The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1903-05-01

and the extraordinary artistic, literary
and philosophical development which
has made all mankind it's debtors foi
the ages, was yet wholly unable Il
Withstand a formidable foe, save spas.
medically. As soon as powerful, per.
mancnt empires arose on It's outskirts
the Greek states in the neighborhoot
OF such empires fell under their sway
National power and greatness were
completely sacrificed to local liberty.
With Rome the exact opposite oc-
Cured. The imperial city rose to, alb.
solute dominion over all the peoples
of Italy and then expanded her rule
over the entire civilized world by Q
process which kept the nation strong
and united, but gave no room whatever
for local liberty and self-government
All other cities and countries were
subject to Rome. In consequence this
great and masterful race of warriors
rulers, road-builders, and administra-
tors stamped their indelible impress
upon all the after life Of our race, and
yet let an over-centralization eat out
the vitals of their empire until it be-
came an empty shell; SO that when
the barbarians came they destroyed
only what had already become worth
Hess to the world.
The underlying .viciousness 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 consti-
tuition under which we live this rem
edy was untried and no one could fore
tell how 1t would work. They them
selves began the experiment almost i'm
mediately by adding new states to the
original thirteen. Excellent people in
the east viewed this initial expansion
of the country with great alarm. Ex-
actly as during the colonial period
many good people in the mother-coun-
try thought it highly important that
settlers should be kept out of the Ohio
Valley in the interest of the fur COM
panies, SO after we had become ma
tion many good people on the Atlantic
coast felt grave apprehension lest they
might somehow be hurt by the west
ward 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 declar-
ed 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 present territory, Nor was
their feeling unnatural. Only the ad-
venturous and the far-seeing can be
expected heartily to welcome the pro-
cess of expansion, for the nation that
Expands is nation which is entering
upon a great career, and with great
ness there must of necessity come per-
lis which daUnt all save the most
stout hearted.
We expanded by carving the wilderness
into territories and out of these ter
|ritories building new states-when once
they had received as permanent set
tiers a sufficient number Of oar own
people. Being practical nation we
have never tried to force an unsuitable
form of government merely because 1t
was suitable for another section under
different conditions. OF the territory
covered by the Louisiana purchase q
portion was given statehood within a
few years. Another portion has not
been admitted to statehood, although
a century has elapsed although doubt
less 1t soon will be. In each case we
showed the practical governmental gen.
ius of our race by devising methods
suitable to meet the actual existing
needs; not by insisting upon the appli-
cation of some abstract shibbOleth to
|all our new possessions alike, no mat
ter how incongruous this application
might something's 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 inde-
pendence in all matters affecting purely
its own domestic interests as in any
tof the original thirteen states each
owing the same absolute fealty to the
union of all the states which each OF
the original thirteen states also owes
and finally each having the same pro-
portional right to its share in shaping
and directing the common policy of the
lunion which is possessed by any other
state, whether of the original thirteen
or not.
This process now seems to us part OF
the natural order of things, but it was
wholly unknown until our own people
devised it. 1t seems to us mere mat
ter Of course, a matter OF elementary
right and justice, that in the delibera-
Itions of the national representative bod
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