The Topeka state journal., 1902-01-20
MOTTO OF KANSAS
Justice Brewer Uses 1t as Sub
ject For an Address.
Applies 1t to History of Our
Country.
1 STATEHOOD BOUGHT.
Kansas and Texas Only States
Since Original Thirteen.
Tension in u. s. Pension Office
Becomes Painful.

washington, ID. c., Jan. 20.-At the
recent meeting of the Society of the
Sons of the American Revolution, JUS
tice Brewer gave an address, taking for
his theme the Kansas motto, ''Ad astra
per aspera-" He spoke in part as fol-
lows:
'Ad astra per aspera-' TO stars
through difficulties is the broad mean
ing of that phrase, which may come
from a dead language but not from an
unknown tongue. All the history of our
republic attests the truth of and lakes
us familiar with those words The
Latin phrase was adopted as the motto
of Kansas, and that state, Graded in
persecution and conflict, has stamped
itself on the life of the nation as no
other state has done within the same
length of time. Texas and Kansas are
the only states since the original thir-
teen that bought themselves liberty and
statehood. The 'aSpera of her cradle
has become the 'astra' of her ma
turity.
Those thirteen colonies that rebelled
against Great Britain from the begin
ming of their lives until the close of the
eighteenth century knew the meaning
OF the word 'aSpera.' 1t did not come to
them out of a dead language, but out of
a living experience. They landed on in
hospita BILE shores. They struggled to
savages. Theirs was the hardest,
roughest, most trying experience which
could come to a people, and they passed
through it successfully. The revolu-
tionary war was full of such expert
ences. Valley Forge attests and typi-
fies their struggles. So it is that those
colonies passing through the 'aspera' in
their beginning have now come to
.astra,' the great glory of the great ma
tion in the face of the world.
when we boast of our revolutionary
ancestors we may wisely take note of
the fact that their environment de-
Veloped their strength. They had to
be heroes to live 1t is not all matter
of environm ent, however. Heredity
counts Had the hordes of Central
America been poured on the shores of
North America, would their descend
ants have made American history that
winch it has been? You cannot make
you cannot remake either a fool or a
coward. But given the best elements
of manhood. and something may be
hoped for in the result Place a great
soul amid the 'aspera' of early life and
you may be sure that maturity may
see the 'aStra.' If it were true that the
struggle for subsistence had ceased.
that we have reached the pinnacle of
greatness, and have passed through all
the 'aspera' of life, it by no means fol-
lows that life will have ceased to be
surrounded with 'aspera.' Heroes are
fashioned even out of those who have
plenty to eat.
The great law of life is that when
the material struggle ceases the moral
commences. Rome is the most magnif-
icent Illustration of ancient history The
Roman legion conquered The world
was Subdued- But when the struggle
had ceased and the moral commenced,
the Caesars vanished. Will history re-
peat itself2 Has the heroic age passed
away from this republic? AS we gather
IN these patriotic societies to honor the