The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1910-08-28


-W a-H. at The close Of ny hunting
. trip .a Africa. ! reached the borders
o.. civilization. the first Invitation 1
a.eep ed xas this, 10 visit the capital
o. Wyoming on the day when the
people 0s the frontier came together
20 commemorate their achievements;
I was glad il vas 80 because have
q peculiar feeling for the men and
women OF Wha- used 70 be called the
Far West and especially for those
o. the cattle country. For number
u years lived on ranch on the
Little Missouri. sharing work and
play. good fortune and bad fortune,
aIa my neighbO.s, working on he
roundup. serving as delegate from the
Lite Missouri roundup district 70
the Montana Stock-groWers Associa-
ton. and even a times acting as dep
uty sheriff at my end OF the country.
count those years as among the
most valuable OF NY life, because
nothing breeds such community Of
+ feeling as 10 work with ones fellow
men al their life tasks and TO learn
10 know rncir feelings by actually
sharing them The man OF the West,
taroughou, the successive stages of
Western growth has always been one
OF the TWO or Jhree most typical fig
ures indeed. | am tempted TO say, the
most typical ngure-in American life,
and no man can really understand
our country and appreciate what II
really Is and what il promises unless
/ he has the fullest and closest SYM
pathy with the ideals and aspirations
OF he West. The prime reason for
/ this is to be found in the fact that
| the Wederner is 50 good an Ameri-
can. lie is an American first and
foremost: for this is the great lesson,
I friends. that all OF US need 10 learn
and TO keep. the lesson that It is un-
important whether a man lives north
or south, east OF west, provided he Is
genuinely and in good faith an Ameri-
can. that he feels every part of the
United States as his own, and that he
IS honestly desirous to uphold the in
terests Of all other Americans in
whatever sections Of the country they
may dwell
a hundred years ago, when men
spoke of the west they meant the
, country between the Alleghanies and
the Mississippi. Fly years ago the
white mans west took in Minnesota,
, Iowa and Kansas, and then skipped
across to California and 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 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 bull.whackers-who ac.
tual!y opened mp the county. | have
seen the herds and flocks of the cat
tlemen and sheepmen supplant the
game. ! have seen the fortunate move
ment 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 I find
cities where one can obtain not mere
/ ly comfort, but luxury, in the places
where thirty years ago there was not
a building beyond a log nut or a
dobie house. The men who did this
work engaged in the final 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
Il have used the word pro 5ress.
The west stands for growth, for pre-
gress. So must the whole American
people stand \ great democracy
must be progressive or 1t will soon
cease to be either great or democratic.
no nation. no state, no party, can
stand sin. II must either go forward
or 40 backward. and it becomes use
less II it goes backward. Therefore.
| greet you, men OF the west, and !
stand for progress as all men must
stand who are progressive.
The pioneers and their immediate
successors won victory only by prov