Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1902-11-25

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were only feeble SUGGESTIONS Of what
the realities have become. We can
noe the progress of the world by
comparison. When Augustus Caesar
ruled the world. the Mediterranean
was Roman lake: l20,000,000 of peo-
pie were under the dominion of the
Caesars. But Augustus, rich and great
as he was, never read newspaper,
never Travelled more than ten miles an
hour, never received g telegram, never
had a pane of glass in his house, never
saw an ear of corn on potato. He
had peacoclls upon his table, but never
ticllled his palate with the flesh of a
turkey, never knew of the use of to-
bacJo, and never had a shirt on his
back. II we We're to go into the work
shop of today and remove from the
daily supply of its occupants every
thing that has been invented since the
days OF Augustus Caesar, the inmates
of such an institution would regard
themselves as being the most i'll treat
ed of mankind
Sea untes.
In 1853 when the Turk captured
Constantinople the learning of the
Greeks was dispersed all over Europe
and the world was all the better pre-
pared to avail itseif of the discoveries
of 1892. The sea had for ages rolled
| around the known world as complete
bar to human progress. 1t has become
highway. Now it unites rather than
divides the continents. Natural gas
was worshipped by the ancients as a
manifestation of the gods: now 1t Is
harnessed for the use OF man. The
priestess OF Delphi intoxicated her
self with its fumes and saw visions.
At kokomo man has made it an util-
lily. At Guadeloupe Mexico, a bub-
bling spring was looked upon and wor.
shipped as a miraculous healer of the
Aztecs, but in our day and generation
mineral springs become practical and
scientific cures. The scientist and ge,
ologist have sUpplanted the barbarian
and sorcerer and old time soothsayers
would have been struck dumb with
| the exploits of Edison. Ghosts hide
| themselves from the light of scientific
| day. Mckinley held his ear to the
| telephone at Canton and listened to
4 the shouting multitudes at the con-
| vention at ST. Louis. The results of
| the Olympic games in Greece a few
years ago We're known here five hours
before the races started, if we make
no allowance for the difference in
| time.
Prices of Land Purchased
Seneca foretod that Ultima Thule
would no longer mark the boundaries
of the world. Now the railway runs TO
! Jerusalem: we have found the mouth
of the Niger and the source of the
Nile. Soon Il child may be put on the
train at Cairo in charge of the con-
ductor TO be landed at Cape Town.
khartoum and Albert Nyanza will be
| dinner stations. 1t is interesting at
/ this day to note the cost of the vari-
/ Gus territorial purchases which up to
| the time of the Spanish war have
4 added to our national domain. Our
/ last purchase I will not discuss now,
I for that might lead me into the region
of party politics, which not only is,
but ought to be- forbidden on such an
occasion as this We paid for Louisi-
ana only 3 Clio cents an acre, the best
! inyestmentsevef made by any nation
Ssince the dawn of history. TO Spain
we gave for Etprida IL ITO cents an
bacre; to Mexico 5-10 for the first
purchase and then "a $40 for the
.EGadsden purchase in southern Arizo-
4 na,. the highest priced of all our ac-
Iquisitons Georgia sold her terrific
rial rights for 10 Ito cents an acre.
! The most doubtful expansion of all
was when William Henry Seward
made the purchase of the icebergs of
I Alaska at / 1900 cents an acre.
The Star of the Empire.
Mr. Seward said that his reputation
in history would mainly rest on this
act of craftsmanship and for many
years his expected honor remained in
cold storage in that inhospitable land
Bit time has vindicated the wisdom
of Mr.. Seward and Alaska is no longer
| the least priced of our possessions
But of all additions to our republic
meme have been freighted with such
great possibilities for the good of the
nation as the acquisition of the terri
tory of Louisiana.
4 Here is the center of our land; here
will soon be the center of population
and power.
From the Euphrates. the Tigris and
the Nile to the Tiber, from the Tibel
TO the Seine and the Thames, from the
Seine and the Thames to the Hudson
the Potomac and the Mississippi the
star of empire has taken it's way ever
to the west. and now it is shining
brightly upon the states which have
been formed out of the territory Of
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