the Sioux Falls Convention and
the present Legislature.
Men came there from all the
walks of life. The lawyer
left his brief to attend. The clergy
man his pulpit. The farmer his
plow. The mechanic his shop.
The merchant his storehouse. The
banker his ledger. The editor his
press. And the college president his
classes.
Our people will never be classed with
revolutionists by thoughtful and truth
full men. Too many of our citizens
paid a high price to save the country
from the hands of revolutionists. No
sir; and if the time ever comes again
when foreign or domestic foes seek to
destroy the Republic, no state will
respond more freely to the call of their
country, and no men will keep truer
step to the music of the Union than
Dakotans.
Like the Roman Republic by wise
legislation in the free gifts of lands,
the disbanded Union army was quite
largely distributed in this province
and have become citizens and hus
bandmen here without forgetting the
lessons of the past.
OF such men you can never make
revolutionists any more than you can
of Logan and Hawley, Of Bragg and
Slocum.
Some one asks why we are so anx-
ious for admission? If a people that
have fulfilled all the conditions Of ter
ritorial tutelage, who have the wealth,
the numbers and the intelligence en-
titling them to emancipation should
willingly and uncomplianingly remain
in that inferior condition, it would be
an evidence of their incapacity for
emancipation and self-government, and
be cause of serious apprehension
with patriotic statesmen in other
states.
And 1 maintain that the founders of
the republic never contemplated the
possibility that territory should re-
main long in that condition. 1t is sub
versive of the true principles of this
government. Large, populous, wealthy
and dependent provinces are alike
dangerous to the governed and the
governing.
Iappeal to the people of the older
states and especially to those two
great states which furnished the Presi-
dent and the late Vice President of the
Union. Iappeal to the grand empire
state from which so many of us imi-
grated in our young manhood, to do
us justice; I appeal to the chivalric
state of Indiana which has sent to the
Territory so many of her sons and her
daughters.
In fine, l appeal to the good and loyal
men from every state no matter what
their past or present political affilica-
tions may be to do us justice, to pre-
serve the land marks of the govern
ment.
am not unmindful of the opposi-
tion which the admission of Dakota
will meet in Congress. The older
states are beginning to look with ap-
prehension on the rapid development Of
the west for two reasons. First, be-
cause the admission of new states de-
creases the power and Importance Of
the older ones and again the emigra-
tion to the west is taking much of the
best and energetic blood of the east
away to new fields of enterprise.
There are other causes for opposi-
tion, some of which will be admitted
and others evaded.
One is that probably our state will
be Republican in politics. A reason
that no patriot will or can assign, from
the fact that when men oppose our ad-
mission on such grounds it must be
conceded to be revolutionary and
destructive to good government.
Another cause assigned is that the
presentation of our claims to Congress
in the mode we have adopted is revo-
lutionary.
Possibly the very men who make
this charge are disappointed and
chagrined that our methods have been
so conservative and moderate. 1t is
possible that such men desired some
revolutionary acts upon our part that
would divert the attention of good
men from their past record and post
pone if not absolutely defeat our ad-
mission by disarming our friends and
arming our foes.
The Constitution Of the United States
provides that Congress may admit new
states but there is no law as to the
mode or manner in which the
application shall be made and the rule
has been different. In some cases the
territory has made the application
as we have, in other cases and perhaps
the majority of cases Congress has in.
itiated the proceedings.