Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1904-05-20
PRESS IN MEETING.
Continued from First Page.

them. SO immense is the value of that
silver bar that binds together the
framework of the welded states.
Celebrate Most Important Event.
We celebrate this year, with the gen
erous assistance of friendly world,
the most important event in the his
tory of this great valley. an event
which in far-reaching and lasting re
suits is surpassed by few in the life of
the nation. 1t is perhaps true that to
the philOsOphic mind all periods are
critical-that every hour is the enu
of an era and the beginning of Il new
order of ages. But to use ordinary OBJ
servers there occur from time to time
crisis i'm history when the line of
cleavage between the old and the new
is clear and distinct, where the aloe
blooms, where the avalanche leaves
the mountain top. where the leisurely
march of events Is quickened to the
dynamic rush of irresistible destiny.
The transfer of this imperial domain
from European to American control
was one of these transactions which
rendered the period of their accom-
pliShment mcmora BILE for all time. III
no other act did the man who made the
revolution-"men," as Lowell called
them, with empires in their brains"
more clearly show their marvellous
prophet tic insight. The United States
was. in 1903. feeble folk, with hardly
enough population to occupy the hong
Atlantic seacoast: with the great
space of the middle west scarcely yet
pickcted with adventurous pioneers;
with imperfect means of defense
againtS Il world which still looked ask
anC- at the half-known upstart which
might prove dangerous hereafter;
with the heavy cares incident to the
building of a new nation upon yet un-
tried foundations. But weighty as
were their responsibilities they did
not hesitate to assume others weight
Ter still. TO an undeveloped empire
they seized the occasion to add an
other still wider and more remote.
To their half-finished task they I'M
dauntedly superimposed another full
of eNactingN and perilous possibilities.
In their robust faith in the future
their fearless confidence in the force
of the new democracy-diffic
were not considered and the impossi-
bic did not exist. To men that strain
in an enterprise which promises use
fulness and glory. toll and danger
were only irresistible attractions.
Ordained by Destiny.
While we should give due credit to
the individual instrumentalities by
which this great transaction was
brought about. we should not forget
the overwhelming influence eXerted by
the unseen director of the drama.
Whether we call it the spirit of the
age. or historic necessity. or the bal
ance of power. or whether we rever-
emily recognize in the matter the hand
of that Providence which watched
over our infancy as a people, we can
not but admit that the acquisition of
this vast territory was. in one way or
another. sure TO come. y wise diplo-
macy FASTENED it: a timid conserva-
ti>m might have delayed it: but il was
written in our horoscope The surest
proof of this lies in the eminent per
SonaliticS by whom the purchase and
sale were made. Jefferson was the
last man in America of whom we could
have expected this departure on the
field of illimitable expansion. and Ma
poleon was. of all sovereigns of
Europe. the least likely to give up SO
vast an extent of empire
One of the most brilliant and ten
acious dreams of BOnaparte was to es-