The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1896-06-25

eyes to heaven and exclalm in the
language of the gifted bard:
| "Great God! we thank thee for thi.
home,
This bounteous birth-1and of the free
"Where wanderers from afar may come
'And breath the air of liberty,
''Still may her flowers untrampled
spring,
"Her harvests wave, her cities rise,
"And yet till time shall fold his wing,
Remain earth's loveliest paradise
| "As we have stated, the senator
never lost an opportunity to call
attention to the many needs of the
Pacific coast. All of his early
speeches in the senate were educa-
tional in their nature in so far as
they related to the coast, and were
designed to give the country's law
makers a more adequate compre-
hension of the wonderful future OF
the territory, ''where rolls the Ore
gon." That these speeches did
great deal Of good, there can be
no question. Even in these days
there is woeful lack of knowl-
edge Of the resources of the north
west, but it is not compare BILE with
the ignorance which existed TWEEN
ty years ago. In one of his speeches
on this subject. toward the close
of his first term, he said: i appre-
ciate and frankly concede that the
difficulty in attracting public atten-
ton to the crying wants of our
commerce upon the Pacific coast
lis not the result of any disposition
upon the part of eastern or south
ern statesman to ignore any section
of the country, but rather the re-
suit of a not surprising failure up
on the part of those who never
have visited the Pacific slope to
note and comprehend the rapidity
IF the change by which the late
frontiers of the west have been
transformed into an empire OF
greatness, of commercial wealth,
and political, social and moral
power. 1t is in vain that the six
senators and seven or eight repre-
sentatives of the Pacific coast raise
their voices and bend their energies
in f,vor of national legislation in
the interest of the commerce of
the far west, unless we can engag ge
the attention and secure the inf1u-
ence and support Of our eastern
and southern friends. To you,
therefore, fellow senators, whose
long experience on this floor, makes
your influence and power felt and
recognized, not alone in the coun-
ellis of the nation, but throughout
the land, l appeal, basing it as l do
on no fimsy fabric woven by the
imagination, but on facts and sta
tistics as irreiragable as truth itself.
| ask, in the name OF suffering
commerce of the west and in the
interest of the real growth and
prosperity of our nation to extend
a helping hand, that the blessings
of national legislation i'll aid of
national commerce and for its pro-
lection may be extended i'll equal
measure to all states and sections,
to all rivers and harbors of our
great republic. Whatever nation
al aid is given to protect and en-
courage our commerce, whether
internal or external, even in the
remotest portions of our national
heritage, is not lost, but returns in
vitalizing influence and power. to
strengthen the heart and energize
our whole national being.'
"On March 4, 1885, Mr.. Mitchell
entered upon his second term in
the senate, after SIX years which
had been passed in the practice of
his profession, at Portland. In the
eleven years which have elapsed
since that time, he has become
distinguished for his advocacy of
measures for the benefit of those
whom Abraham Lincoln deslgna
ted as the common people of the
country, the great masses, the rank
and file. A radical in many re-
spects, there is such a leven Of
good sound common sense in his
radicalism, united with sincerity
and earnestness, that no one with
the exception of the Portland Ore.
gonian, the animus of which is we'll
understood, has ever accused him
of demagogy. His second term
was young when, by reason OF the
inability of Senator Miller, of Cal
ifornia, who originally had charge
of the measure, there devolved
L Il L1