Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1903-01-07
Bases OF the Greatness OF America.

Standing upon the threshold of
the new year is fit position to take
a short view of the past, to consider
the present and TO look to the future.
The United States is now, beyond
question, the most powerful nation
on the globe. Its vast material
interests are unparalleled in the his
tory of nations. In accumulated
wealth it stands first. In educa-
tional advancement and social eleva-
tion, in agricur ,fal and manufaotur-
ing industry sss9 in it's possibilities
for the f;,<s\ 10 other nation on
earth ca..SSsSx~ with it. Not the
splend> es'&Sfo n under Cyrus, nor
the :! snd sl''Dm %oss Of So ~ Rome under
+ Ny '.s'. %''>.". presnrt .. t."y c5' oTed
almost the then known world, with
a population Of i25,GG0,OOO, can be
compared with the material magnifi-
cence of our own country. Greece
in the time of Pericles reached the
zenith of its fame and power, but
how insignificant was Greece in all
save it's literature and fine arts to
the boundless resources of the United
States! The dominating power of
France under Louis XIV and the
vast empire controlled by Charles V,
of Spain, were standards of kingly
power and supreme authority in
those times, but the empires of
Charles and Louis, rnled by despot-
ism and shaken by internec:1e
strifes, were far inferior in all the
elements of durable prosperity and
greatness to our own land. Even
the vast regions consolidated into an
empire Under the reign of good
Queen Victoria cannot compete as
wealth producing factors with the
United States. In the provisions
for maintaining education, in the
freedom of the citizen, in world wide
influence and in moral strength no
other government that exists to- day
or ever has existed in the many CEN
turies Of which history makes record
equals the government of the United
States, acting in unison with the
State governments. Its economic
forces are the best ordered and
trained its educational institutions,
far greater IN number than exist in
all Europe, are the most richly en-
dowed; it's public school system,
which ramifies to the remotest corner
of the country, is the most efficient;
the intelligence and enterprise of its
people are the most pronounced and
the most generally diffused; its rail
road system, now covering about
100000 miles, represents nearly one
half of the worlds mileage-in all
these things the United States stands
without an equal. Unlike the ma
tions of antiquity, and unlike many
modern nations, it's greatest business
is not war, nor does it rest its high
est renown upon warlike deeds. Its
conquests are the conquests of peace,
though when fighting is to be done
it is well done, for it is the only ma.
ton that has always been victorious
against all it's enemies. Divided
into political parties in time of peace,
its people are one when danger
threatens.
The history of the country is full
of lessons. Errors have been made
in legislation, but in spite of them
the country has moved on at such
an accelerated ratio that the most
optimistic, if prediction of our
present advancement had been made
thirty years ago, would have pro.
nounced it the delirious dream of
fa ne