The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-08-29
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farmers with their own eyes see how they
handle and ship agricultural products In
many countries of the old world they
would rejoice more than ever that their
lot Is cast in our great republic.
The Spirit of Expansion.
The spirit of expansion which possessed
Thomas Jefferson and our country in 1903
has been upon us ever since. In 1905 we
extended our Louisiana purchase to Puget
sound by exploring and taking possession
of the Oregon country. In 1919 we ex-
tended our boundaries on the Gulf OF Mex
leo and the south Atlantic by the acquisi-
ton of Florida. In 1916 we accepted the
call of the Texans. In 184S We effected a
complete and extensive Judgment on the
Pacific by the acquisition of California. In
1867 distant and extensive Alaska came to
u.s. In 1897 Hawaii was annexed, and in
1898, as result Of the Spanish war, we
asquired Guam, Porto Rico and the Phil
(ippine islands.
We started out as nation with an area
of 909, $50 square miles. We have now an
area of 3,S45,7S1 square miles Verify our
Territorial expansion has aimed to keep
pace with our agricultural and industrial
expansion We. have never made a terri
torial expansion but what at the time
many good people questioned and doubted
the wisdom of it.. But there has long
since ceased to be a. doubt or question as
to any Of it except the. Philippine. islands.
And as the years roll by we shall no doubt
all reach the same conclusion as to these
islands that we have long ago reached in
| I, 1,go1 at
| tions- The older ones among you can well
| remember how many wise but Short
sighted statesmen ridiculed the acquisi-
ton of Alaska. They said it was the pur-
chase of nothing but wilderness of eter-
nal snow and icebergs But during the
fiscal year ending June 80, 1904, our trade
with Alaska amounted to $26,3S3, 593, and
the gold output was $685., 02S.
! Our total commerce during this period
with ALA ska, Porto Rico, the Philippines,
Midway island, Guam and Tutuila, in the
Samoan islands, was $102, S78 443, and the
| trade is a growing one, still in its infancy.
| Except as to sugar, these possessions will
never become material competitor to the
American farmer, and they will continue
to furnish us a growing market for our
products, not hampered by the heavy tariff
restrictions Of foreign countries. In brief,
our country has pursued the policy of the
prosperous farmer, who from time to
time, as his surplus increases, adds to the
acreage Of his farm.
have thus briefly and in mere outline
sought to refresh your minds as to the
great agricultural and industrial progress
| of our country and some of the underlying
causes therefor, but these manifold in
structfve and magnificent exhibits that
you have here more than attest and EN-
phasize the truth of what I have aimed
to give you a mere skeleton Of. It is q
i wise plan for you thus annually to as
4 semb4esand give each other, an object les
fson in all the important elements, Of ag-
ricultural and industrial development. See
! ing is believing. You go from hence better
equipped and with more courage and hope
for the future than when you came. You
4 can say as you Depart I came, saw, and
1 / conquered. Yes, conquered :, over old
! prejudices, and Anticipated and obsolete
A methods.
The Exhibit of Humanity.
But Of all the wonderful exhibits we see
! here, to my mind the most marked and
| instructive is the great mass of humanity
II see before me. In the settlement ano
/ development Of our great state we have
drawn upon the older states and most OF
the countries Of northern and central Eu-
rope. We have fortunate admfxture Of
y! Yankee and Scandinavian Teuton an6
4 Celt: The population OF our state is mo-
Scandinavian, nor Teuton, nor Celt, MOI
even wholly Yankee, but these severa
i,classes are the chief elements of our en-
ergetic, Industrious, prosperous and law
abiding population, and these several ,ele
ments have in harmony and unison, an(
with scarcely friction, built up our stat,
and made it one of the most prosperous
and progressive in the entire country
second to none in all that appertains t.
true American citizenship.
/ The founders of this state, with pro
found wisdom, opened the doors wide 70
our foreign-bor immigrants, and, with
short proba tion unlike some of the olde
states, extended to them the full right
of citizenship. And now, after an expert
ence of well nigh half century, l thinl
We are fully justified in saying that n
!, mistake was made; that a proper an
4 honest use has been made of the gift, an
that the confidence reposed has not bee,
betrayed. But the soil and our materia
I resources have hitherto reaped the chic
benefits of our mixed and cosmopo;ita
population: In the course of time, grad
ually and inevitably, our different ethnolog
ical elements will assimiate and coalesc
into a homogeneous people, into new rae
as. it We're; a race and people not who'll
the. counterpart Of any one of the sew
ieral elements, but the quintessence. of all
:, concentrated into one homogeneous whole
Teutonic and Scandinavian industry an
a perseverance, and Celtic bravery and yer
& satility will be reinforced with Yanke
8 ingenuity and Yankee vim, and all thf
q happily Blended into one perfect man
| hood-the Minnesotan of the future. Yo
z and I will not see him. He will be GU
great -grandch i'd-perhaps more remote
He will be neither like the Anglo Saxo
of Great Britain, nor like the Yankee o
I New England But he will be every inc
:. an American In language, spirit and as
pirations. Silently, slowly. and almost I'm
! noticed the process of assimilation goe
on, but surely and inevitably.
: Il Today we exhibit the finest and hes
;. products of the field and the factor.
/ In the distant future we will not oni
i do that but we will also exhibit the bes
e and finest specimens Of true manhood
:, the typical American typical of all TIL
3 virtues inbedded in our intellectual, so
2 cial, economic and political fabric.
:, Position Of the Farmer.
Il But pass from this interesting prog
RI nostication of the future, for the purpos
$ of briefly pointing. out to you farmers tn
I position you occupy and the power yo
r. hold IN our political structure, to the en-
that YOU may be fully awake to the re
t RESPONSIBILITIES that rest upon YOU
j In ancient times and until d compare
: lively recent period, the tiller of the so