New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1895-07-10

OF lnat DAY saw and felt instinctiyelv
that Its acquisition was necessary to the
realization OF the national idea. It was
natlonallsm. Americanism in, it's purest
and truest form, which led them, at a
time when the country was untitled and
when the problems of the. present. were
enough to deter them from, attempts to
take care of the future, it was care for
the national idea that made them set in
the torefront' of this ambition tire round
ing out OF ours domain. The colossal
purchase from, France was made. bv
which we acquired the title to the vast
french possessions in the Interior. At
one stroke there was added to the nations
area more than a.million square miles.
1t was land that to us, at that time was
without an actual value. No, present
purpose called for it.. No practical, use
could be made of it,. Had there prevailed
in that glorious era the sordid and COM
mercial spirit which we have too frequent
occasion to deplore at the present day, it
might have been decided that the Louis
lana purchase was not good. invest
ment, because it sscould not be made to
pay.' 1t was the rampant national
spirit OF the times that swept this OBJ
lection out of the way as if it were a
rejected pawnbroker's check. All saw
all knew, that we were building nation
And as this thought was brought home
to the minds of all the common people
by the tremendous transaction which
they saw going forward, they. too, be-
came infused with the prevailing spirit.
The national idea. which had, carried the
War of the Revolution to it's consumma-
ton was preserved and strengthened by
the enlargement of our borders~ and. the
feeling that, whatever might be the cost
in money or in TOLL the nation. was
growing into the place appointed for it.
by the power which rules, the world and
molds all nations to its will.
Year after year,, and decade after. de-
cade. the process continued. The faces
of the people were set towards the light
and the light brought to them clearer
vision. Then came the Florida purchase
| by which a little less than sixty Thousand
square miles of land were brought under
our flag. What was it to, US? Why should
swamps and Indians seem a desirable
possession: Again it was the national
Idea that governed. We needed the
Florida Territory to. fill out our plan {;
and as the people pursued their steady
course, they were rewarded by tinahng
their Ideal ennobled and feeling within
their veins the current of a national ex-
istence bounding ever with a stronger
and freer pulse. Then came the annexa-
ton Of Texas, the cession following the
Mexican War, and the Gadsden purchase
that moved our ensigns to the shores of
the Pacific and made us supreme from
sea to sea. We were being led by a
manifest destiny, and we did not mistake
or rebel against the occult influences that
swayed us. Here as in every country un-
der the sun, the thoughts CT men were
touched and their jmaginations stirred by
the march of empire. 1t has been ever
so. Great outbursts of patriotism, epochs
in literature, and in art. have followed
the triumphs of a people ON land and sea
ane the extension of its sway. 1t was
SO with us. Under all these movements
surged and swayed the tides of national
feeling. With every acre of soil that sent
up its freshest flowers to greet the flag,
there was new birth cf patriotism. The
flag came to have another and newer
meaning. The nation was presented to
the popular thought, not only as col
lection OF people, but as constantly ex-
panding area, representing so much more
grounI won from the enemy by the
forces of human liberty. It was grand
and inspiring thought. 1t tended to pro-
duce and accentuate that intense devo-
tion to America which was so offensive
to our foreign friends. but which carried
in it the secret of our power. The ma
tional idea, born in the first contest with
Great Britain, was nourished and grew
lusty by the conquest or purchase of
mile after mile of territory until at last
we stood, well rounded, complete and
supreme, from the Atlantic to the Paci-
fc, mistress and mentor of such heri-
tage as had been given to no other peo-
pie of the modern world.
Again we mi ght have lost something
of the pure flame of patriotism, again
might devotion to the national idea have
been dimmed or broken, but for the