Omaha daily bee., 1903-03-13
"THosE STRENUOUS rANKEEs.~
That f. the Topic Upon witch T. =.
O'Connor Discourses.

Mainly About People.
What n wonderful race they are 10 be
sure. these Yankeesi We are now begin
ming to discover them. Yet those who trav-
eled In America as far back as twenty. or
even thirty years ago. must have learned
That that vast continent. with Its entirely
new conditions. was producing an entirely
new human being. II couldn't be other.
wise. When a piece Of land. which is a
mere marsh bog, or dried-up prairie. yet
untrodden by the foot Of man. and roamed
over by beasts still savage. is capable Of
being converted. in the course Of ten or
twenty years, into the seat Of a mighty
city with a million inhabitants, and with
every inch Of its space as valuable as land
in the city OF L~ondon-that city which has
centuries Of history. struggle. wealth, COM
mercial supremacy behind it-when there
are such vast transformations in the course
OF a decade or two, A. is impossible that
man should not. adapting himself to the en-
vironment, have become a very different
type from the ordinary.
| could almost draw a portrait, II I had
any talent for drawing, OF the type thus
produced. | have seen him in all walks OF
life in America: in all parts OF the coun-
try-the descendant of all countries. with
49, tNNNa Va al AoNNHs ~ 10 uuluufs anu
yet he is so similar hat almost one speci-
men could stand for the whole race. First
in my imaginary portrait | put a very
square. strong Jaw; then place q nous
tache and a goatee on the lip and chin.
Above all, be sure about the expression
you give the eyes. and the size and APP
pearance of the hands.
l used to be struck when FIRST I went to
America by the method in which many
Americans behaved when they we're intro
duced to you. 1t was a ceremony. a chal-
lenge, a pledge; you almost felt as II you
were out on the wild prairies In pre-
historic times and we're taking the oaths of
blood friendship with a Choctaw Indian; an
oath that pledged you and him to friend
ship to the death. For, first, your new
friend grasped your hand as in q grip OF
iron, then he looked you straight In the
eye with a stare that seemed to show a
desire to penetrate to your very heart OF
hearts, and to ask you whether you wero
ready to fight a duel to the death or to
form a friendship that was ready to 20
even to the gallows. After a time l took
the thing a little less seriously and saw
the funny side Of 1t. but there was a time
when took 1t as a very extraordinary per-
formance. And, finally, / interpreted 1t as
a ogmDol huu II TeNelhllOn OF national CnHF-
acter. 1t represented that bold spirit Of
struggle and defiance which the battle OF
man with nature, on the gigantic scale Of
American life, has evolved.
You will find as a consequence Of this
that the man who gets to the top OF tho
political ladder in America is quite a diff
ferent type from the successful politician
of your own country. Be sure that II q
man be at the top in America he has some
right to be there; be sure that you will
find in him that square Jaw, the grim, eom-
pressed mouth, the bold, staring, DEFIANT
eyes. In time, Of course, this will change;
and America, now in it's radiant and belli-
cose youth, will settle down to It's middle
aged tranquility; and smooth-spoken men
with diplomatic methods and the air Of
the drawing room will exercise sway in its
councils as they do in ours. But that mo-
ment has not yet come, and II never APP
peared much farther distant than II does
In the days when Theodore Roosevelt is
president,