Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1890-05-30

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Robert G. Ingersol stands at the
front as an eloquent and descriptive
orator, hence the following from his
silver tongue, portraying the present
and future OF the State of Washington,
delivered by him at a banquet, may
be accepted as the result of personal
inspection, and as such should be re-
ceived with the consideration it de-
serves, coming from such source. This
is the way the illustrious American
describes it:
What treasury vault to the scien-
tist is the wonderful geological strata
of Washington, where we can wander
along the steelribbed hills and feel
the throbbing pulse of mother earth :.
What paradise to the tourist, where
water falls from crags and cliffs down
deep gorges until its body is multi tied
by the heavy drop and rises to kiss the
clouds under a veil of mist! What a
view for landscape painters, where
mountains torn apart by ancient floods
are standing in columns like sentinels
entrusted with the keeping of treas
ures as precious as the golden apples
in the gardens of the Hesperides. No
one need seek for mountain scenery in
a foreign land, where the eye can
feast upon such majestic grandeur as
Mount Rainier, that rears its proud
head almost To the azure blue OF heaven
with its crown covered with perpetual
snow.
"If you seek to try your mettle with
noble game, brave the grizzly bear,
the broad-horned elk, the feet-footed
deer in the almost primeval forest of
the Pacific coast. Seek not the grapes
OF France till your lips have kissed the
luscious juices of the western fruit. If
you seek for beautiful farming land,
gaze, rs have done, upon the valleys
of the Puget SQUAD country, teeming
with the grandest gems of vegetation,
where the roses and the violet, the
lily and the golden rosebud, blow in
the open air, and the atmosphere is
heavy with their fragrant fumes; where
the cattle browse in meek content
among the grasses that reach their
flanks; where they stand knee-deep in
the crystal flood and quench their
thirst in the cool springs that gurgle
and spout from the hidden currents
that find their way to the surface and
form streams to feed the meadow
lands, where they are lulled to sleep
by the sweet music from the tiny
throats OF birds of brilliant hue; where
the trees grow to such majestic pro.
portions as to cause the kings of Vir-
ginia pineries to bow their heads, as it
were, in subserviency.
"What a prospect OF joy it must be
to the farmer who resides in Kansas,
Dakota and Colorado to gaze on such
a country as Washington, devoid of all
crop-destroying pests, to see the sur
sounding hills that shelter the dwell
ings and fields from the devastating
and pitiless tornado; where the soil
is so rich in the natural phosphates
that every branch of husbandry can be
carried on; where the luxuriant grasses
grow in profusion, tinting the land.
scape with green and gold, with pur.
pie and crimson; where such is the
marvellous luxuriance of nature that
each tree or vine weakens or actually
destroys its neighbor by excessive pro.
duction, unless the watchful eye of the
farmer prevents, as its bearing powers
are greater than its space will permit
to see the mountains covered with a
dense forest that can be utilized for
his home, his barns and fences; where
the hand of generous nature has de.
posted i'll the rocky Businesses of the
earth great strata of coal to warm
his body; surrounded with towering
mountains, teeming with metallic
wealth sufficient to have stricken
speechless with amazement the Pho.
necian miners of Cadmus and Jason
nature having made its wealth so ap.
parent to the naked eye that the min.
ers will come and cause the valleys to
vibrate with the metallic ring of the
hammer and steel, and by his reward
share with all the avenues of trade
within the gift of nature; where there
is no such grim spectre as over-produc
ton, for by the aid Of deep-watel
courses the Pacific kisses the golden,
decked sands of Washington, and O
natural harbor is given for the great
ships that will be built from the tim
ber grown on Puget Sound soil, and
under the glorious stars and stripes
they will bear the surplus product tG
the less fortunately located claims ol
China, Japan and Australia. Truly
Puget Sound is an immigrants Eden
Every spot is a garden, and every gar
den is a production of fruits and flow
ers of all kinds-every fruit of luscious
sweetness and every flower bearing it,
own sweet perfume And while Ou,
lands of the Eastern States are robed
in the pitilcss mantle of white and the
birds and cattle shiver in covered
hooks; where the hand of the farmer
is practically paralyzed by the ice and
frost, and he sits restless and fretful
for the return of spring that he can
begin planting, all is different on Pu
get Sound. The valley lands are
green, and fruits and flowers grow and
add beauty to the scene. The air il
filled with sweet melody from the tiny
throats of birds, and the children
rOmp and play, warmed by that won
derful freak of nature-the soft chi