The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1903-05-01

only possible types up 10 the period
when as "a nation We ourselves began
10 take possession Of this continent !.
The GrecIan states performed remark
able feats OF colonization. but each coll
only a. soon as created became entire
ly independent Of the mother state, and
In after years was almost as apt to
prove Its enemy as its friend. Local
self-goyernment local independence.
was secured. but only by the absolute
sacrifice OF anything resembling ma
tjonaI unity. In consequence, the Greek
world. for all Its wonderful brilliancy
and the extraordinary artistic. literary
and philosophical development which
has made all mankind Its debtors for
the ages was yet wholly unable 10
Withstand a formidable foreign foe,
save spasmodically. AZ soon as pow
erful permanent empires arose on Its
outskirts, the Greek states In the neigh
borhood OF such empires fell under
their sway. National power and great
ness we're completely sacrificed TO To-
cal liberty.
With Rome the exact opposite occurr-
ed. The imperial city rose to abso-
lutte dominion over all the peoples OF
Italy and then expanded her rule
over the entire civilized world by
process which kept the nation strong
and united, but gave no room whatever
for local liberty and seIf-government
All other cities and countries were sub
ject TO Rome. In consequence this
great and masterful race Of warriors.
rulers road-builders and administrators
stamped their indelible impress upon
all the after life of our race, and yet
let an decentralization eat out the
vitals OF the empire until II became an
empty shell; 80 when the barbarians
came they destroyed only what had
already become worthless to the world.
The underlying piciousness of each
type of expansion was plain enough
and the remedy now seems simple
enough. But when the fathers of the
republic first formulated the constitu-
ton under which We now live this
remedy was untried and no one could
fortell how II would work. They them
selves began the experiment almost inn
mediately by adding new states to the
original 10. Excellent people in the
east viewed this expansion with great
alarm. Exactly as during the colonial
period many good PEOPLE in the moth
er-country thought 1t highly import
ant that settlers should be kept out
OF the Ohio valley in the interest Of
the fur countries, Sc after we had be-
come d Ma ton many good people on
the Atlantic coast felt grave appre-
henslon lest they might somehow be
burt by the westward growth Of the
nation. These good people shook their
heads over the formation OF states in
the fertile Ohio valley which now
forms part of the heart Of our nation;
and they declared that the destruction
of the republic had been accomplished
when through the Louisiana purchase
we acquired nearly half of what is now
that same republics territory. Nor
was their feeling unnatural. Only the
adventurous and far-seeing can be eX-
pected to heartily welcome the pro-
cess of expansion, for the nation that
expands Is nation that is entering
upon great career, and with greatness
there must of necessity come perils
which daunt Ill save the most STOUT
hearted.
We expanded by carving the wilder
ness into territories and out of the ter
rltories building new states when once
they had received as permanent set
tiers sufficient number Of our own
people. Being practical nation We
have ne Ser tried to force on any sec
tlon Of our new territory an insult
able form of government merely be-
cause it was suitable for another Sec
ton under different conditions. OF the
territory covered by the Louisiana pur-
chase a portion was given statehood
within a few years. Another portion
has not been admitted to statehood,
although century has elapsed-al-
though doubtless it soon will be. In
each case we showed the practical gov
ernmental genius Of our race by devils
ing methods suitable to meet the actu-
al existing needs; not by insisting up
on the application of some abstract
shibboleth to all our new possessions
alike no matter how incongruous this
application might sometimes be.
Over by far the major part of the
territory, however, our people spread
in such numbers during the course OF
the nineteenth century that we were
able to build up state after state, each
with exactly the same complete local
independence in all matters affecting
purely its own domestic interests as
in any of the original 10 states-each
owing the same absolute fealty to-
the union of all the states which each
of the original IS states also owes
and finally each having the same pro-
portional right to its share in shaping
and directing the common policy of the
union which is possessed by any other
state, whether of the original 1S or not.
This process now seems to us part
of the natural order of things, but 1t