The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1907-04-26

selves unconquerable. 1t is not until
the first bitter years have passed that
the life becomes easy enough to invite
mass Of newcomers, and so great are
the risk. hardship. and toll of the early
years that there always exists a threat
of lapsing back from civilization.
The history Of the pioneers of
Jamestown. Of the founders of Vir-
ginia. illustrates the truth Of all this
Famine and pestilence and war me-
naced the little band Of daring men
who had planted themselves alone on
the edge of a frowning continent.
Moreover. as men ever find. whether
| in the tiniest frontier community or
| in the vastest and most highly organn-
| lied and complex civilized society.
their worst foes were in their own
bosoms. Dissension. distrust. the IN
ability of some to work and the I'M
Willingness of others, jealousy, AFRO
gance and envy, folly and laziness-
in short all the shortcomings with
which we have to grapple now, were
faced by those pioneers, and at mo-
ments threatened their whole enter
prise with absolute ruin. 1t was some
time before the ground on which they
had landed supported them, in spite
of it's potential fertility. and they
looked across the sea for supplies. At
one moment so hopeless did they be-
come that the whole colony embarked,
and was only saved from abandoning
the country by the Opportune arrival
of help from abroad.
At last they took root in the land,
and were already prospecting when the
Pilgrims landed at Plymouth. In
few years a great inflow of settlers
began. Four of the present states OF
New England were founded. Virginia
waxed apace. The Carolinas grew up
to the south of it, and Maryland to
the north Of it. The Dutch colonies
between, which had already absorbed
the Swedish, were in their turn alb
sorbed by the English. Pennsylvania
was founded and, later still, Georgia.
There We're many wars with the In
dams and with the dauntless captains
whose banners bore the lilies OF
France. AT last the British flag flew
without a rival in all eastern North
America. Then came the successful
struggle for national independence.
For half a century after we became
a separate nation there was compar-
atively little immigration to this coun-
try. Then the tide once again set
hither, and has flowed in ever increas-
ing size until in each of the last three
years a greater number of people came
to these shores than had landed on
them during the entire colonial period
Generation by generation these people
have been absorbed into the national
life. Generally their sons, almost al
ways their grandsons, are indist'n>
guishable from one another and from
, their fellow Americans descended from
, the colonial stock. For all alike the
p problems of our existence are funda-
mentally the same, and for all alike
these problems change from generation
+ to generation
In the colonial period, and for At
I least century after its close, the con-
quest of the continent, the expansion
of our people westward, to the Ale
f ghenies, then to the Mississippi then
to the Pacific, was always one OF the
most important tasks, and sometimes
, the most important, in our national
| life Behind the first settlers the con-
ditions grew easier, and in the older
settled regions of all the colonies llre
= sneedily assumed much of comfort and
something of luxury; and though gen
| orally it was on a much more demo-
cratic basis than life in the Old World
Y it was by no means democratic WneH
Judged by our modern standards; ano
S here and there, as in the tide water
t regions of Virginia, a genuine afls-
s tocracy grew and tlourished. But the
men who first broke ground in the
virgin wilderness, whether on the At
lantic coast, or in the interior, fought
hard for mere life. In the early
stages the frontiersman had to DO
battle with the savage, and when the
savage was vanquished there remain
ed the harder strain Of war with the
hostile forces of soil and climate,
with food, fever and famine Theiu
was sickness, and bitter weather;
, there were no roads; there was COM
plete lack of all but the very rough
est and most absolute necessaries. Un-
der such circumstances the men ano
-, women who made ready the continent
, for civiliza ton were able themselves
. to spend but little time in doin9
aught but the rough work which was
, to make smooth the ways of tneil
!, successors. In consequence observers
, whose insight was spoiled by lack OF
sympathy always found both the set
tiers and their lives unattractiVe ano
repellent. In Martin ChuzzleWlt the
, description of America, eliminating IN
the description of the frontier town OF
,, Eden. was true and lifelike from the
: standpoint Of one content to look mere
" at the outer shell; and yet 1t was
. a community like Eden that gave
birth to Abraham Lincoln; it was men
such as were therein described from
whose loins Andrew Jackson sprang.
Hitherto each generation among US
has had it's allotted task, now heavier
now lighter. In the ReVolut1ollar!
war the business was to achieve mae
pendence. Immediately afterwards
there was an even more momentous
task: that to achieve the NATIONAL
unity and the capacity for orderly de-
velopment, without which our liberty
our independence, would have been d
curse and not blessing. In each oI
, these two contests, while there were
|