Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1911-06-30
H L SETTLERS.
President Holsey's Address, 1911,

Ladies and gentlemen, fellow citi-
zens, pioneers, homesteaders and old
settlers:
1t is proper and co~mmendable, that,
as an organization, we should set
apart one day in each and every year
to assemble as we have today, and
greet each other, and call to mind
times gone by, recounting the events
of time that have transformed this
country from the wild waste as 1t was
left by nature to what we see here TO-
day in the most propitious month OF
year, a prosperous happy and content
ed people, surrounded by broad fields
that always yield a bountiiul harvest
under the skillful hand Of the hus-
bandman. Think of the grandeur
that has been wrought in the space OF
about two score and five years; yes 1t
is true that the toll of the yeomanry
of any country is always a telling unit
upon it's magniicence and grandeur.
Friends, may ! ask you, was 1T any
wonder that George Washington with
all his experience should declare in
his farewell address THAT the pres
ervation OF this country and its lnstl-
buttons would devolve upon the rural
districts" that Is upon n genera
ton following the other in succession.
Again allow me to quote Chief Justice
Chase who said: IF you want to see
the monument Of Thomas Jefferson l
will not take you to Virginia and
point to a marble slab, with the In
~scription on it. Here lies buried
Thomas Jefferson, author Of the De-
claration Of independence, or the
statue OF Virginia for religious free
dom and Father of the University OF
Virginia. but go with me beyond the
Mississippi river and ! will show you
the vast plains which are to become
the happy home of millions of people,
their school houses, churches, col
leges and institutions Of highest art,
will be the lasting and imperishable
monument to Thomas Jefferson"
Again, retrospectively, in 1907,
President Jefferson dispatched or sent
General Zebulon M. Pike overland
from the Mississippi west over the
then barren plains of the Great Amer
lean Desert, as it was termed, to ex
plore and report his observations,
after a whole season or year OF toll,
effort and hardships reached the sum-
nit Of pixies Peak and from there
after vie wing the magnificent scenery
around him with his field glasses he
made his report Of the grandeur Of
the country as he vie wed it,, but that
the barren waste of country to the
east Of him (meaning the sandy plains
he had crossed) was as he said, "a
perpetual barrier to prosperous occu-
patton" But the persistent and un-
conquerable pioneers have proved this
to be a land of wonderful possibilities,
for it is now covered with palatial
homes, with a happy prosperous peo-
pie, containing many large cities and
over 5000 miles Of irrigation bitches,
enough to make a line from New
York to San Francisco and thence to
New Orleans, with millions Of acres
what was once considered worthless,
now the most effective crop produc-
ing section of the United States
which in General Pixies time was put
down as the Barren Waste" and all
this change has been brought about
by the dauntless courage and perse-
verance of the sturdy pioneer.
Think of that courageous pioneer
Marcus Whitman and his ride in the
dead of winter across this barren
waste from Oregon to st. Louis thence
to Washington In the winter Of 1S4l
to entreat the then Secretary Of State,
Daniel Webster, to save Oregon to
his country from a foreign invasion,
and they say for this courage, fealty
and sacrifice no credit has been at
tached to the name Of the old pioneer.
AS for our present era the three
score and ten years just past has wit
messed the most wonderful change in
all historic times, more progress has
been made in this period than in all
the ages previous in history. The
railroads, steel bridges, mechanical
inventions Of all kinds, the steel plow,
the binding and harvesting machines,
the air breaks, the construction Of
the sky scraper and on down to the
milking machines, so that we will no
longer know Of the bare footed Maude
In the early morn milking the COW
with the crumpled horn. The bur-
den Of all manuel labor has been re-
duced 100 per cent. and 1000 per cent.
yes, even 10000 per cent.
At the time I landed in Iowa, only
three states west of the Mississippi
river were members of the Union,
being Louisiana, Missouri and Arkan-
sas. Since then 20 others have been
added including u own South Dako-
ia, with hundreds of cities now dot
ting u prairies, with railroads in
every direction making this a hustling
and productive country with its I'M
told wealth.
Forty-ive years ago this month I
marched in the ranks of Company D,
% u, S, Infantry from the South to