Las Vegas daily optic., 1907-04-26

c0nqner who are themselves aneon"
eaerable Il l. not until the first bit
Ter years have passed that the life
becomes easy enough 20 invite u mas
Of newcomers. and 50 great are the
risk. hardship. and tod II the early
years that there always exists a
thEea, of iapsing back from ciyiliE4-
tion.
The history Of the pioneers Of
jamestown. 0f the founders Of virgin-
Ia. illustrates the truth Of all this
Famine and pestilenee aud war men.
aeed the little band of daring men
Who had planted themselves alone on
the edge Of a frowning oon,inen
Moreover. as usen ever find, whether
In the tiniest frontier community or
In the vastest and most highly organ
lied and complex civilized society
their aorst foes were in their own
b0soms. Dassenxi0n. distTust. the In
ability OF some 10 work and the un-
willingness OF others. jealousy. arro-
sancs and envy. folly and laxiness-
In short all the shortcomings with
which We have to grapple nov. were
faced by those pioneers. and AT mo-
ments threatened their whole enter,
prise with absolute ruin II was
some time before the ground oa
which they had landed supported
them. In spite Of It's potential fertill.
~. and they looked across the sea for
supplies, At one moment NO helpless
did they become that the whole colo
ny 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 prosperlng when
the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth. In
a few years great inflow OF settlers
began, Four of the present states ol
New England were founded virgtpia
4 waxed apace. The Carolinas grew nm
to the south Of Il, and Maryland Ia
the north OF II. 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 were many wars with the In
dians and with the dauntless captains
whose banners bore the lilies oi
France At last the British flag flew
without a rival In all eastern North
America, Then came the successful
strug-.e for national independence
For so years after we became a sen.
arate nation there was comparative.
Iualittle immigration to this count.
Then the tide once again set hithcr
and has flowed In ever-increasing size
until In each of the last three years
greater number of people came TO
these shores than had landed on them
during the entire colonial period. Gen.
GRAFTON by generation these people
have been absorbed into the national
life. Generally their sons. almost al.
ways their grand-sons, are indistin-
guishable from one another and from
their fellow Americans descended
from the colonial stock. For all alike
the problems of our existence are
fundamentally the same, aud for all
alike these problems change from
generation to generation
In the colonial period and for at
least century after Its close. the
conquest of the continent, the expan-
sion of our people westward, to the
Alleghenies. then to the Mississippi.
then to the Pacific. was always one
of the most important tsks. an
sometimes the most important, in our
natoinal life. Behind the first set
tiers the conditions grew easier. and
In the older settled regions of all the
colonies life speedily assumed much
OF comfort and something of luxury
and though generally 1t was on a
much more democratic basis than life
in the Old World. II was by no means
democratic when judged by our mod
ern standards; and here and there,
as In the tiiewater regions of Vir-
ginia, a genuine aristocracy grew and
! fiourished. But the men who first
broke ground in the virgin wilder
ness, whether on the Atlantic 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 remained the hard
er strain of war with the hostile fore
es of soil and climate. with food. few
er AMI famine. There was sickness,
and bitter weather; there were no
roads: there was complete lack OF
all but the very toughest and most