Arizona republican., 1898-09-04
OUR ANTIQUARIAN TREASURE.


 It seems that Spain is entirely recon ciled to the necessity of giving up her islands, but will never, or hardly ever, consent to lose the dust Of Christopher Columbus Two weeks ago the Madrid papers were insisting that this old It. allan was the prime cause of her ruin. but TOW they profess to value the box which contains a pinch of dust Far more than the cathedral above it or the island that supports the weight Of both, or the continent the living dis covered and the dust could not keep Certainly Spain did not esteem the man so highly as what is now left of him after some centuries of decay, and the cause must lie deeper than we have yet fathomed-there must be some method in this midsummer madness.
 The truth is that Europe has been subsisting for some time on her anti quities by deceiving us into a fictitious idea of their value. If we kept what is left of Columbus we might gradually realize that we had some antiquities ourselves, and so deprive Europe ol the revenue she derives from playing the snowman to bones and dust and mouldy buildings. An opinion is ac cepted over here that nothing is truly good which has not rubbed against the ancient, and so we hasten to get tha hallmark on our plate as we'll as pie lures, the mark of another sun on our faces and a new twang to our mother tongue before we are fit to call our selves Americans of the new school Europe does well to guard carefully the only monopoly she now has on us and we do not care to expose fully the frauds which enable her to exchange rotten canvas for flour and the sight of decaying buildings for fresh hog and hominy. We are willing to pay reasonable tribute and even to send back Columbus in box as he went be- fore in chains, but it will not be saft to push the game too far or make the tariff too high.
 Just as a hint, we would ask the European traveller to quit finding so much that is "new and raw' among us after he has lectured about nothing til his pockets are again comfortable O. has taken one of our girls with a lot of our new" currency. AS a starter. in our class whose flag is an antique" Ours was adopted by the thirteen col onies in 1777, amid the sneers of 'the settled governments" Spain took he, red and yellow in 17S5; the French tri- color was born in 1794; the red Eng fish emblem with the Union Jack in the upper corner dates from 1801t ! the 1 Sardinian, which is now the Italian l first foated in 1893; the Austro-Hun- garian grew out of the compromise of 1867; the present German flag first ap- peared in 1871, and the Russian is thing of yesterday. Our flag is con- tinually changing by the addition of new stars, but that is according to the original plan, and others pay for the multiplication in some instances-the best of Europe has been drawn upon i to give us our stars of the west and we are now turning to the sunrise by way of variety. Spain would not send us emigrants like England and Ire land and Germany and Russia and Scandinavia and Italy, but she pays her share in Florida and certain is- Io ,- ;o T We are acquiring some old castles and battle fields and ''immemorial' history of our own, with the bric-a l 5rac thrown in to keep company witf he old flag, and sneers are not in or Ter now.