, 1889-11-09
AN ADMIRER OF THE CON
STITUTIOM

tuition of Wyoming which was sent out
as a supplement to this paper. MIR. Mar
tin is financially interested here and it was
therefore only natural that he should have
read the constitution with a great deal Of
interest He was so greatly pleased with
it that he enclosed it to the editor of the
Scotsman from which most influential of
Scottish papers the appended beautifully
written and striking article is taken. 1t
will be read by the people Of Wyoming
with the greatest interest:
"A generation has hardly passed since
the present spacious limits OF the United
States, from the Rio Grande to Passama-
quoddy Bay, and from the borders Of
Lower California to the strait of Juan de
Fuca, were finally chalked out. Thirty
years ago, the political and economic map
of the republic was, for two-thirds of its
extent, a mere sketch in outline. The
vast bulk Of the country lying between the
Mississippi aud the Pacific was not only
unoccupied, but unorganized for occupa-
ton. Most OF it was aver deemed inca
pable OF profitable occupancy in any form.
The Great American Desert" was still a
geographical expression believed to hide a
large reality. 1t had been shifted back
from the margin Of the Mississippi; but
was still supposed to inpinge upon the
Missouri, and, in the form Of waste pains,
mountains, and plateaux, to extend, with
more or less considerable intermissions,
almost to the Pacific, and from the Mexi-
can to the Canadian frontiers.
Nothing in the history of progress and
political development is to be compared
with the rapidity with which the American
people have in these years overTun their
great western domain. and planted it with
their representative institutions and other
OF civilization. The outline is
filing up with geographical and CONNER
cial details. The inorganic has become
organized. The American desert has
been huIted by advancing settlement to
the base of the Rockies, and made to
take refuge, like the bison and the Indian
on the higher and more remote recesscs
OF the mountains. Population and area
of settlement have multiplied wonder.
fully, and some ten or more new states
have been added to the Union. Only the
other day four OF these states-Washing'
ton, Montana, North and South Dakotu
exercised Tor the first time the privilege
of electing representatives to congress-
Wyoming, perhaps the most rugged and
picturesque and most scantily populated,
as well as the most recently organized Of
the territories, has Just drawn up for it
self n constitution.
There remain, within the four corner.
OF the Republic. only the territories Of
New Mexico and Arizona, upon the Mex
lean border; Utah, Idaho and Indian Ter.
ritory, to be Incorporated into the Union,
and endowed with the full rights Of
American citizenship. The special politi'
cal and social circumstance connected
with these regions, rather than backward
ness in population as compared with
Wyoming, have kept them in the rear.
But their time is coming. Mines and
rich tracts OF grazing or arabic land are
being discovered. Immigration is pouring
in. railways are being made and new con-
stitutions are on the anvil. Indian, Nor.
mon and '%greaser' must accommodate
themselves to the way of the ~intrudiug
paleface. gentle and gringo. They must
move on o. move elsewhere. The draft
ing Of a constitution for Wyoming may
thus be regarded as the preparation for
placing the corner stone on the edifce of
the Union. For new worlds to subdue it
will be necessary for the people to look
beyond those limits which their yisest
statesmen have recognized as furnishing
ample scope for their energies, and the
only true field OF their interests.
They have Alaska, it is true, but that
Arctic possession can never be more to
them than Greenland is to the Danes.