Shiner gazette. [volume] (Shiner, Tex.) 1893-current, 1910-09-01

Vate car Republic, bearing Theodore
Roosevelt and party, rolled into the
station on time ,...s morning, and nc
sooner had 1t come to 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 a 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 1t
heard one of the most important
speeches he has made since leaving
the White House. His address was as
follows:
When, at the close of my hunting trip
In Africa, I reached the borders of civil-
cation, the first Invitation / accepted was
this, TO visit the capital of Wyoming on
the day when the people OF the frontier
came together to commemorate their
achievements; 1 was glad It was so, be-
cause / have peculiar feeling for the
men and women of what used to be called
the Far West" and especially for those
OF the cattle country. For n number of
years / lived on 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 tho
county 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
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
i
say tl1e most typical figuleAin American
life, and no man can really understand
our country and appreciate what It really
is and what 1t promises unless he has
the fullest and closest sympathy with the
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
to keep, the lesson that It is unimportant
whether man lives north or south, east
or west, provided he rs genuinely and In
good faith an American, that he feels
every part Of the United States as his
own. and that he Is honestly DESTROYS to
uphold the interests of all other Ameri-
cans In whatever sections OF the country
they may dwell
A hundred years ago. when men spoke
OF the west they meant the country be-
tween the Alleghanes and the Mississippi.
FIFTY 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 I myself saw
and took part In the closing years of the
pioneer period, and II was my great priv
lege to work side by side with the po-
1eers-the ranchmen, the miners. the
,ow-punchers, the mule-skinners, the bull
actually opened up the
/ have seen the herds and hoclts
N the cattlemen and sheepmen supplant
he game; 1 have seen the fortunate
movement by which the small farm has
ended gradually to take the place OF the
great unfenced ranch. I now travel in
very comfort railways across lands
which, when I first rode across them,
we're still the home Of the Indian and the |
and I find cities where one can |
,btain not merely comfort. but luxury in |
he places where thirty years ago there !
was not building beyond log hut or a |
lobe house, The men who did this work |
we're engaged in the final stages OF con-
luerlng the continents and It was their |
privilege to do one Of the great works of |
Ill time, to do their part in the perform |
'nce OF an epic feat In the history Of the |
progress Of mankind.
West Stands for Progress.
I have used the word progress. The
vest stands for growth for progress. So |
must the whole American people stand. |
\ great democracy must be progressive
'r It will soon cease to be either great
n democratic. No nation, no state no
'arty, can stand still. 1t must either go
Onward or go backward: and II becomes
Useless II It goes backward. Therefore 1
rect you, men of The west, and stand
or progress as all men must stand who
ire progressive.
The pioneers and their Immediate sue
essors won victory only by proving that
hey possessed the great. masterful quail
les which lie at the foundation of Ma
ional greatness. There are certain we'll
meaning men OF intellectual cultivation,
,ut lacking mental and moral robustness
Who complain continually that they find
american life, and especially the life of
hose American communities emerging.
rom the pioneer stage, crude and with
nut genius or beauty. Genius is a fine
hing for nation, but character is a still
liner thing. and though beauty is good,