Milford chronicle., 1907-07-05
rhe euidanee Of Providenoe.


If it were not for the fact that be
lieve the Lord God of the hosts OF
Moses and Joshua is guiding this ma
tiOn, would say that the acquisition
Of our great territories was nothing
but long series of haphazard luck.
The way we became possessed Of Lou
isiana was as undersigned and unsought
as is our present possession Of the
Philippines. When the Spanish-Amer-
lean war broke out, most people had
never heard of the Philippine Islands.
Admiral Dewey, with his fleet. was
ordered from Chinese harbors. Where
could he go except to Manila? Then.
| after we took Manila we were in the
| position of Abraham LincOln's hunter
holding on to the tail of a running
bear. He was afraid to hold on and
equally afraid to let go. Most of US
today do not want the Philippines.
The American army officers and navy
officers do not want them But how
can we unload the burden? God has
thrust them on us, and for the present
we must keep them. So God in the
beginning of the last century thrust
the great Louisiana territory upon US.
Our forefathers did not want the land,
and yet they were afraid to refuse it,
Such was the condition of the Ameri-
can people during the occupancy of the
White House by President Thomas |
jefferson.
But with their wonderful background |
Of unlimited, uneXplOred land about |
which the people knew but little and |
cared less. Dr. Hale introduces US
to two men who were so to aid in the
national development as to render this
great heritage Of territory a national
necessity. These two American patr1-
OTIS were not warriors. Neither had
ever unsheathed a sword. They were
not wizards Of the pen, like Washing
ton Irving or like James Fenimore
Cooper, who did for the Indian wig
wan what the romantic Sir Walter
Scott did for the Scottish moors., They
were not silver tongued orators, like
Harrison Gray Otis or Pinckney or VIII
lam Writ. They were simple mechan-
cs and inventors. They were humble
men, but they were social revolution
sts. The name of the one hero was
Robert Fulton, that of the other Eli I
Whitney. They each presented price !
ess gift. One gave to America the !
teamboat, the other the cotton gin. ]
With those two gifts these two gen ]
uses revolutionized the map of the S
ew world. +
Before these two men came upon
he scene the history Of the American d
eople was mainly the history Of many il
ifferent localities. Each locality, to a 1
reat extent existed independently of t
very other locality. The men for the v
lost part dressed in hOmespun. The G.
omen darned their children's stock Ii
lgs, wove their own garments and u
ade their own rag carpets. No man b
)uld make money Off the communities 4
other parts Of the land, because the &,
,st Of transportation would eat up all te
e profits. THE reader of today
lrdly remembers" writes DR.. Hale bi
hat there were times when the mar al
It cost Of a buShel Of corn was spent ic
hen it had to be carried forty miles. of
J late as 1880 1 heard the Jest which ST
iiculed an emigrant from Massa- m
usetts by saying that he left his ca
me a year before to go west with a ha
g Of molasses to use in trade and ha
ut he returned at the end Of the year w
adventure, having made enough in liza
rgaining to pay him for the jug" II,
hen the man Of one state had to va
rry his goods to another state by all
gon and horse, the cost Of transpor- ou
ion obliterated all the profit, and an
IS communities in the beginning of hoI
, last century lived almost entirely be,
dependent of each other. Ses
Fulton's Invention. the
hut one day Robert Fulton lifted his ser
gic wand. Then the "chu-ehu-chu' am