Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1903-04-30

the nineteenth century InaC we were
able to build up state after state, each
with exactly the same complete local
independence in all matters affecting
purely its own domestic interests as
in any of 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 proportional right to its share
in shaping and directing the common
, policy of the union which is possessed
by any other state, whether of the
original thirteen or not.
Process Now Seems Natural.
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 a
mere matter of course, a matter of
elementary right and justice, that in
the deliberations of the national rep
resentative bodies the representatives
of state which came into the union
but yesterday on footing of exact
and entire equality with those of the
commonwealth whose sons once
signed the declaration of independence.
But this way Of looking at the matter
is purely modern, and in it's origin
purely American. When Washington
during his presidency saw new states
come into the union on footing of
complete equality with the old, every
European nation which still had col
onies still administered them as de-
tendencies, and every other mother
country treated the colonist not as a
self governing equal but as a subject.
Accepted by the World.
The process which we began has
since been followed by all the great
peoples who were capable both of ex-
pansion and of self government. and
now the world accepts it as the nat
ural process, as the rule; but cen
fury and quarter ago it was not
merely exceptional; it was unknown.
A Marked Achievement.
This, then, is the great historic sig
nificance of the movement of continent
tai expansion in which the Louisiana
purchase was the most striking single
achievement. 1t stands out in marked
| relief even among the feats of nation
of pioneers, a nation whose people have
from the beginning been picked out by
process of natural selection from
among the most enterprising indivd-
uaIs of the nations of western Europe.
The acquisition of the territory is a
credit to the broad and far sighted
craftsmanship of the great statesman
to whom it was Immediately due, and
| above all to the aggressive and master
| full character of the hardy pioneer folk
to whose restless energy these states
men gave expression and direction,
whom they followed rather than led.
4 The history of the land comprised
within the limits of the purchase is an
| epitome of the entire history of our
people.
A Mighty Race.
Within these limits we have gradual.
! ly built up state after state, until now
they many times over surpass in
wealth. in population, and in many-sid
ed development, the original thirteen
states as they We're when their dele
gates met in the continental congress
4 The people of these states have shoWr
themselves mighty in war with theil
/ felIow-nan, and mighty in strength tc
tame the rugged wilderness. The,
could not thus have conquered. the for
est and the prairie, the mountain anc
the desert, had they not possessed the
great fighting virtues, the qualities
which enable a people to overcome the
forces of hostile men and hostile ma
| turs.
| On the other hand, they could
not have used Alright their conquest
had they not in addition possessed the
qualities of self-mastery and self-re-
;straint, the power of acting in comb
nation with their fellows, the power Of
yielding obedience to the law and o.
| building up an orderly civilization
Courage and hardwood are indspensa
BILE virtues in people; but the people
which possesses no others can never
rise high in the scale of either power
or culture. Great peoples must have
in addition the governmental capacit,
which comes only when Individual:
fully recognize their duties to one an
other and to the whole body polite
and are able to join together in feats Of
constructive craftsmanship and of hon
est and effective administration.
4 Pioneer Days Gone.
4 The old pioneer days are gone, will
their roughness and their hardship
their incredible toll and their wild half
savage romance. But the need for the
/ pioneer virtues remain the same al
ever. The peculiar frontier conditions
have vanished; but the manliness ant
4 stalwart hardihood of the frontiersme1
can be given freer scope under thu
conditions surrounding the compile,
i industrialism of the presnt day. II
!. this great region acquired for our PEG
4 pie under the presidency of Jefferson
I this region stretching from the gulf tt
the Canadian borders. from the Missis
J sippi to the Rockies, the material ant
social progress has been SO great tina
alike for veal and for woe its peopl,
now share the opportunities and bea
4 the burdens common to the entire civ
ilized world. The problems before III
4 are fundamentally the same east an,
I west of the Mississippi, in the new
! states and in the old, and exactly tn,
same qualities are required for thei
| successful solution
Il Deeds Alone Count.
We meet today to commemorate ;
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