Mountain Home maverick. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1906-1911, 1907-08-22
The Spirit Of the Gem State.


itags for you 70 me.
Dear to us all is the c~onsecrated
soil of the Bannock battletields,
and sacred to US all forever the
of the patriot pioneers who
fell before the fury OF the Me- Perez
rebellion.
We minglc our tears tor Coo
VILE, and the brave boys who died
under the flag in distant lands, n
we make the Aartyrdom OF Steun-
enberg our peoples common sor-
row.
Yes. there is much to make us
proud of Idaho; much to make us
proud of the past and to stimulate
our pride in the present. We are
proud that Idaho is equal to the
problem of ignorance and poverty
that there are no young men and
women in Idaho who cannot read
and write: and there are no Idaho
children who know the cruel pangs
of hunger; that there are no ldahoa
boys and girls dwarfed in oul and
BODY by toll in mine and mill.
And we not only practice Justice
toward the children here in Idaho,
but we deal Justly with women,
also. Ours is one of the four states
where women are granted at the
ballot box .'that just and equal
station to which Nature and Ma
lures God'' entitle her. We are
proud of that also, proud thai the
wives and mothers of Idaho enjoy
the effective right of suffrage,
while those of other states and
other countries have but the impo-
tent privilege of petition.
1t has recently been permitted us
to show to mankind what the idaho
Spirit can do in the time of crisis
We have reason to be proud OF the
manne in which the state Jon
Quoted the great trial that has just
ended. The sever est test ever ap-
piled to any people the world APP
piled to Idaho. We met it in the
Idaho Spirit, and the human race
does us honor. The poisoned shafts
OF prejudice and passion were di-
rected against us from every quar-
acr-and they fell in splinters at
the base of a granite wall called
~Justice. - We have given the
world an example of the orderly adj
mlinistration of law, unparalleled
since the '~'Justinian code' was de-
vised, and the self control of our
people through il all will be recit-
ed among the victories of civiliza'
tion while the world shall stand.
Fellow citizens, there is a mighty
destiny in the pathway of thi:
common wealth. The golden head:
of our children will not have turn
ed to silver before the epoch-mak.
ing feats of progress will be accom-
plished on the Pacific slope by Yves
tern men. There are boys auc
girls in Idaho homes today who will
help to build the mighty era of Yves
tern art and Western literature, o
Western craftsmanship and Yves
tern invention. The hour of on
greatness is almost at hand. Ii j
a Western state that today enjoys
the ablest representation in tin
United States Senate-and tina
state is Idaho.
And we not only have real sen
ators in Idaho, but we have poten
tial presidents, and sometimes
thi TX it is not a great distance fror
the potential President to the actua
President. Perhaps this is vision
airy, but it does no harm to dres
visions of greatness. The inporan
thing is that if the Idaho Presider
S ever realized that he take tn
Idaho Spirit with him to Washing
ton. la the meantime il remain
for us to make the Idaho Spir.
the true Americanism-for til
things that are wise, and just, ar
noble. Then we will not be asian
ed it carries the idat
Spirit to greatness.
In this Idaho Spirit there will
nothing small or intolleran
There will be in il nothing of ella
hatred or religious persecution.
will not hold the people of a part
cular faith apart from the othe
in alien consideration. 1t will II
devise la rs behind which Privile
may find shelter, nor establii
courts of justice that deny equity
she common man. The ldsl
Spirit will deal with men-uot
capitalists or wage earners-r
as Catholics or Mormons, but
men-equal before the law a
equal in the right of life and libert
1t will borrow a motto frC
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