Baxter Springs news. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Kan.) 1882-1919, 1903-05-09
NATION OF PIONEERS
President Roosevelt Pays Remark
able Tribute to Forefathers.
His Theme Mt the Worlds Fair Dedication
Was About the Men Who Had Explored,
Conquered and Built Up Our
Western Territory.

st. Louis, May LIN the building
of liberal arts on the site of the
Louisiana Purchase exposition, Pres
.ident Roosevelt at $3.50 o'clock Thurs
day afternoon delivered the dedica-
ton address, speaking as follows:
At the outset Of my address let me re-
call to the minds of my hearers that the
soil upon which we stand. before 1t was
ours, was successfully the possession OF
two mighty empires, Spain and France,
whose sons made deathless record or
heroism in the early annals of the new
world. No history Of the western coun-
try can be written without paying heed
to the wonderful part played therein In
the early days by the soldiers, mission
aries, explorers and traders who did their
work for the honor Of the proud BAN
ners Of France and CASTLE. While the
settlers of English-speaking stock, and
those of Dutch, German and Scandina-
Wan origin who were associated with
them, were still clinging close to the east
.ern seaboard, the pioneers Of Spain and
of France had penetrated deep into the
hitherto unknown wilderness OF the west
and had wandered far and wide WITHIN
the boundaries of what Is now our mighty
Louis, New Orleans, Santa Fe-bear wit
ness by their titles to the nationalities
of their founders. 1t was not until the
revolution had begun that the English
speaking settlers pushed west across the
Alleghenies, and not until a century ago
that they entered in to possess the land
upon which We now stand.
We have met here to-day to comment
crate the hundredth anniversary OF the
event which more than any other, after
the foundation Of the government and
always excepting its preservation, de-
termined the character of our national
Undetermined that We should be
great expanding nation instead OF rela-
lively small and stationary one.
OF course It was not with the Louisi-
ana purchase that our career OF expan-
sion began. In the middle OF the revo-
lutionary war the Illinois region. includ-
ing the present states of Illinois ana
Indiana, was added to our domain by
force of arms, as sequel to the adven-
turous expedition Of George Rogers
Clarke and his frontier rifemen. Later
the treaties of Jay and Pinckney mate
rally extended our real boundaries TO
the west. But none of these events was
of so striking q character as to fix the
popular imagination. The old ID colonies
had always claimed that their rights
stretched westward to the Mississippi,
and vague and unreal though these claims
were until made good by conquest set
Element and diplomacy, they still served
to give the impression that the earnest
westward movements OF our people were
little more than the filling in Of already
existing national boundaries.
But there could be no Illusion about
the ACQUISITION of the vast territory be-
yond the Mississippi stretching westward
to the Pacific, which In that day was
known as Louisiana. This immense re-
gion was admittedly the territory OF
foreign power, of European Kingdom.
None of our people had ever laid claim
to foot of it. It's acquisition could In
no sense be treated as rounding out any
existing claims. When We acquired 1t
we made evident once for all that con-
sciously and of set purpose we had en-
parked on q career Of expansion, that we
had taken our place among those daring
and hardy nations who risk much with
the hope and desire of winning high po-
sition among the great powers OF the
earth. AS is so often the case In nature
the law Of development OF living organ
ism showed 1t self in its actual workings
TO be wiser than the wisdom OF the wisest.
This work of expansion was by far the
greatest work of our people during the
wears that interviewed between the adop-
ton OF the constitution and the out
break of the civil war. There were other
questions of real moment and Importance
and there were many which at the time
seemed such to those engaged In answer
ing them; but the greatest feat or our
forefathers of those generations was the
deed of the men who, with pack train OF
wagon train, on horseback, on foot or by
boat upon the waters, pushed the frontier
ttvar ri the continent.
Never before had the world seen the
kind of national expansion which gave
.our people all that part of the American
continent living west of the IL original
states: the greatest landmark In which
was the Louisiana purchase. our tri'
umph in this process of expansion was In.
dissolubly bound up with the success o.
our peculiar kind of federal government
and this success has been so complete
that because of its very completeness
we now sometimes fail to appreciate moi
only the all-importance but the tremen'
.dous difficulty of the problem with which
our nation was originally faced.
When our forefathers Joined to cal
into being this nation, they undertook
task for which there was but little en-
.couraging precedent. The development Of
civilization from the earliest period
seemed to show the truth of two PROPOSE
tions: In the first place. II nao always
proved exceedingly difficult to secure botf
freedom and strength in any government
and In the second place, 1t had alwayI
proved well-nigh impossible for a natior
to expand without either breaking up o.
: becoming a centralized tyranny. Will
the success of our effort to combine
strong and efficient national union, abl'
to Put down disorder at home and Il
maintain our honor abroad, / have no
now to deal. This success was sigma
and aIl-important. but 1t Is by no meant
unprecedented in the same sense tina
, our type of expansion was unprecedented
The history of Rome and OF Greece Illus
trate very well the two types OF expan
sion which had taken place In ancien
time and which had been universally &C
.cepted as the only possible types up t
the period when as nation we our
-..ol..aa hepnn To take possesslon of thil