The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-04-29

orado and others of these States follow her closely. The course of the empire is still westward. We find the centre of pop ulation rapidly approaching the Jefferson tract, and the centre of cereal produce ton has for fourteen years been within this province. The foreign population which are menace in the eastern sec ton of our country, become thoroughly Americanized fin few years west of the great river. They enter this region from all nations of the world and all find con- genial homes.
 Special social attractions are offered them. Among those who come to our coun- try to work and better their conditions many of the most successful are to be found here. They find 1t not degrading to labor in the West. With the improved machinery to be found in the United States. the Germans, Dutch and others find 1t easy to make fine living on rented farms. and at the same time to lay up money soon to purchase these lands they have rented. Thus they be- come land-holders and stable. Iaw-abid- ing citizens.
 In many of the States of the Louisiana province the ballot is given upon the de- claration of the foreigners intention of becoming citizen. Most of them re- quire at most only few months of res idence to become voters. Wyoming per- mits women to vote on equal footing with men, and declares through her leg islature that this extension of suffrage to women has raised the standard of candidates made elections more orderly, improved the character of legislators and iegislation, and developed womanhood into broader usefulness Colorado followed Wyoming's example and also two States Utah and Idaho. west of the province.
 "The co-educatlon of the sexes, which began in Oberlin, Ohio. seventy years ago, is losing some of its friends farther east but its vogue is increasing west of the big river. In that locality is found the broadest democracy, the fullest liber- ty. equality and fraternity that the world has seen.''
 The middle West is busy, prosperous, happy. The mortgages of the farmers of this section have been exchanged for bank stock, cash and loans to Wall Street. The country's' centre of politi- cal power is rapidly moving westward. Excepting Grover Cleveland. every pres ident who has been elected since Buchan- a1 has come from the Mississippi valley. Tn the same time four speakers of the popular branch of Congress-Colfax Kerr, Keller and Henderson-have been men from the same region. With the East hostile, as rule. and the locality between the Alleghanies and the Mis- sissippi indifferent, it was the trans-Mis- slssippl region which dictated President McKinlely's Philippine retention policy in 1893. The same locality in 1902, through the State conventions in Kansas, Mis- souri, Iowa, Minnesota, Colorado, Mon- tana, Texas. Utah. Idaho. Washington, and California, have led in putting Pres fdent Roosevelt forward for the Presi- dency for 1904, compelling many of the States east of the Missouri to fall into line fin his support" It was the same region that forced the passage of the Pan- anna Canal bill and the irrigation act, two measures, that ar destined to change the course of trade from the East and West to the North and South direction, and to divert to that locality the stream of American immigration that Is now crossing into Canada.
 "All of these achievements and the settlements of this vast area by the most efficient population in the world" says Mir Charles M Harvey, a political his- torical writer of the West, were render ed inevitable when Napoleon and Jeffer- son. by the annexation of Louisiana in 1S0a. placed the American Republic on the roll of the worlds great powers
 W. J. Beeson. Department of History and Civics, State
 Normal School, Jacksonville, Ala.