Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1899-11-21
IOWA AND IowANs.

oAS conlneut lHS SFdclOusly upon the
goodness of the state of Iowa, and the
intelligence of her citizens. 1t is al
ways pleasant to have boquets thrown
at us, and it is excusable to once in
awhile sit down and reflect on our own
merits. Such reflections may lead to
egotisnl, and perhaps conceit, but then
a little conceit Is like the salt in the
soup.
Iowa is coming more and more every
year to stand in the eyes of men as
the representative commonwealth of
the far-reaching fertile country which
stretches between the great lakes and
the foothills of the Rocky Mountains.
1t combines, not only in the variety of
Its resources, but in the character of
its people, the good things that have
made America SO great and powerful.
Iowa rests her claims to wealth and
power not alone on the deep black soil
of her wide prairies; she is not entirely
dependant upon her rich crops, or her
thousands of fine hogs and cattle. The
state has built up within the borders
a great mercantile and manufacturing
business, and supplies not only her
own people with many of their manu-
featured commodities, but sells them
also to her neighboring states and ev-
en-, in some cases, from sea-coast to
sea-coast and to foreign countries.
| Furthermore she has mines of good
minerals that are worth to her citizens
many thousands of dollars annually.
People of other states, doubtless, still
think of Iowa as purely agricultural
country, a place where, as in Kansas,
prosperity depends on the success Of
the crop. While to some extent this opin-
ion is correct yet these other things
mines, manufactures, and merchandis-
ing-must be taken into account when
Iowa's prosperity is spoken of. The
point we wish the world to reckon
with is this-that in no land under the
sun are the conditions of life easier, or
y rs comfort and moderate success more
easily obtained than in Iowa. No man
physically able, and spiritually willing
to work can starve in Iowa; no man
indeed but can attain some degree of
what the world calls Success" and
have at his command a few of the
i more modest luxuries of life. He is n
poor wight who cannot in Iowa, if he
tries, own his home and give his chill
dren schooling far above the average,
| What kind of people have grown up
under these conditions? The state has
just begun to be old enough to have a
distinctive people of her own. Only we
of the younger generations can claim
to be truly sons of the SOIL" for our
fathers and mothers came from east
OF the river Kipling says of England,
4 ''She breeds breed of noble men, and
sends them overseas" Iowa does bet
ter. She breeds a breed of noble men
i and keeps them at home. Her sons
have strength and health and the
breadth and depth of soul and mind
that go with these things. They stand
in the same position compared to the
men of older states and older countries
that prime youth does to brackish mid
! dle-age. The man of these central
states is fresh and buoyant; his exu-
berant mind is wax to receive and
marble to retain" He may be an I'M
finished product, he may have many
rough edges, but the material of which
he is made is sound and solid; its fibre
has not been injured by too long pro-
cess of refining and polishing.
Far be it from us to decry our breth-
rem of the older earth, our cousins and
brothers of richer and more perfectly
developed states. But we must con-
, TESS that we are bit tired of hearing
about "sapient sons of sainted sires."
The Iowa man, in common with the
denizen of the middle-west knows not
who his grandfather was, and cares far
less than he, knows. The old gentle
| mo !, ,s,,k 10
have been a horse-thief, and the chanc-
es are in favor Of the latter alternative.
| What he was or what he did matters
little now,for the Iowa man knows
that on himself alone, rests his saliva
ton. Glory be that his ancestors rec
ord makes neither for nor against him
in this good country where present
, worth is all in all.
With good health, good mind, a
, good education, and his fortune ahead
of him to make or mar with his own
hand the Iowa man starts life on the
best of conditions. That he succeeds
oftener than he fails is shown by the
records of living Iowans in the state
and in the nation. He cannot take
great credit to himself for his sue
cess for he has been favored of the
gods
What we have been saying of the
Iowan is true of not only of him but
of all the men of the middle-west as
well. And it is further true in way
of all Americans when they are taken
on the average. It is only truer of
the middle-westerner because he is the
type of the real American. And the
middle-west' and above all the state of
Iowa is becoming every year more
truly the typical country of the Amer
lean. To make Iowa in every respect
the true type of our great country,
and to make her institutions typical
American institutions should be the
hearts desire of every Iowan.
A Thousand Tongues
Could not express the rapture of An.
ME E. Springer, of 1928 Howard street,
Philadelphia, Pa, when she found that
DIR. Kings New Discovery for Con.
sumption had completely cured her OF
hacking cough that for many years
had made life burden. All other
remedies and doctors co,,Id ,.;r l. -