The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1898-09-23
A MASTERLY ADDRESS
Text of Gov. L. n. shaw's Address
on Iowa Day.
BEST PRODUCTS ARE MEN
A Plain Talk Full of HopefulIness and
Words of Encouragement to the
Youth of Iowa.

Va
Ladies and Gentlemen, Citizens and
Friends of Iowa: ''Not many genera
tions ago, in the place where you now
sit, encirclel by all that exalts and en-
bellishes civilized life, the rank thistle
nodded in the breeze, and the wild fox
digged his hole unscared." So said
Charles Sprague, three quarters of a
century ago and the utterance is as
true when applied to the land of the
Omaha's as to the land of the Wan.
panoag's.
We meet this day as citizens of Iowa,
on the soil of sister state. for no idle
purpose. The people of Iowa are not
idlers, but the day will have been lost
to us and to our children unless what
is here said. and done and witnessed,
and enjoyed shall bring greater thought
fullness and increased earnestness. The
half century and two years since the
admission of Iowa added the twenty
ninth star to the flag which has now
become the protector of the world have
wrought great changes. Most of the
improvements of the earth, most of the
progress in the arts and sciences, most
OF the advance in civilization, have
been wrought within the period of our
state history. Time would not permit,
If the inclination were present, to re-
count the achievements in the political,
industrial, financial, agricultural, me-
chanical, scientific, educational, reli-
gious, or moral world. Suffice it to
say that in all of these Iowa has rem
dered her full share OF service, and has
reaped her full measure of blessing
We can we'll afford to leave to others
the study of the past. Let it be ours
manfully to face the future. now more
than ever big with possibilities, and
with careful glance ahead improve the
present.
In all the grand exhibit of this re-
markable exposition there is not found
that for which our state has greatest
reason to rejoice. The product of the
farm, of the orchard, of the garden, of
the herd, of the dairy, of the factory,
OF the mine are here in great quantity
and of superb quality. Truly Iowa is
great in territory, great in resources,
great in product, but she is greatest of
all in her children. There is presented
to my eye from this platform that
which is infinitely more valuable than
all herds and all harvests. l see scat
tered through this audience many OF
the youth of Iowa. They are from the
city, from the town, from the hamlet,
and from the Iowa farm. They are
representatives of an aggregate of seven
hundred thousand of school age, and of
unequal number who have just passed
from educational tuition, to face the
activities, the anxieties, and the
achievements of manhood and woman
hood. These all belong to generation
which will surely be heard from. Their
fathers and mothers have been indus
trious, have been ambitious, have been
hopeful, and have been successful. A
generation thus circumstanced is al
ways potential. DR.. Strong tells of a
township in the western reserve which
was settled with an energetic, liberty
loving, God-fearing, educationally in
clined people. and which in limited
period. furnished many members of the
state legislature and the state senate.
From that community of only few
hundred inhabitants men went forth to
college professorships east and west,
to the supreme bench of the state, and
to the United States congress. The
same author says "Northamton, Massa-
chusetts, has among its native and
resident population, over four hundred
graduates from colleges and other edu-
cational institutions; it has furnished
the world with one hundred and four