Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1910-08-27

ual Initiative up 10 the point, where
they become detrimental to the gen
eral welfare.
In continually and earnestly striving
for this betterment Of social and eco
nomic conditions in our complex in
dustrial civilization we should work
in the old frontier spirit of rugged
strength and courage and yet with the
old frontier spirit of brotherly com
radeship and good will.
l do not mean that we should refrain
from hating wrong. On the contrary,
1 would preach fiery wrath against
wrong. But l would not preach such
wrath against the wrongdoer save in
those cases where his wrongdoing real
ly is due TO evil moral attributes on
his part and not to a wrong or false
system. of which he is almost as much
the victim as the beneficiary.
Sometimes a wrong represents the
deliberate wickedness of the wrong
doer. in which case the remedy is to
punish him. but sometimes it repre-
sents the effects of false social sys-
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
accordance with the other
Before ending l wish to say a word
on something which, l believe. should
especially interest all men who live in
the 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 pros
pector, the frontier farmer and their
associates were the chief characters
was not only an important. but also
very picturesque phase.
Often such a phase passes without
any great artist arising TO commem-
crate it. The old time backwoodsman,
for instance. the man of the back coun-
try. who lived in the eastern forests,
through which the waters ran east
ward 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 a vital and pic
turesque figure the backwoodsman was
and the genius adequately to present
that figure.
Monument for RemID StOn.
The artists who saw the picturesque
ness of the backwoedsman lacked the
genius adequately to commemorate it,
while the artists Of real ability unfor-
tunately had their eyes turned toward
Europe and lacked the robust original
ity-which the novelist Cooper showed
to see where their chance lay to do a
great work.
But in our generation for our good
fortune gree, .ilt.st arose who was
capable Of seeing and of recording the
infinite picturesqucnesS Of the life of
the plains and the Rockies. OF course
l speak of Frederic Remington. he
was one of those Americans who by
their achievements distinctly deserved
well 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. a typically
western regiment, recruited mainly
from the men of the great plains and
the mountains. was disbanded at Mon
tauk Point. the officers and enlisted
men joined in giving me Remington's
bronze broncho buster, gift which I