Shiner gazette. [volume] (Shiner, Tex.) 1893-current, 1910-09-01
MEN OF THE CATTLE RANGE
WELCOME COL. ROOSEVELT
Former President Is Cheyenne's Guest at From
tier Days Celebration and Delivers
Warm Eulogy Of the Great West
ard Its Sterling Virtues.

commonwealth. have possessed in the
highest degree the great virlle virtues of
strength. courage, energy, and undaunted
and unwnvering resolution. Their typical
leaders-of whom Abraham Lincoln.
though the most exceptional, was the
most typical-have possessed keen intel
ligence, and n character not merely
strong but lofty. a 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.
Ihe 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 tho from
| TIER. There is need at present to en-
courage the development of new abilities
| which can he brought to high perfection
only by kind OF training useless in pio-
neer times; but these new qualities can
| only supplement. and neY err supplant. the
| olu homely virtues the need for the
| special and distinctive pioneer virtues is
as great as ever. In other words, as our
| civilization grows older and more COM
pick while 1t is true that we need new
forms OF trained ability, and need to de-
| Velop men whose lives are devoted wholly
| 10 the pursuit of special Objects IT Is yet
also true that we need a greater and not
less development of the fundamental
| frontier virtues. These virtues include
the power of self-help, together with the
power of Joining with others for mutual
help. and what is especially important,
the feeling of comradeship, of social good
fellowship.
Now so far as possible these qualities
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
Tor the general social betterment of the
people as 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
llzaton, we should work In the old from
tier spirit of brothery comradeship and
good VIII. I do not mean that we should
retrain from hating wrong; on the con-
trary. l would preach frey wrath
against wrong. But 1 would not preach
such wrath against the wrong-doer, save
In those cases whore his wrong-doIng
really is due to evil moral attributes on
his part and not to wrong or false sys-
tem OF which he is almost as much the
victim as the Beneficiary Sometimes
wrong represents the deliberate wicked
ness OF the wrong-doer, in which case
NE remedy i51tp punish him, but some
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 wish to say n word on
something which believe should espe-
cially 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
prospector, were the chief characters. was
not only very important but also
very picturesque phase. Often such a
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
~ to present that figure. The artist who
saw that picturesqueness of the back |
woodsman lacked the genius adequately |
10 commemorate II. while the artists OF
real ability unfortunately had their eyes
turned towards Europe and lacked the ro-
bust originality which the novelist Coon |
er showed-to see where their chances Law |
TO do great work. But in our genera |
ton, Tor our good fortune great artist
arose who was capable of seeing and of
recording the Infinite picturesaueness of
the Ire OF the plains and the Rockies
Euiogy Of Remington.
or course l speak OF Frederic Reming-
ton. He was one of those Americans who
by his achievements distinctly deserved
wen OF America. He worked with pencil
with brush, with chsel he was both
painter and sculptor. His pictures and
ms 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 ofdl'
GERS and enlisted men Joined in giving
me Remington's Bronze Bronco Rustnr .
a gift which 1 thought peculiarly appro-
PIRATE coming from such body of men
In Remlngton's pictures all the most
vivid and characteristic features of the
western pioneer life which is lust closing
acre set forth, and the commemorate
Forever the men OF the plains and the
mountains as they actually We're. The
cowboy is his favorite type, but the min
Ing prospector the frontier farmer the
man who guides ox-wagon or mule-team
the soldier. the IndIan-all appear. Now
wish very much that these men them
selves would in their turn provide a mon.
ument for the great artist the sum ~
whose activities represent such a feature
OF American achievements. and above
all, represents oommemoration OF some
of the most interesting figures that have
ever appeared on the stage of American
life. A statue should be raised to Rem
ington by some really first class artist.