Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1903-05-07

PRESIDENT D. r. FRANCIS.
New Orleans, Santa Fe, N. M.-bear
witness by their titles to the nation
alities of their founders. 1t was not
until the revolution had begun that
the English-speaking settlers pushed
west across the Alleghenies, and not
until a century ago that they entered
in to possess the land upon which we
now stand"
After passing in review the acqui-
sition of the Louisiana territory and
pointing out the inestimable boon
conferred upon the nation by its far
| sighted purchasers, the president con-
cluded:
Great Event COmmemOrated.
"We meet here to-day to commence
rate a great event which marks an
era in craftsmanship no less than
in pioneering. 1t is fitting that we
should pay our homage in words; but
we must in honor make our words
good by deeds. We have every right
to take a just pride in the great deeds
of our forefathers; but we show our
selves unworthy to be their descend
ants if we make what they did an ex-
cuse for our lying supine instead of
an incentive to the effort to show our
selves by our acts worthy of them. In
the administration of city, state and
nation, in the management of Il
home life and the conduct of Il
business and social relations we are
bound to show certain high and fine
qualities of character under penalty
of seeing the whole heart of our civil
ization eaten out while the body still
lives.
1--WE justly pride ourselves on our
marvellous material prosperity, and
such prosperity must exist in order
to establish a foundation. upon which
a higher life can be built; but unless
we do in very fact build this higher
life thereon, the material prosperity
will go for but very little. Now, in
1903, in the altered conditions, we
must meet the changed and changing
problems with the spirit shown by
the men who, in 1903, and in the sub
sequent years gained, explored, con-
quered, and settled this vast terri
tory, then a desert, now filled with
thriving and populous states.
The Old Days and the New.
"The old days were great because
the men who lived in them had nigh
ty qualities; and we must make the
new days great by showing these
same qualities. We must insist upon
courage and resolution, upon hardi-
hood, tenacity and fertility in re-
source; we must insist upon the
strong, virile virtues; and we must
insist no less upon the virtues of
self-restraint, self-mastery, regard
for the rights of others; we must
show our adherence of cruelty, bru-
tality and corruption, in public and in
private life alike. If we come short
in any of these qualities we shall
m%easurably fail; and if, as I believe
we surely shall, we develop these
qualities in the future to an even
greater degree than in the past, then
in the century now beginning we
shall make of this republic the freest
and most orderly, the most just and
most mighty nation which has ever
come forth from the womb of time"
MIR. CleveIand's Address.
Tho o1ocn Of tha ,Ja1.no4sor olJ,o.o
was followed by the selection, Gun
fold Ye Portals" by the grand
chorus, and then Hon. Grover Cleve-
land, ex-president of the United
States, delivered the Grafton, in the
course of which he traced the far
reaching consequences in the upbuild-
ing of this mighty nation, the haven
for the oppressed of all races, follow
ing the acquisition of the vast area
comprised in the Louisiana Purchase.
He said in part:
'The impressiveness of this occa-
sion is greatly enhanced by reason
of an atmosphere of prophecy's full
fillment which surrounds it. The
thought is in our minds hat we are
amid awe-inspiring surroundings,
where we may see and feel things
foretold a century ago. We are here
in recognition of the one hundredth
anniversary of an event which
doubled the area Of the young Amer
lean nation, and dedicated a new and
wide domain to American progress
and achievement. The treaty whose
completion we to-day commemorate
was itself a prophecy of our youth
full nations mighty growth and devel-
opment. At its birth prophets in
waiting joyously foretold the happi-
ness which its future promised. He
who was the chief actor for the Unit
ed States in its negotiation, as he
signed the perfected instrument, thus
declared its effect and f%ar-reaching
consequences:
Prophetic Utterances.
"'The instrument which we have
just signed will cause no tears to be
shed. 1t prepares ages Of happiness
for innumerable generations Of hui
man creatures. The Mississippi and
the Missouri will see them succeed
one another-truly worthy of the re
gard and care Of Providence, in the
bosom Of equality under just laws
frAAd from the errors Of superstition