The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1907-02-20
MR., DEWITT MILLER
ST|RS PATRIOTISM
Last Nights Attraction in Ly-
ceum Course
TALKS ON MANY TOPICS
Speaker Is Well Received and Some
of His Anecdotes Were the Best
Heard Here In Many
Day.
TALKS ON MANY TOPICS

The Lyceum course was resumed last
night in the High School auditorium by
a lecture from Dewitt Miller, who chose
for his subject, THE Sufficiency of the
American Republic" 1t was a lecture well
calculated to please an American au-
dience and to arouse in the breast of
his hearers a spirit of pride and patriot
ism.
The lecturer began by stating that the
first American settlers were composed of
four nauonalities: French Spanish, Eng
fish and Dutch, although they were by
no means the earliest inhabitants of this
country. In Ohio the speaker said, were
to be found traces OF people, the mound
builders. who lived thousands of years
ago. and they in turn gave way to the
Indian, and the Indian has given way
to the white man.
In speaking of colonization the lecturer
gave a very vivid description of the char
acteristics and customs of each nation
and said that none of these nations were
ever a success in their colonies. The
French one time had possession of vast
territory along the Gulf of Mexico and in
Canada, but the Frech flag was now I'M
known in that same territory. Spain
owned nearly all west of the Mississippi,
but today did not own a foot of land
on the continent. The Dutch once owned
a big tract of country where New York
state and New England states appear on
the map, but the Dutch are gone out of
existence. while the English settlers,
starting out from a small number at
jamestown have swept all the others
out, and eventually swept out the Eng
lish themselves.
The lecturer dwelt at considerable
length upon the relations between Canada
and the United States and ventured to
predict that some of those in his audience
would live to see the day when the stars
and stripes would wave over all territory
between the Panama canal and Peary's
"farthest North
It would be simply impossible to mention
all the subjects the lecturer handled dur
ing his lecture, but some idea may be
formed from the fact that he included
clept spelling, increase in the navy, war,
politics. tainted money, trusts, the Bible,
In short almost every conceivable topic.
and upon each and all he spoke wisely
and eloquently. Nor was the lecture de-
void of humor; some of the wittiest
stories heard for long time were told
amid the peals of laughter.
The speakers tribute to the name and
fame of Gen. Robert e. Lee evoked the
applause of everyone, and his impressions
on the needs of the south, especially in the
matter of immigration, were well re-
ceived. He compared the United States to
a vast hopper into which you might throw
Russians, Italians, Austrians. Poles,
Irish, Germans, English and Scotch, and
in one turn of the handle out they came
Americans. As an illustration of this fact
the speaker told several amusing stories
of newly arrived foreigners.
The speaker said that the South Amer
lean nations had no love Tor the United
States, although this country had sew
eral times gone to the brink of war to
preserve their independence. His remarks
along that particular line were not calcu-
lated to increase the little love that he
saws exists, but on the contrary would
make these nations very unfriendly. He
smoke of the revolutions which occur in
these countries as being political jeal-
ousies but not in their desire for free
dom.
The lecturer spoke for two hours and
was followed with the closest attention.
The next number on the Lyceum series
will be picture TALK by X. f. Out
cault the Buster Brown artist, on
Thursday, March I. +. l. M.