The Vinita daily chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1902-1913, 1910-08-27

your work, has grown up within my
own lifetime / myself saw and took
part in the closing years of the pioneer
period, and it was my great privilege
to work side by side with the pioneers
the ranchmen, the miners, the cow
punchers, the mule-skinners, the bill
whackers-who actually opened up
the country. have seen the herds and
'flocks Of the cattlemen and sheepmen
supplant the game; | have seen the
fortuHate movement by which the
small farm has tended gradually to
take the place of the great unfenced
ranch. | now travel in every comfort
on railways across lands which when
| first rode across them, were still the
home of the Indian and the buffalo;
and and / find cities where one can
obtain not merely comfort, but luxury,
in the places where thirty years ago
there was not building beyond log
hut or dobie house. The men who
did this work were engaged in the fin
al stages Of conquering the continent;
and It was their privilege to do one Of
the great works Of all time. to do their
part In the performance of an epic feat
in the history of the progress of man
kind.
II have used the word progress. The
West stands for growth. for progress.
So must the whole American people
stand. A great democracy must be
progressive or it will soon cease to be
either great or democratic. No nation,
no state. no party, can stand still. It
must either go forward or go backward
and it becomes useless If it goes back
ward. Therefore | greet you,, men of
the West. and stand for progress as
all men nast stand who are progress
|siye.
THE pioneers and their immediate
won victory only by prov
ing that they possessed the great
masterful qualities which lie at the
Foundation of national greatness. There
are certain well-meaning men of in.
tellectual cultivation, but lacking men.
tai robustness, who complain continu.
ally that they find American life, and
especially the life of those American
communities emerging from the pio-
neer stage, crude and without genius
or beauty. Genius is a fine thing for q
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 repub
lie of the West what it is. and especial
ly the men who have turned it into a
continental commonwealth, have pos
Isessed in the highest degree the great
Ivirile virtues of strength, courage, en-
ergy, and undaunted and unwaverine
resolution. Their typical leaders-oi
whom Abraham Lincoln, though the
most exceptional, was most typical
have possessed keen intelligence, and
character not merely strong but
lofty. a character exalted by the fact
that great power was accompanied by
a 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
places; and the more complex life OF
today calls for a greater variety Of
good qualities than were needed on
1.-The frontier. There is need at present
to encourage the development Of new
abilities which can be brought to high
perfection only by a kind of training
useless In pioneer days; but these new
qualities can only supplement, and
never supplant. the old homely vir
tues; the need for the special and dis
tinctive pioneer virtues is as great as
ever. In other words. as our csviliza
tion grows older and more complex
while it is true that we need to devel
Iop men whose lives are devoted wholly
to the pursuit Of special objects, it is
yet also true that we need great
and not less development of the fun
damental frontier virtues. These yir