The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1897-04-04
SOME RAMBLING THOUGHTS.
Copyrighted by Memo.

oO CAti all llldt lIiC e,iOeASSN0N $780,
guard up to this time against fatal Sec
tionalism has been the tendency of both
early and late immigrants to move from
one place to another, subJugatlng new
territory, and forming new States. Ma
ture DEGREES that the material interests
| of Montana, for instance, shall diner
from those of the sea-board States, but
| the travelled condition of many thou
sands of Montanians guarantees an ex-
preston of opinion on their part re-
garding public affairs, distinctly more
national than could be expected from
population narrowed to views purely
local. For a small nation, restricted in
both space and possibilities, great pat
| riotic results may come from lnhabl-
| tants who do not choose to wander;
but for US, not crowded by neighbors,
! nor measured in anv direction by less
than ten hundred miles, the best prom
Use of endurance is found in increasing
knowledge of one another's needs and
problems.
We have been subjected to such a ire
mendouS influx of foreigners and chill
dren Of foreigners in the past thirty
years, that we easily find another great
gain from the restlessness of our mixed
population. Notwithstanding the fact
that the inhabitants of some European
nations have come here by hundreds OF
thousands it is impossible to place the
finger on any one portion of our country
and say Here public questions are en-
| tirely settled by voters who are more
foreign than American in their ideas"
| Regarding country great
body, it is safe to assert that no condi-
ton except this one of mixing would
have enabled it to digest and safely dis
pose of the millions who have come to
it from every nation under heaven.
While there is still much to be desired
in the direction of unity, nationally we
have accomplished a task that might
we'll have been regarded as impossible;
the quiet, orderly, practically complete
absorption of over three times as many
| immigrants as there were inhabitants
at the birth of the United States. Each
wanderer has come promptly in touch
with persons who cherished the spirit
of freedom and has become SO imbued
himself that we are still one union; in
separable forever, let us hope and be-
lieve.
In Yorkshire England) it is a COM
paratively rare thing to find a man
| whose sons are scattered through the
other counties; let us say, for illustra-
tion in Kent, Cornwall and Northum
berland; but of our old American famil-
les, both rich and poor, there are thou
sands, conditioned like an editor of my
acquaintance, whose blood relations are
spread from Vermont to California, and
down to louisiana. The unconscious
influence of such connections works up
on the imagination of the child SO stu
ated-they are legion-until it's fervid
fancy over leaps the farm fences, the
valley walls, the rolling prairies, the
beetling mountain sides and our country
becomes my country to him in much
wider sense than with the child whose
relations are grouped close around him.
But we have by no means exhausted
the advantages that have arisen from
our restless spirit. Among other things
it has aided in the maintenance of one
language in general use. The children
of immigrants in our public schools
learn the language and the deeds of
Washington and Jefferson, Of Webster
and of Clay. The home training in the
tongue of the foreign fatherland is
trifle compared with the American in
fiuence of school books and the play
ground, for it is hard to exaggerate the
ties of language. There have been in
stances in our history where whole
counties in the Northwest are exclu-
sively Scandinavian, but the condition
| lasts only for q time nv of bo
children's learning our general tongue
Strange though it may sound there are
fewer definite dialects in our whole
country than can be found in Great
Britain a kingdom that could be almost
packed away in one State, New York.
Yet in that small country a Dorset NAH
of low rank could not understand
IScotchman, and Cornishman would be
practically foreigner to both; but the
national life in the most remote corner
of our Texas is the same that courses
in the piney woods of Maine, and the
language is the same A wise and
travelled Englishman who landed in
this country for the first time a few
weeks ago stated to me that nothing i'm
pressed him here so much as the fact that
a journey of 1900 miles overland, and
same language, while a journey Of one
hour to the continent of Europe carried
him into entirely strange conditions
| n
But the extension of territory and the
| forward movement Of the people will
come to an end. In fact, the end al
ready is in sight, and the tide of popu-
lation is setting back upon the older
States like the backwater of a flood A
new century and new conditions con-
front us. The call is for those who feel
deeply and think broadly to guide our
destinies as we stretch forward to the
unknown.
| Now territory alone is insufficient for
the continued greatness Of any country.
A concrete example is China. with
vast area and teemng millions. all
holding together like a pile of brick.
simply by reason of weight and not be-
cause of any actual union between
them Wealth also is no guarantee; for
II SO why are we called on to record the
almost complete decay of Spain. though
wealthy beyond hearts desire two CEN
turtles age? The Hindoo princes. pun
pets in power, swaddled in the lap of
wealth and surrounded by the flashing
glories of gems, illustrate agxfn the
foolishness of resting on wealth for per-
petuity. Territory is nothing without
national character. Wealth is as much
Furthermore; they that have relied
upon the sword have persisted by IT.
Alexander the Great made no perma-
nent enlargement of Grecian territory.
the Hebrews under David gained the