Willmar tribune., 1910-04-27
No &$a Story Of Hal1ey's
&K G: WI ;!h: ~ Comet.
/ ~

Africa and the great English speak
ing commonwealths Of Australia
and New Zealand, which have grown
up in the southern hemisphere.
Japan has advanced from the lowest
place in the scale of nations, to the
foremost rank, one of the worlds
great powers, an ally to be desired,
an enemy to be dreaded.
The scattered and disunited men,
bers Of the Germanic body, have
been consolidated into the great
German empire, preponderating
power in European politics.
In North America, few British
Provinces have grown into the great
Dominion of Canada, extending
from the Atlantic to the Pacific. and
from the great lakes to Hudson Bay.
The Canadian Northwest, seventy
five years ago a wilderness, desolate
and untenanted, or tenanted only by
wild beasts and savages nearly as
wild, has been brought under the
influences of civilization and is be-
ing rapidly peopled, the worlds
future granary, the present home of
thousands, the destined home Of
millions yet unborn.
In the United States we may OBJ
serve expansion equally great. or
even greater. All the great prairie
states Iowa. Nebraska. Kansas,
Minnesota and the Dakotas with
their great and wealthy cities, and
all the Mountain States have all
grown up in the last seventy five
years.
On the Pacific coast, the Golden
State, California. has been wrested
from Spain, and added to the over
grown heritage Of the Anglo Saxon.
Socially, the world has been i'm.
proved by the abolition of slavery
in the United States, and the eman-
cipations of the serfs in Russia.
Speaking of economic changes,
we may begin with small things by
remarking that seventy-fve years
ago, the now indispensable friction
match had not yet come into COM
mon use, and the great mass o1
mankind were still dependant or
the old fashioned flint and steel a!
a means Of procuring fire, and OF
tallow candles for lighting Their
houses. At that period the immense
possibilities Of electricity, as ;
source of light and heat, or :
medium for the transmission of in
telligence, or as a factor in tn
motive power of the worlds me
chanics, were still undreamed Of
The electric telegraph. the telephone
and the phonograph have all conn
into use during this period, as hav'
also the sewing machine and tn
typewriter. The same remark ma.
also be applied to the art of photo
graphy as at present practised.
Seventy-iive years ago the har
vests of the world were still reapet
with the sickle or at best with tn,
, scythe. True, the reaping machin
, was invented in 1881, but in yer,
imperfect form. and was but littl
used for several decades; the i'm
proved harvesting machinery in U.s.
at present has all been invented
, within the last twenty-five years
No period, of equal length in tn
? history of the world, has witnessed
! so complete a revolution in nava
and military equipment. A singl
: dreadnought of today could witt
I little difficulty and in brief spac
of time wipe off the sea the com
bined fleets engaged in the grea
battles of the Nile and of Trafalgar
2 A contrast equally startling will b.
, found in the manufacture of th
, other munitions of war with whic]
e we today "slay our brethren" o.
the field of battle as compared wit
I the methods imployed on the occa
sion of the last appearance of ou
: distinguished heavenly visitor.
S Of modern battleships and moder
+ weapons nothing need be said a
: all readers are familiar with ther
: by description, and many by sight
n so we shall conclude by remarkin
Y that in 1910 the comet returns to Sc
i three centuries of human endeavo
q crowned with success in the dis
= covery of the North Pole, an even
: however, but little likely to yer
n materially effect the fortunes of tn
3 great mass Of humanity. !.