The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1903-05-08

pansion In which the Louisiana purchase
was the striking achievement. 1t stands
out IN renef even among the feats of a
nation OF pioneers. The acquisition OF the
territory is credit to the craftsmanship
OF the statesmen to whom ii was due, and
to the character of the pioneers to whose
energy these statesmen gave expression
and direction. The history of the pur-
chase is an eptome of the history of our
people. Within these limits we have built
up state afte" state until now they many
times over SurpaSs in wealth, i'll popu-
lation, and in many-sided developmcnt, the
original thirteen. These states have shown
themselves mighty in war and in strength
TO tame wilderness. They could not
thus have conquered forest and prairie,
mountain and desert, had they not pos
sessed the qualities which enable peo-
pie to overcome. They could not have
used Alright their conquest had they not
possessed self -mastery and self-restraint.
Courage and hardihood are Indispensable
virtues, but the people which possess no
others can never rise high Great peoples
must have the governmental capacity
which comes only when individuals fully
recognize their duties to one another and
to the whole body polite. and are able to
join in constructive craftsmanship and
effective administration.
Duties of the Future.
The old pioneer days are gone, with their
roughness and their hardship, their in
credible toll and their wild half-savage
romance. But the need for the pioneer
virtues remains as ever Frontier condi-
tons have vanished. but the hardihood of
the frontiersmen can be given freer scope
under the complex industrialism of the
present. In this great region acquired
under Jefferson. stretching from the gulf
to the Canadian border from the Missis-
sippi to the Rockies. the material and So
clal progress has been so vast that its
people now share the opportunities and
burdens of the civilized world. The prob
lens are the same east and west, in new
states and old.
n 70 mr.
event which marks an era in statesman
ship no less than in pioneering. 1t is fit
ting that We should pay our homage in
words; but we must make our words good
by deeds. We have every right to take
a just pride in the great deeds of our fore
fathers; but we show ourselves unworthy
If we make what they did an excuse for
lying supine instead OF an incentive to
show ourselves worthy of them. In the
administration of city, state and nation.
in home life and business, we are bound
to show high qualities under penalty Of
seeing the heart of our civilization eaten
out while the body lives.
We justly pride ourselves on our mar
Vicious material prosperity, and such pros
perity must exist to establish a founda-
ton upon which higher life can be built;
but unless we do in very fact build this
itself will go for little. We must meet
the changed problems with the spirit
shown by the men who in 1903 and subse-
quent years gained and settled this terri
VI INV iiIicd "1th poIuiou9 Stdtc7.
The old days We're great because the
men who lived il them had mighty quail
ties: and we must make the new days
great by showing these same qualities
We must insist upon courage and resolu-
ton, upon hardihood, tenacity and fer
tility in resource: we must insist upon the
sist no less upon the virtues of self-re-
straint self-mastery, regard for the rights
of others; We must show or adherence
Of cruelty, brutality and corruption, in
ia 70 oil lyn
come short in any of these qualities we
shall measurably fail; and if, as l believe
we surely shall, we develop these quail
gree than in the past, then in the CEN
fury 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.