Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1896-07-02
LANCASTER HIGH SCHOOL.
WIN the L ;. be the Future business Gen.
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Graduation Essay Of Eugene Brooker.)
Since the beginning OF known history civ
ilization has travelled westward. With this
westward advance came the desire for dis
covery and trade. The Phoenicians were
among the first who visited other lands and
seas In quest of that which brought then
gain. They unlike the Greeks and Romans
IF later date cared little for military glory
but lived content whether free or bond.
Phoenicia in her prime was acknowledged
to be the center OF commerce of the
then known world. Her merchants OBJ
tanned tin from Cornwall and gold from
Ophir. From various nations they gathered
articles which conduced to their or some
other country's comfort. In return they
carried Tyrian dyes and many other art
icles incidentally dropping here and there
some OF her literary inventions of which the
most important was the alphabet.
The next country especially worthy of
notice commercially was Carthage, a colony
of Pboenicia. to the west Thence the cen
ter passes in succession through Greece and
Rome to Spain.
From the discovery of America the inn
portance of Spain'began to increase rapidly
and soon she led the world in power. trade
and wealth. Her ships coursed all the seas
and her possessions extended DER Southern
North America and South America. Till
about half a century before the Armada,
Spain held the foremost place. From this
time its prestige in power and trade began
to wane until with the Armada both fell
After the destruction of the Armada the
struggle lay between England and Holland
Holland held the supremacy but a compare
lively short time. It then passed to England
where it has remained since. The COM
merce of England has grown steadily from
the first Even while Spain and later Hol-
land held sway England was slowly coming
to the front and since Holland yielded Eng
land has been the strongest and richest ma
ton.
Judging from past history and our present
resources the Z. s. has the most favorable
out look for obtaining the coveted position.
Our resources are practically unlimited
The gold outputs second to none and our
iron and coal production is exceeded only
by that of Great Britain. During the last
half century statistics show that England's
trade has not increased in proportion to the
growth Of population In this period the
preponderance of imports over exports has
increased threefold. i. e. the imports are
now one-fourth larger than the exports
This goes to show that other portions of the
world are gaining at England's expense.
The increase of exports over imports in
the United States has been steady and rap
id. The commercial navy of this Republic
Is excelled only BY that of Great Britain
Our boundaries include over one-halt.of the
Anglo-Saxon race. hence with our Yankee
], irl-- =
ive-ness what may we not expect: we have
unrivalled facilities for trade with South
America Japan and Eastern Asia. And not
withstanding the great foot-hold of Ger
many and England in Africa we have a
large and rapidly increasing trade there.
1t is fact worthy of notice that all coun-
tries that have been most extensive in for
eign possessions came sooner or later to a
point where they lost all Some dropped
back in a brief period while others declined
for years before they collapsed. The love of
freedom in the dependent province over
came the power of the mother ountry
Phoenicia lost Carthage Greece, Magma
Graecia; Rome. her twenty-seven PROVING
es and 81 in all except Cuba which She now
holds only by supreme effort. England
also lost the United States. If stripped of
canada India and Australia she would drop
several degrees from her exalted position.
Her power and riches are largely due To
her foreign possessions. The governments
of Canada and Australia yearly become
more liberal in pace with the growth of the
love Of independence which at some future
time is Liable to tear them both from Eng
land
we are hampered by few foreign posses
sions. Alaska is the only one of note. Ex-
cept this our territory is contiguous and
the people to a certain degree nave like
customs. ideas and sympathies The United
states since 1876 has built up civilization
equal to that of European countries of sew
eral centuries growth. We are one nations
alitv and free. our food and clothing. our
machinery. money and refinement our all,
comes or may come from our own country
We need depend on no one except ourselves.
England buys her food and clothing here. in
Canada and everywhere. Her raw materi-
ais come from the United States and her
majesties' possessions War might shut
these out. where then shall they come FROM
At present we lead in a great many things
and in the others are excelled only by Eng
land making our chance of succession great.
said the English historian Green. The
current of progress of the Anglo-Saxon
race must henceforth pass not through the
Thames and the Mersey but through the
Hudson and the Mississippi