The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1908-07-16

dQV6Q0os
Six Months. 90 cenes
assert with complacency that the inn
mortal agent which has swelled the
total wealth of this nation from S479.-.
$4,000 in 1900 to 1874 300, 100000 in 1900.
is nothing more than measly mongrel
when compared to his ocean grey
hounds.
l have attempted to avoid all senti-
mept in this discussion, and wish to
assure you that nothing but the softest
sort of sentiment would ever elevate
the memory of these old ships and
their vagaries to the same level of
comparison, now enjoyed by the instru-
ments that have saved our people from
barbarlsm, chat have taught the lessons
OF progress. The Chinese empire
started 2OOO years ago with a civiliza.
tion in every way equal to that of our
early Colonies. And yet China degen-
Grated. You can, every one, repeat
the cause. l merely state that she
had had ships. Permit me, now, to 90
back 200 years or,more and from that
early time briefly review the factors
that stand out in bold relief as repre-
sentative of our country's rise.
In the boasted days of shipping, the
days when shipping meant most to our
welfare, America was a land Of farm
ers Not farmers as we accept the
term now, but lank, lean cleaners of
rock-ribbed hills. Their soil was bar
rem and rough. Scarcely could the
necessities of life be exacted from it.
These pioneers had not come to their
new home to find great cities crowded
with industry and opportunity. Nor
did the crafts that brought them bear
wealth, nor comfort, nor success to
the lonely ports. These men aud wom-
camfoa1 fsa1 "a ah1 nsS WEALTH sfdgis ont
of the vast, .uncultivated region that
stretched away to the West, with its
primeval wilderness, its unknown VAL
leys and plains. The Mayaower and
host of other caravels had contrib
uted all in their power to give, and
yet the struggle had just begun. And
were the legions of the land to have
been denied, our fathers had failed and
the gifts of their ships would have
been for nought. Upon the eastern
margin of this new land they drop
ped to slowly evolve and multiply
great principles of reclamation and
advancement. Hemmed in by the
Alleghapies and the Atlantic. from the
Savannah to the Penobscot, they lay
for 175 years in fevered uncertain
turmoil. speak of general conditions.
De Soto, La Sale, Marquette, Lewis and
Clark, are all single, Irrelevant excep-
tions to the rule. or to the east the
broad Atlantic ever beckoned with its
fair skies and its fairer winds. It's
presence was perpetual promise of
prosperity and eminence to those who
favored it's caprices. Yet these sturdy
pioneers needed not its innumerable
allurements. They followed their slow
and dreary way of poverty and stress
to mature, at length, for grandeur
reward than shipping could ever ded
icate.
Iquote Henry Adams when l say
that up to the 10Th century the world
had made no Improvement in the means
of travel for 1000 years. Mans feet,
his horse and the stage coach afforded
the only general means of locomotion
on land from the time of Babylonian
supremacy to the epoch day Of Geo.
Stephenson's birth. In America the
Indian trail and rough hewn, narrow
roads were the highways of commerce
for centuries. Pack horses brought
the products of remote settlements
along the narrow trails of the wilder.
ness and half-tamed Indians waded
dense swamps and denser forests with
human freight. Not until 1866 did q
real stage coach arrive to ply between
Philadelphia and New York: and for
two decades its jaded horses skunk
along the route, strewn with boulders
and stumps and miro and Quilted with
ruts. G. r. III.
(To be concluded.)