Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1898-12-23
HISTORY REPEATING ITSELF.
Erroneous Opinions Entertained of the Far
West by Our Ancestors.
Snokesmau Review
Spokesman Review.

Erroneous OpihiohS Cntertained OF the far
West by Our Ancestors.
Spokesman Review.
Scventy--five years ago identically
/ the same arguments now being urged
| against annexation of the Philippines
were pressed with great force in the
halls OF congress against American
occupation of the Columbia river coun-
| try.
The Oregon question" made it,
first appearance i'll congress in 1920.
On December ID of that year, Floyd
of Virginia, procured the appointment
OF Il commission, composed Of himself,
Metcalf of Kentucky, and Swearingen
of Virginia, to inquire into the cx-
pediency of occupying the valley
of the Columbia This committee
submitted favorable report, and
in January, 1929, the question came
before the House for debate.
Tracy of New York ridiculcd the
proposition. He had convcrscd, he
said with persons who had been at the
mouth OF the Columbia, and they
agreed that the country was an inhos-
pitablc wilderness. The entrance to
the Columbia was dangerous; the eli
mate was bleak and inhospitable-so
humid and with SO feeble sun that
the grains could scarcely he raised.
As Tor the country east of the Cascades,
he said, it was nothing but waste OF
sand and gravel, This "waste of sand
and gravel is now providing bread for
a large part of Europe, and its fruits
find ready market in the eastern part
| OF the United States.
Wood, of New York agreed with his
| colleague. Such settlement, he said,
| must result either in colony, which
would he of no advantage to the gov.
ernment, or an independent State,
which would take to itself the com
merce of the Pacific.
There was much talk about the
Rocky mountains forming u natural
boundary, beyond which it would be
lnexpedient to advance. Baylies OF
Massachusetts replied to that with the
prophetic wisdom of seer. "Gentlc.
men," he said, "arc talking OF natural
| boundaries. Sir, our natural boundary
is the Pacific ocean. The swelling tide
of our population must and will roll
on until that mighty ocean interposes
its waters and limits our territorial
empire. Then, with two oceans wash,
ing our shores, the commercial wealth
of the world is ours, and the imagina.
ton can hardly conceive the grandeur
and the power that await u.s." Even
the prophetic gaze of the speaker fell
short of the stirring events of the past
year, which have planted the flag on
the distant isles OF the blue Pacific.
Breckenridge of Kentucky followed
in speech which, with slight adapta-
ton, would serve admirably for the
present opponents of expansion. The
bill under consideration, he said, pro.
posed military government, and this
he denounced as unconstitutional. He
also denied the right of congress to
colonize. Occupation of the Oregon
country would embroll us in foreign
wars.
Congress thought the opponents OF
expansion had the better of the argu-
ment, for on January q, 1928, it voted
100 to 61, against taking up the bill to
establish a military government on
the Columbia.
But the Oregon question would not
down. 1t came up again and again,
and the time came when the friends OF
Oregon triumphed, and great party
went before the country and won on
the slogan of "54-40 or fight" We
did not get 54-40, and we did not fight,
but We did get Oregon up to the 10Th
line of latitude, and we have never
ceased regretting that fortune did not
also throw British Columbia into the
Union.