Omaha daily bee., 1903-05-01

tionaiities OF their Founders. Ii was not
Until the revolution had begun that the
across the AlleEhenies, and not until a
century ago that they entered In to possess
the land upon which we now stand.
q one of Three Great Events.
We have met here today to commemorate
the hundredth anniversary Of the event
which more than any other, after the
foundation of the government and always
excepting it's preservation. determined the
character of our national Undetermined
that we should be a. great expanding nation
instead of relatively a small and stationary
OF course 1t was not with the Louisiana
purchase that our career OF expansion be-
gan. In the middle of the revolutionary
war the Illinois region including the pres
added to our domain by force OF arms. as
a sequel to the adventurous expedition of
George Rogers Clarke and his frontier
rihemen. Later the. treaties Of Jay and
Pinckney materially extended our real
boundaries to the west. But none of these
fix the popular Imagination. The old thir-
teen colonies had always claimed that their
sippi, and vague aud unreal though these
claims were until made good by inquest,
settlement and diplomacy, they still served
westward OF our people were
little more than the filling in Of already
existing national boundaries,
But there could be no Illusion about the
acquisition Of the vast territory beyond the
Mississippi, stretching westward to the
Pacific, which in that day was known as
Louisiana. This immense region was ad-
mlttedly the territory OF a foreign power,
pie had ever laid claim to a foot of It. Its
acquisition could in no sense be treated as
rounding out any existing claims. When
we acquired It we made. evident once for
all that consciously and of set purpose we
had embarked on a career of expansion,
that we had taken our place among those
daring and hardy nations who risk much
with the hope and desire of winning high
position among the great powers of the
esTth; AS is 50 often the case In nature,
ism showed itself in it's actual workings to
be wiser than the wisdom of the .wisest.
Expansion Work.
This work of expansion was BY far the
Years that interyene Sp[ tweeeerne the [ adeeptiou
Of the constitution and the outbreak of the
civil war. There were other questions Of
real moment and Importance, and there
were many which at the time seemed such
to those engaged in answering them, but
the greatest feat of our forefathers OF those
generations was the deed OF the men who,
with pack train or wagon train, on horse
back, on foot, or by boat upon the waters,
pushed the frontieS ever westward across
the continent.
Never before had the world seen the kind
OF national expansion which gave our people
lying west of the thirteen original states;
the greatest landmark In which was the
Louisiana Louise PURCHASE; Our tTiuT Ifi In this
bound up with the success of our peculiar
kind of federal government and this sue
cess has been SO complete that because Of
Its completeness we now sometimes fail to
appreciate not only the all-importance but
the tremendous difficulty of. the problem
with which our nation was originally faced.
F~Orefathers Took strange Task.
When our forefathers Joined to call into
being this nation they undertook a task for
precedent. The development of civilization
the truth of two propositions; In the first
place. 1t had always proved exceedingly
difficult to secure both freedom and
second place it had always proved we'll nigh
impossible for a nation to expand without
i1s6 tvE 6reSKin T, up t Or s SScoass gf oS GENITAL aTo1t
union. able to put down disorder at home
and to maintain our honor and interest
abroad. 1 have not now to deal. This sue
cess was signal and all-important. but 1t
was by no means unprecedented in the
unprecedented. The history OF Rome and of
Greece illustrates very well the twb types
ancient Ia4a time AND wni Which nag had saS BEEN p uaiSer m
ally accepted as the only possible types up
70 the period when as a nation we our
continent. h Grecian states performed
-enDArkable feats of colonization; but each
independent Of the mother states, and in
after years was almost as apt to prove its
enemy as It's friend. Local self-government,
by the absolute sacrifice of anything re-
semblipg national unity. In consequence,
the IsDC Grs sdd T tSs for all al is srv y eTfo bril-
airy and philosophical development which
has made all manki its debtors for the
a formidable foreign foe, save spasTn0di-
empires arose on its outskirts the Greek
fell under their sway. National power and
greatness were completely sacrificed TO locaI
liberty.
With Rome the exact opposite occurred
The imperial city rose to absolute dominion
over all the peoples of Italy and then ex.
panded its rule over the entire civilized
strong and united. but rave no room what
ever for local liberty and self-government
to Rome. In conseSuenee his Trest sna
masterful race of warriors, rulers, road
builders and administrators stamped theii
indehble impress upon all the after life Of
our race, and yet let an over-centrafizatior
} eat out the vitals of their empire until 4
barbarians came they destroyed only whaI
had already become worthless to the world
The underlying viciousness Of each typt
remedy now seems simple enough. Blu
when the fathers of the republic first form
ulated the constitution under which we liv,
this remedy was untried and no one coulC
foretell how 1t would work. They them
selves began the experiment almost i'm
mediately by adding new states to tn,
original thirteen. Excellent people in tn,
{ east viewed this initial expansion Of tn,
country with great alarm. Exactly as dur
ing the colonial period many good peopii
in the mother country thought 81 highl,
, important that settlers should be kept ou
of the Ohio valley in the interest of tn
, fur companies. so after we had become
nation many good people on the Atlantis
coast felt grave apprehension lest the!
might somehow be hurt by the westward
growth of the nation. These good peopl
shook their heads over the formation o
( states in the fertile Ohio valley which nov
: forms part of the heart Of our nation, AM
: they declared that the destruction OF tn
through. the Louisiana purchase we &C
b quired nearly half Of what Is now tina
: same republics present territory. Neithe
Z was their feeling unnatural Only the ad
Venturous and the far-seelng can be ex
0 pected heartily to welcome the process o
expansion, for the nation that expands 1
a nation which is entering upon a grea
!, career, and with greatness there must q
e necessity come perils which daunt all saw
the most stout hearted.
! wilderness Becomes states.
I We expanded by carving the wilderness
into territories and out OF these territorie
u building new states when once they ha
received as permanent settlers a s~uficien
5 number of our own people. Being a prac
teal nation, we have never tried to fore
z on any section OF our new territory an un
E suitable form of government merely be
= cause IL was suitable for another sectio