The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-10-09
MR.. HARGER SPEAKS.
Discusses sThe New Westernerp Be
fore Knife and Fork Club.

Kansas City. Oct. 9.-Rev VIM. A
Quayle and Charles Moreau larger
were the orators at the Knife and Fork
club banquet last night. Dr. Ouayle
delivered an eloquent address on Lin
coln, and Mr.. Harger's subject was
The New Westerner," in which he
said:
THE boomers and the promoters have
had their day. They operated on wind.
but there is another circulating me-
dunn now Some have reformed; others
have gone-some to their long rest;
some to Mexico, and some to Canada.
Before us is a new type-the clear
headed. stout-hearted. translated man
of the plains;- the product of years of
trial, of experiment, of triumph. Amid
the brown of DrairieS, the dinlDling
| emerald of growing wheat, the gorge
Gus crimson and gold of autumn foil
age, he greets the sunrise, earnest,
sturdy and unafraid. He trusts not to
luck but in sense and system and
preparation: he builds not for a day,
but for decades.
He is manifest on the distant reach
es OF the short grass country: he is
the ruStler of the prairie village: he
walks the cavements of splendid and
progressive cities; he believes in col
ieges as well as in corner lots: he asks
sanity and high ideals in the plans for
the vests growth. He is a central Sig
ure for the nation. About him more
is written and spoken than concerning
any other parsonage in this broad
country Wall street ea ~erly waits his
pleasure. and london wonders what he
viii seize next
Tanned by the prairie wiads.
warmed by the glowing sunshine of the
level lands, standing where meet the
trace currents of north and south, with
command over both. the new westerner
mas IN his grasp a glorious destiny
magnificent heritage-the possibilities
of golden age
The westerners of other days over
mo he ii
battles with primeval forces. That
Soodly company has passed away. An
other is on the stage-the west. this
vast granary with indefinite boundaries
ara with overfiowing hopes. has reach
ed new period of it's development
The pioneer was the beginning: his
strong arm guided the pillow across level
leagues of greening sod: his earnest
heart withstood the deprivations of
early years. He was hero in his gen
Grafton. conqueror of greater things
than were the kings of old, a forerunner
of the wondEous incoming of the plains
ripper fruitage
After him came other types. Once,
kansan located in Kansas City for
the purpose of managing cattle com
mission company. 1t is dead easy he
remarked. 1t takes the typewriter girl
no longer to make out a. mortgage for
$4,000 than for $4,000 And he invari-
ably watered his chattel mortgages
AlClC lHdIl ne Ulu Ills steers. lie Is re-
siding in Mexico now
And that type. too. has passed away
and. in the language of the seer.
, there is new heaven and a new
earth You are part of it-this very
organization. with it's earnest effort to
get something more out of life than
acres and bushels and dollars is most
worthy example of it.
Nothing is better established in the
study of mankind than that we are. in
fluenceG by our environment The west
ern people reflect the conditions among
which they are placed. Upon the plains
have mingled the descendant of the
Puritan and the offspring of the cava-
iier: the emisrant from Atlantic slopes
and the wide-hatted native of the gulf
borders.
ITO all have come the same training
of vigorous strife. the sharpened wits
of frontier rivalry, the sympathy of
equally modest beginnings. 1t would
he strange if out of the wears of stress
there came not a character fitting the
freedom. the energy, the enthusiasm of
the great west