Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1902-12-02

on 4 continent iicrhed u two great
oceans. 1t is composed CT men IKE de-
scendants CT pioneers or. in 4 sense Pic
neers thsmselvcs--of men winnowed out
from among the nations OF the old world
by the energy, boldnes5 ard love OF adj
venture found III their own eager hearts.
Such u nation 50 placed VIII surely wrest
success from fortune.
As a people We have played large p;.rt
in the world, and are bent Upon max
ing our future even larger than the past
In particular the events CT the last four
years have definitely decided mat for woe
Or Tor veal cur place must ~ Sre,tt am CHg
The nations W < may elther I--li 81 eaIly
or succeed greatly, bat We cannot avoid
the endeaVOr from whiCh eI,Eier great
failure or great success must come. EVEN
i. II we would We cannot play Il small part
If should try. ali that wOuio fOlIOw
would be that we should play - IarGe part
ignobIy and Sh2mefuIIy.
But our people, the sons OF the men OF
the civil war, the sons OF The men who
had iron in their blood, rejoice IN the
present and face the future lIISn OF heart
and reSOlute of will ours IS LOt the
creed of the weakling and the towards
ours is the gospel OF hope and OF tri-
umphant endeaVOr. We DO not SHRINK
from the struggle before us. There are
many problems for US to face at the out
set of the twentieth century-graNe prop
lens abroad and still Graver at home-buT
we know that We can solve them, ana
solve them we'll provided only that we
bring to the solution the qualtle5 OF he1d
who in the days of Washington founded
this government and in the days OF Lin
coin preserved it..
COuntry's High Plane
No country has ever occupied a higher
plane of material well being than ours at
the present moment. This well being Is
due to no sudden or accidental causes. but
10 the play of the economic forces in this
country for over a century; 10 our laws
our sustained and continuous pollcleS
above all to the high Individual average
of our citizenship. Great fortunes have
been won by those who have taken the
lead in this phenomenal industrial deVel-
opment, and most OF these fortunes nave
been won not by doing evil. but as an in
cident to action which has benefited the
community as a whole. Never before has
material well being been SO widely diff
fused among our people Great fortunes
have been accumulated. and yet in the
aggregate these fortunes are small m
deed when compared to the wealth of the
people as a whole The plain People are
better off than they have ever been pc
fore. The insurance companies, which
are practically mutual benert societies
especially helpful 10 men or moderate
meanS-repreSent accumulation of capt.
tai which are among the largest in this
country. There are more deposits in the
savings banks, more owners of farms.
more well paid wageworkers in this coun-
try now than ever before in our history.
az course when fhe conditions have IA
Vored the. growth of so much that was
good they have also favored somewhat
nently necessary that we should endeavor
to cut out this evil, but let US keep a due
our gaze upon the lesser evil forget the
greater good The eV Is are real. and
some of them are mena cling. but they are
the outgrowth not of misery or decadence,
but of prosperity. of the progress OF our
gigantic industrial development rms IN
duStrial development must not be checked.
but side by side with it should go such
progressive regulation as will diminish
the evils. We should fail in our duty II
we did not try to remedy the evils, but we
shall succeed only if we proceed patient,
Nv. with practical common sense as well
as resolution separat ting the good from
the bad and holding on to the former
while endeavoring to get RID OIL the latter.