The Dalles daily chronicle. [volume] (The Dalles, Or.) 1890-1948, 1897-07-01
WHITMAN ONCE MORE.

not of general interest, most surely.
Yet to those (and they are not few,
nor among the least intelligent of
our community who are interested
in state building, anything relating
to the early period, the formative
stage of our state, is of intense inter-
est.
The statement that DIR. Whitman's
admirers we're hunting for hero,
and having found him, they proceed
ed to ''unduly exalt him." may be
said without fear of contradiction, as
1T is purely matter of opinion, and
not of fact. What in one person is
grateful appreciation of services rem
dered in almost, but not quite,
unsurmountable difficulty, is charac-
terized by a person of different TEN.
permanent as ''undue" exaltation.
The statement that Oregon would
have belonged to the United States
government had DR.. Whitman never
lived, is probably uncontradicSable.
If it were not true, we could not
possibly prove that negative. Amer
lea wonld no doubt have been dis
covered if Columbus had never been
born. The editor of the Oregonian
would no doubt have lived and
thriven had he been born in Timbuc-
too. AS Captain Cochrane says in
Pinafore, This kind of thing can 90
on forever" and as argument or
proof it amounts to but little.
These are the facts: A number
of men, subjects of Queen Victoria,
organized to trade with Indians for
furs, were here, and their business
we'll in hand. 1t takes no great in
sight to know that however kindly
disposed, nor how humane these per-
sons were, nothing was farther from
their plans or wishes than that this
land should be open for settlement
by United States citizens. Some
other persons, of whom the chief
presumably was another Canadian
gentleman, native of Stansstead,
Canada East, were here with the
purpose of ameliorating the condition
of the savages. Nothing should be
SAID belittIing in any degree the
noble purposes of these missionaries
and their families. 1t was not writ
ten that their plans should be ma
tured and finished with a success that
should call the worlds notice. Very
much the reverse. Some others
with similar purpose with DR..
Whitman and Mr.. Spalding as first
corners, were located east of the
mountains.
History has shown DR.. Whitman
to be a man of undoubted far-reach-
ing sagacity, an organizer, builder,
a planner. A letter is now before
us written by DR., Samuel J. Parker
of Ithaca, N. Y, the first coadjutor
of DR.. Whitman, wherein by infer
ence we can see that he considered
the location of DR.. Whitman among
the Cayuses as especially unpromis.
ing. Be that as it may, most surely
DR.. Whitman looked upon his work
as brief, and upon this country as
the future home of his countrymen-
the home Of American citizens. The
evidence is abundant that he exerted
himself to bring this about IN a way
that could not be expected from any
subject of Her Majesty, and which
we have no reason to believe such
subject ever did exert himself;
though in so doing DIR. Whitman
most certainly signed his own death
warrant.
If to honor the efforts ard success
of this man with warm and apprecla-
tive gratitude is to ''unduly" exalt
him, we have been wrongly taught
Athe lesson Of patriotism.