The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1901-03-29

| May God grant Mr.. Mckinley the cour-
| age, resolution and fortitude to live up
to that one Of his inaugural declara-
| tons to the end that the honor of this
great republic may be preserved! He
will. need vast store of courage, res
olution and fortitude to withstand the
pressure which will be brought to bear
upon him by spectators. stock jobbers
and rascals who trade in patriotism.
OF course all sane people would like
to see Cuba part of this country.
have no doubt that it will be sooner or
later, and the more completely we live
up to the Teller resolution, the more
fairly we treat the Cubans, the sooner
will that desirable end be accom-
plished.
Mr.. Mckinley says and truly: 1--WE
face ut this moment a most important
question-that Of the future relations
of the United States and Cuba. With
our near neighbors we must remain
close friends" The first of those two
sentences contains great truth. The
last states sound policy. If the pres
ident uses his utmost endeavors to car
ry out that policy in good faith. he will
deserve well of his countrymen, and
they will with one accord rise up and
call him blessed. To few men that
ever lived In the food of time have
such powers and honors been given as
President Mckinley now possesses.
The prayer of every true patriot is
that he may use them in the fear Of
God and in the love Of our country.
Mortaltties and Fatalities.
In November, 1898, there were elect
ed to the house of the Fifty-sixth con-
gress 300 men supposed to be in good
health, mentally and physically, and to
be in the full possession of all their
faculties. Most of them were in the
prime Of life-in the flower O., their
years. Yet now Is of them-one out Of
every Pare in their graves-an as
| founding mortality! Let us hope that
''after LIES ftful fever they sleep
we'll" Sadder still, two Of the 800
Boutelle of Maine and Sprague of Mas
sachusetts-are in a lunatic asylum.
Rejecting on these facts, one feels like
quoting Abraham Lincoln's favorite po-
EN-, ooh, why should the spirit of NOR
tai be proud?"
Boutelle had served in congress for
IS years. Counting the two he has spent
In the asylum while nominally mem
Der of the house, his congressional
service extended over period of 20
years. He was elected in 1900 for two
years more, making % years in all.
I The strangest thing that ever happened
In the politics of this country or of any
other was his election to congress in
1900 while he was confined in luna
tic asylum. Parallel that who can.
For long time he was chairman of
the great naval committee and cut a
| wide swath in the house. His election.
under such peculiar and Unprecedented
circumstances goes to show that the
Yankees are not SO cold blooded after
all.
To casual observer it would appear
/ that Mr.. Sprague's situation was de-
cidedly to be envied-i e., before luna
! cy came upon him. Most people con-
slider great wealth as great good.
SpraGue had ducats galore. He was
rich in his own right and married q
wife rich beyond the dreams Of ava
rice. She is multimillionaire several
times over. 1t was currently reported
that she gave him round million as a
wedding present. No doubt millions of
people envied them their good fortune,
and yet the humblest day laborer in all
this broad land is happier than Con-
gresham Sprague, with his millions.
VANITY Of vanity" saith the preacher;
"all is vanity, May these two ex-
representatives be speedily restored to
reason!
The Louisiana Purchase Fair.
| When Thomas Jefferson came to die.
he wrote his own epitaph in these
words: Here lies Thomas Jefferson,
author of the Declaration of American
Independence and Of Virginia's stat
ute for religious freedom and father of
the University Of Virginia" Those
were great and noble deeds, for which
we are all his debtors; but by one Of
those strange accidents which puzzle
mankind the immortal statesman neg
lected to enumerate in his epitaph the
greatest Of all his deeds-the making
of the Louisiana purchase. That per-
Torrance made us a world power.
Those gentlemen who suddenly awoi.e
at the close Of the Spanish war, rubbed
their eyes In establishment and ex-
claimed, 1--WE have become world
power" as though they had made q
great discovery. were precisely IS
years behind the times. What they
thought had been done in 1893 Jeffer-
son accomplished April 80, 1903. Con-
sequently it was eminently fitting and
| proper that congress should make nro.