The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1895-07-04

and the Old world stood looking in Won
der at what had happened. What had
seemed to be audacious rebellion eventu-
ated as the able setting up Of new GOV
eminent by heads as wise as any left at
home.
These are some of the things we see
while looking back along the pathway
in which liberty has come. All over the
world it has come to many during these
four hundred years, but to none in the
same degree as We now enjoy 1t. 1t is
not an idle fancy to believe that "when
Freedom from her mountain Light un-
furled her banner to the air." she stood
within the boundaries of the United
States, on some of our majestic peaks
and that when her eagle bearer was
called from his mansion in the sun, the
proud birds few up to greet him; not
only from the hills of New England and
the Alleghanies but from the Rockies and
Cascades as well, knowing thR. the ban
ner would in time cover all. And 80 to-
day they fly and scream in renewed salu-
tation to Freedoms eagle bearer as he
makes his annual descent from his man
sion in the sun.
And never since the days of old Eric
the Red have they ceased coming, and
always the best from the most progress
i've nations-not the richest nor the great
est; but the best-because they longed
for wider freedom and greater oppor-
tunity, and OF such is the kingdom where
every man wears his own crown. Com
ing and never going; increasing but
never diminishing; making constitutions
and amending them, but never leaving
out the one word Of freedom; meeting as
81 - Al IL II
deadly conflict, but reuniting with still
more OF liberty. The same battle cry Of
Freedom rings day, north and south,
east and weet-not crack nor flaw in
our "Gem of the Ocean,"
How little, after all, did those old
fathers OF liberty know of what the out
come OF even hundred years would be !;
how little do we know OF the coming
hundred. Looking back toward those
men and those times We see the ship I'M
loaded and the sons and daughters of
those old voyagers coming on and on to-
ward the west on foot, in the saddle, in
wagons and in luxurious railway cars
ever toward the west. At first for Cali
fornia gold, then for homes on the plains
and by the western waters. surmount-
ing all obstacles, dotting the trail with
over mountains, fording streams and
facing the ambushed enemy, but never
turning back. They could know nothing
OF all this. Their domain had but dim
and uncertain western boundary. Even
after the map of the world showed a
new nation coming on toward greatness
and glory, the Mississippi river was sell
dom crossed. For more than fifty years
there never was a governor elected on
this side OF that stream. To-day no
state between 1t and the Pacific ocean
has boundary which exists as it was
fifty years ago. The ground on which
we now stand has been successfully
claimed by France, Spain and England,
and Pm not sure but Russia once filed a
redemption here.
And yet none of them all knew the
value of the ground bounded by our own
state of Washington. Governor Stevens
knew that he had jurisdiction over a
wealth of magnificent timber; Governor
Ferry took the state chair among cities
and railroads and coal mines. 1t re-
manned for Governor McGrsw to see the
opening of great age of agriculture for
the state, and for our own county OF
Yakima to lead the van in movement
WhtCu 10 uCctlHCu " MdhC Lic ICutCI
feed the coast and eventually outvote the
west and the east. The American eagle
of the northwest is no longer confined to
a clam diet. From his rocky eyrie on
the Cascades he can look down upon as
fine banquet among the irrigated fields
of Yakima as ever Roman bird found on
the froggy banks of the Nilus And SO
we ask some local recognition from the
festhered emblem of liberty to-day, as
our words of celebration rise mid the din
and clangor of national joyousness.
Financial disappointment must be
ignored to-day as cold and hunger were
at Valley Forge. What seems like pow
erty to us would be jogging ease to the
masses OF the older countries, and the
spending money in the pockets of this
audience would make Roman holiday
We have patriotism and much besides.
The clouds Of trouble fioat-now here
now there. They are not hanging over
this valley. Good crops were princely
greeting to us from every field and, even
without high prices, this means living
for the family 80 plenteous that we have
no peasantry. Our forefathers left all
lordly titles behind, and they left the
peasantry too. Under our flag one man
is as good as another, and better than
the land jumper or the seller OF whisky
to Indians.
We have looked back from this point OF
time called the present and have seen
the ships sailing toward the new CONT
nent. We have seen the colonies grow
and grow until they declared themselves
free and independent and proved by valor
of arms that they were so. We have
seen the later generations come Chamber
ing over the Rocky mountains, and terri
tories grow to states, and much else that
is progressive. We live in a prosperous
and well governed state and can felici-
tate ourselves, not only nationally but
locally, that we have followed the bird OF
freedom TINS far. Now, dare we venture
a look from this point of time in the other
direction-toward the future.
Certain great statesmen of the old
kingdoms and monarchies have been
and now are wont to predic. that gov
eminent in which all have an equal share
cannot survive. They tell us that hun
dred years is not test of the stability OF
our system-that we are yet but an ex-
pertinent. Is there thoughtful man or
woman before me who believes this? Il
think not. We may differ of the ques-
ton of protection and free trade; We may
argue furiously on the merits OF free cot Gage
of silver over a gold single standard; we
may line up on the side of either republic
cans or democrats, and exaggerate the i'm
portance of our choice; we may undertake,
as populists, to right all the wrongs that
escaped the attention of the signers OF
the Declaration OF Independence, or we
may even think that our particular church
is the only one with any chance for