The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1910-09-01

Cheyenne, Wyo., Aug. 27.-The pri-
vate car Republic, bearing Theodore
| Roosevelt and party, rolled into the
station on time .---s morning, and no
sooner had it come to a stop than
the sturdy figure of the colonel appear
| ed, for he was anxious to see again
the cattle men with whom he once
lived As he stepped down to the
ground a great shout greeted him
the real yell of the range, uttered by
an escort of 1000 cowboys and cow
girls detailed to act as the ex-presi-
| dents bodyguard. That it sounded
good in his ears was made evident by
the happy smile that spread over his
| countenance.
Mr. Roosevelt's visit and the speech
he delivered later in the day formed
the elimination of the annual Frontier
Days celebration Which had attracted
to the city thousands of persons from
all parts of the west and large num-
Der of tourists from more distant Sec
tons of the country
Colonel Roosevelt's Speech.
Out in the open air, under the blue
sky, a vast crowd assembled to hear
the former president speak, and it
heard one of the most important
; speeches he has made since leaving
the White House. His address was as
follows:
I When, at the close Of my hunting trip
in Africa, I reached the borders of civili-
cation, the first invitation I accepted was
this, TO visit the capital of Wyoming on
the day when the people of the frontier
came together to commemorate their
achievements; I was glad it was so, be-
cause I have q peculiar feeling for the
men and women of what used to be called
the Far West" AID especially for those
of the cattle country. For number OF
years I lived on a ranch on the Little
Missouri, sharing work and play, good
fortune and bad fortune, with my neigh
bors; working on the roundup, serving
as delegate from the Little Missouri
roundup district to the Montana Stock
.. growers association, and even at times
acting as deputy sheriff at my end of the
county. I count those years as among
! the most valuable Of my life, because
nothing breeds such community of feeling
as to work with ones fellowmen at their
J life tasks, and to learn to know their
feelings by actually sharing them. The
man of the west, throughout the success
sive stages OF western growth has al
ways been one Of the two or three most
typical figures-indeed, / am tempted to
: say the most typical fgure-in American
life, and no man can really understand
our country and appreciate what 1t really
is and what 1t promises unless he has
. the fullest and closest sympathy with the
J. ideals and aspirations of the west. The
prime reason for this is to be found in
the fact the westerner is so good an
American. He is an American first and
:, foremost for this is the great lesson
: friends, that all of us need to learn and
7 to keep, the lesson that it is unimportant
!. whether a man lives north or south, east
or west provided he is genuinely and in
S good faith an American, that he feels
3 every part of the United States as his
: own, and that he is honestly DESTROYS to
uphold the interests Of all other Ameri-
they may dwell
hundred years ago, when men spoke
: Of the west they meant the country be-
i tween the Alleghanes and the Mississippi
e Fifty years ago the white mans west
took in Minnesota, Iowa and Kansas, and
then skipped across to California and
t Oregon. The country of the great plains
and the Rockies, the country in which
, you whom am now addressing lead your
lives and do your work, has grown uE
e within my own lifetime. I myself saw
e and took part in the closing years of the
ilege to work side by side with the pio-
neers-the ranchmen, the miners, the
= 'cow-punchers, the mule-skinners. the bull
!. whackers-who actually opened up the
country l have seen the herds and focks
Of the cattlemen and sheepmen supp'an,
the game; I have seen the fortunate
: movement by which the small farm has
! tended gradually to take the place Of the
= great unfenced ranch I now travel ir
. every comfort railways across lands
, which, when first rode across them
!. were still the home of the Indian and the
!, buffalo; and find cities where one car
:. obtain not merely comfort, but luxury, In
= the places where thirty wears ago there
was not a building beyond log hut or a
. dobie house The men who did this worh
, were engaged in the final STAGES Of con-
!, quering the continent; and it was thesl
: privilege to do one of the great WORKS OF
all time, to do their part in the perform
ance of an epic feat in the history Of the
: progress of mankind.
$ West Stands for Progress.
have used the word progress. The
i west stands for growth, for progress. Sc
$ must the whole American people stand
r A great democracy must be progressive
or it will soon cease to be either great
8 or democratic. No nation, no state. nc
party, can stand still. 1t must either &c
forward or go backward; and it becomes
useless If it goes backward. Therefore
a greet you men Of the west, and I stand
4 for progress as all men must stand who
s are progressive.
e The pioneers and their immediate sue.
: cessors won victory only by proving that
e they possessed the great. masterful quail
8 ties which lie at the foundation of Ma
}. tional greatness. There are certain we'll
: meaning men Of intellectual cultivation
r but lacking mental and moral robustness
who complain continually that they find
: American life, and especially the life OF
e those American communities emerging
from the pioneer stage, crude and with
) out genius or beauty. Genius is fine
e thing for a nation, but character Is a still
finer thing, and though beauty is good
strength is an even greater good. The
, men who have made this great republic
of the west what it is, and especially the
men who have turned it into a continental
commonwealth, have possessed in the
3 highest degree the great Yirile virtues oil
strength, courage, energy. and undaunted
| and unwavering resolution. Their typical
, ieaders-of whom Abraham Lincoln
> though the most exceptional, was the
most typical-have possessed keen intel
hgence, and character not merely
) strong but lofty, character exalted by
the fact that great power was accom-
, panied by high and fine determination
} to use this great power for the common
: good, for the advancement of mankind
The pioneer dayS are over. save in a few