El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1900-10-23

EXPANSION
A Stirring and Convincing
Address By an Old Soldier.
Especially Addressed To
Young Men Of Today
The Marvel Of Nation
Building.

AL recent meeting Vi oiu icSi-
ment. Hon. John r. Philips, judge OF
the United States court for the west
| ern district of Missouri, delivered
remarkably interesting and impressive
address. from which the following ex-
tracts are condensed for The Herald
from the Globe Democrat:
IL is something of great value which
the young men of the day can never
fully realize to have lived in this coun-
| try three score years and more. l saw
this western valley of the Mississippi
almost in the wilderness. The broad
paths OF civilization that now mark
the highways were unbeaten. Some OF
| its forests were untracked. It's vast
prairies were an unbroken glebe. Rail-
roads were unknown. The mower and
lie reaper and the sower had not been
invented. Electricity had not been
brought from the skies and harnessed
to- do the work of man as now. The
telegraph and the telephone were
scarcely a dream. The sewing machine
woman relief-waS not. The thrash
ing machine had not come.
From here to the Rocky mountains
and the Pacific coast was trackiess
continent. over which the bunalo. the
elk the bear and the antelope and the
wild Indian roamed in mastery The
war with Mexico had not come. and all
that vast region stretching from the
mouth of the Rio Grande to California
covering New Mexico. Arizona, part
of Colorado and Utah. belonged to
Mexico. The population of the Uni
ted States did not exceed 13.oOO,OOO.
The mammoth cities of today were viii
lagos unmarked. The coal fields which
To-Day furnish fuel for the millions
were undiscovered. The mountains
and the hills were then unveXed by
giant powder. the pick and the drill.
in search of gold and silver. The rich
es of California and the Rocky range
were not even vision.
Today. what grand panorama is
spread before our eyes. The whole
continent from the western borders of
our state to the Pacific coast is ours.
The PLAIN and the wilderness have
been converted into homes and agri-
cultural fields. swarming with millions
of educated .enterpriSing people, breath
ing with the active energies or IN
dustrial life. eXerted in countless
shapes and productive of untold bless
ings. 1t is checkered with railroads
strung with electric wires. busy with
the work of interstate commerce. trade
and development Mighty states have
sprung up like the creation of night
where the wild beasts and the Indians
roamed The school house and the col
Iege. the church. the hospital and elee-
mosynary institutions. are everywhere
TO be seen. to gladden. the heart. to
cheer the young. to solace the old. to
bless the race.
we have seen the shackles of bond
age stricken from the limbs OF 1000
600 slaves. and their sky lighted up
villa the hope of freedom and the aspi-
ration for a higher and better life We
have seen the states bound together
by more indissoluble and hides
tructible bond of union We see the
free school in every village and ham,
let and in every neighborhood. with
education as free as air. We have
seen human conditions everywhere and
in every way ameliorated. Labor pro-
tected and better rewarded. and hours
of work shortened. while wages have
increased Laws are more beneficient.
liberty is enlarged. wealth increased.
and the mighty wave of prosperity is
sweeping us on to the very riot of
plenty.
Like individuals. nations are more or
less the creature of circumstances. In
the providence of God. opportunities
of vast possibilities now and then are
thrown in their pathway. II they fail
to grasp and improve them their very
growth and health may he impaired.
Rightly appropriated they may put
people on the high tide of usefulness
and glory. The history of the Ameri-
can republic is the history of oppor-
tunity rightly improved.
Thomas jefferson, who wrote the
of independence. and put
in it that all men are born free and
equal and the generality of govern
ment by the consent of the governed.
had the preScience to discern in the
of Napoleon Bonaparte an
opportunity to grasp the mighty en-
pire of the Mississippi valley. and he
did it, leaving the sentimentalistS and
strict constructionists to discuss the
of the act afterwards.
Then. in the true American sense.
we became imperial. Our flag crossed
the Mississippi and went to Devils
Lake on the north and to the source
of the Mississippi river. and down the
Rockies And he took and held this
vast domain. with or without the con-
sent of the Frenchmen, Spaniards and
Indians who inhabited IL.
In 1919 President Monroe saw an OPP
portunity to extend our dominion to
the Florida coast; and seized it; and
he sent Andrew Jackson with an army
to enforce the consent of the governed.
President James X. Polk saw an OPP
portunity in the embroglio between the
republic of Texas and Old Mexico to
still further expand our domain. The
republic OF eNdS Only toulehueu THAT
the ->ueces marked her western boun-
Diary. But Old lack Taylor at once
marched his army to the Rio Grande
and he never ceased to march until he
had compaSsed the capital of Mexico.
and raised our flag over the ancient
turrets OF MonteZuma. Santa Anna
fed. and Gen. Scott entered into a
protocol Mexico like Spain in our
recent war. was bankrupt. and unable
to make indemnity in money. The re-
s;uit was "A treaty by which. as in the