River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1910-09-01

and conditions that bring about these
qualities should be kept in the great
states which are growing out Of the old
frontier communities. We need to strive
for the general social betterment Of the
people as a whole, and yet to encourage
individual liberty and set high reward
on individual initiative UP to the point
where they become detrimental to the
general welfare.
Wrong Doors and Wrong Systems.
In continually and earnestly striving for
this betterment of social and economic
conditions in our complex industrial civil
nzation, we should work in the old from
tier spirit OF brotherly comradeship and
good will. do not mean that we should
refrain from hating wrong; on the con-
trary. L would preach frey wrath
against wrong. But would not preach
such wrath against the wrong doer, save
in those cases where his wrong-doing
really Is due to evil moral attributes on
his part and not to a wrong or false sys-
tenn. Of which he is almost much the
victim as the beneficiary. Sometimes a
wrong represents the deliberate wicked
ness of the ~wrong-doer, in which case
the remedy is to punish him, but some
times it represents the effects of false
social system, in which case the right
course is to alter what is false in the
system. Both principles need to be kept
in view as guides to our conduct. and 1t
is necessary sometimes to work in ac-
cordance with one and sometimes in ac-
cordance with the other.
Before ending I wish to say a word on
something which ] believe should espc-
cially interest al men who live In tho
open country. and especially all men who
during the past thirty years have lived
and worked on ranches. or have done
their life work in the wilder parts OF our
land. on the great plains or among the
mountains. The phase of our national
life in which the stockman, the mining
prospector, were the chief characters, was
not only very important but also a
very picturesque phase. Often such q
phase passes without any great artist
arising to commemorate It.
The old-time backwoodsman, for in
stance, the man of the back country
who lived in the eastern forests through
which the waters ran eastward to the
Atlantic and westward to the Mississippi.
passed away without any painter or
sculptor arising who possessed at once
both the keenness of vision to see what
vital and picturesque figure the back
woodsman was. and the genius adequate
ly to present that figure. The artist who
saw that pictureSQueness OF the back
woodsman lacked the genius adequately
to commemorate 1t, while the artists Of
real ability unfortunately had their eyes
bust originality which the novelist Coop
er showed-to see where their chances lay
to do great work. But in our genera
ton, for good fortune great artist
arose who was capable Of seeing and of
recording the infinite picturesqueness Of
the life Of the plains and the Rockies.
Eulosy Of Remington.
OF course speak OF Frederic Reming-
ton. He was one of those Americans who
by his achievements distinctly deserved
we'll of America. He worked with pencil,
with brush, with chisel, he was both a
painter and a sculptor. His pictures and
his few bronzes are equally good. When
my own regiment, typically western
regiment recruited mainly from the men
of the great plains and the mountains,
was disbanded at Montauk Point the off,
GERS and enlisted men Joined in giving
me Remington's Bronze Bronco Buster"
a gift which I thought peculiarly appro-
pirate coming from such body of men.
In Remlngtons pictures all the most
vivid and characteristic features Of the
western pioneer life which is just closing
were set forth, and the conlmemorated
forever the men of the plains and the
mountains as they actually were. The
cowboy is his favorite type, but the min
ing prospector the frontier farmer, the
man who guides ox-wagon or mule-team,
wish very much that these men them
selves would in their turn provide a mon
ument for the great artist the sum Of
whose activities represent such a feature
of American achievements, and, above
all, represents commemoration of some
Of the most interesting figures that have
ever appeared on the stage Of American
life statue should be raised to Rem
ington by some really first class artist
Here at Cheyenne in this gathering
many hundreds of the men have come
together who were themselves typical
leaders in and representatives of the very
life which Remington so portrayed that
it will always live. I hope that these
men will Join together, arrange the ap-
pointment of a committee, and start to
raise funds for the erection OF such q
statue.
Frontier Days" is no doubt the most
characteristic American exhibit ton
| given. 1t had its inception about IA
! years ago when a few Cheyenne cit
| liens conceived the idea of presenting
| western show.
Some of the features for the exhi-
bition this year were the bucking
bronchos and steer roping contests
| for the championship Of the world, the
| wild horse race, the calf branding con-
| test, women's relay race, sheep shear
ing contest, polo pony races by off,
GERS of the United States army, fancy
| roping, military maneuvers by United
States army, Indian war dances, COW
pony races, squaw races, potato races.
| stake races, hat races, buffalo RACES,
| stage holdups, and many other similar
events characteristic of the early west,
which is now rapidly passing.