Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1890-07-11

The Journal of education has some
thing to say about the naming of state
capitals which has historic interest as
we'll as containgng good suggestions. As
North Dakota comes in for a full share
of criticism, a quotation of the entire art
icle is made:
Sixteen state capitals seem to be al
there are whose names have in any sense
an American significance. For the names
OF the tWenty-SiX others our countrymen
have gone to England, France, Holland,
Germany, Rome,G Greece, and the New les
lament.
OF the twenty-three presidents we have
had, Jefferson, Madison, jackson, and
Lincoln are the only ones whose names
stand for state capitals, and Montgomery
is the only other historic American so re-
membered. Stephen F.. Austin, John Har-
ris, and two men whose names We're Nash
and Lansing, for whom the capitals Of
Texas, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and
Michigan respectively were named, are not
historic Americans. Topeka, Tallahassee,
and Sacramento have a sound of the alb
original and conquest stages of the coun-
try, and ATLANTA" indissolubly attaches
itself to our continent. Pierre (South Da-
kota's capital) was formerly Fort Pierre,
oo i . 4olA w oolPooS / wac liuUlCu kOl
some worthy soldier or explorer; and we
all know who Carson was. Boston and
Trenton are names naturalized through the
blood OF the revolution. 1t is as appropri-
ate that one OF the states should honor Sir
Walter Raleigh by giving his name to its
capital, as that the capitals of two others
are Columbus and Columbia.
When Montana was preparing for state
hood there was some satisfaction in the
prospect that another town would be
chosen for the seat of government than
the one bearing the name OF the good-for-
nothing heroine of the Greek epic. But
when it was reported, after the election
last November that Helena had been sup
plante by Anaconda, through the votes of
out going so far they had faired worse.
The Anaconda is indeed an American SER
pent, but we are thankful it is not United
States American; and, as an image in the
mind, the faithless spouse of Menelaus is
considerably falrer to contemplate.
It should be enough for Germany that
her city, most notorious for jew money
lenders and sausages, supplied Kentucky
with its capitolian name: but when a new
candidate for sisterhood came prancing I'D
to the door Of the Union with the name
bismarck" on her belt, she should have
been told that we have not yet used up our
native supply Of names Of heroic charac-
GclS. Oocu t1cul up. Lie WUOle geo
graphical nomenclature of the country has
yet made only a beginning upon them.
Allowing due value in the criticisms
made upon the use of classical names in
this country, it should be admitted that
Washington, with Olympia for it's capital
suggestive of "Olympia's shining bastions''
makes as good an appearance as any
other one Of the four states just received
into the sisterhood; and an impression of
far better taste, poetic though it be, than is
displayed by North Dakota, in consenting
that all her official acts for her own people
and of intercourse with other states and
with the United States itself, shall honor
the embodiment of the powerful statecraft
and imperial domination Of the master
empire of the world. Z.
1t would be well to inculcate in the
school children an appreciation of names
of localities, ~personages, and acts asso.
ciated with our country's glory, and with
conditions and achievements in our coun'
try noble in themselves and benefcent tC
mankind. 3s a.