The times., 1899-05-02
The Loui.innn purchnse.

The Missouri House has passed a reso-
luton permitting bond issue of $500. goo
by the city of ST. Louis in aid of the com
ing fair in that city. The resolution went
through by vote of 110 to 9. A constitu-
tional amendment also proposed, permit
ting the appropriation Of sum not ex-
ceeding sl,0O0.G00 from the State revenues
for a State exhibit at the fair, and a res
olution submitting this question to the
people, was also adopted This action
makes the St Louis Fair seem a tangible
reality.
The Importance of the Louisiana pur-
chase was probably less appreciated by
the people at the time it was made than
any other action of Congress in the his
tory of the country. Many conservative
and bourgeois persons of limited eGuca-
tion and narrow views were bitterly op-
posed to the whole proceeding; there was
comparatively little popular concern with
the subject except in the territory di-
rectly involved. and only the determine
tion and diplomacy of a few far-seeing,
clear-headed men carried the thing
through. No one who looks at the map OF
the United States as it exists now can
fail TO see the tremendous significance
OF the bargain made in Paris a little less
than hundred years ago.
By this transaction the continent OF
North America was delivered over to the
Engiish-speaking settlers and their de-
scendants. Without it the territory now
comprised in the United States would in
evitably have been split up between the
English, French, and Spanish races and
there is no knowing whether the thirteen
colonies would have been able to maintain
the Independence which they so brayely
won. Three languages at least would
have been spoken between the Atlantic and
the Pacific There would have been mis-
understandings and disagreements along
the border. In short, had the Louis
lana purchase not been made, and fol-
lowed by the cession of the Spanish ter
ritory of the Southeast, IL seems certain
that this continent would have been oc-
cupied By three or four different nations,
warning against one another on all sorts
of pretexts. Sometimes local causes, ri
yalry in commerce, or border feuds would
have stirred up strife; again, the disagree
ments of European Governments would
have been followed by trouble in their COL
onies. Instead of the long and peaceful
intervals. filled with commercial and indus
trial achievements, which preceded and
followed our Civil War, we should have
had continual guerrilla wars, with now
and then more serious difficulties. Prog
ress would have been retarded, the i'm
mense gold and silver wealth of Calfor-
mia, Nevada. and Colorado would never
have been ours, the huge cattle ranches
and farms of the West would never have
existed, and there would have been no
such stimulus to invention and executive
ability as has been afforded by the rapid
and marvelously successful development of
the transM Mississippi region. In view of
this, the Louisiana purchase assumed
colossal importance.
The world is now entering upon 4 new
era of progress and civilization. Nearly
a hundred years ago invention was yet in
its infancy; there were no railroads. no
telegraphs, almost no newspapers. the
public school was hardly a reality. free
government was an experiment at the
time OF the Louisiana purchase men stood
though they knew it not, on the thres-
hold of new world. Who dare say that
the achievements of the twentieth century
Will be less stupendous than those of the
nineteenth? When Louisiana was added
to the Union this nation was in its in
fancy. When the Philippines were, at one
stroke, placed within our grasp. the
American empire was born We have
seen tremendous changes since the acquisi-
tion OF Louisiana. When the hundredth
anniversary of the battle of Manila is
celebrated by the greater America. who
can say what its bounds may be. or how
complex. how magnificent and how per-
feet its civilization. Almost by chance
the territory of Louisiana was given TO
our grandfathers at a nominal price. We
say now that those who grudged the cost
were narrow minded and provincial poll
ticiaas What about those who now
grudge the price of an empire whose
outer boundary is the far side OF the
Pacific?
4 New Sort of Fire-Escapc.