Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-09-16

The colonization Of California,
the historian tells us, was very
slow
ITO quote from Eldredge's i'm
L portant work, published last
year, in 1890 the entire population.
not counting aborigines, was but
9Sg 1t is a fair question: Why
was it that in a country so blessed
as California with a fertile soil.
an agreeable climate, and all the
conditions that go to make life
easy and comfortable, the efforts
to colonize it should meet with
such difficulty? The author of the
Mission Play might not admit
the answer, but is it not the true
one? The missions had become
possessed of enormous wealth. 10
herds. in bursting gr2naries, they
were the swollen capitalists of
their time. And it was not to the
interest of the mission to promote
colonization.
The wrong done to the Indians
by the secularization OF the mis-
sions is insisted upon in the play
with dramatic incisiveness. But
the historian does not aCquit the
padres of a measure of RESPONSE
bility for their condition. He de-
clares that they had kept the In-
dams in a condition of peOnage
from which such results were
bound in due course to follow. The
missions had not fitted them, had
not tried to fit them, for any other
than a dependent position.
And on a broad view the opinion
of another historian, declared to be
a true friend of the Catholic
Church, may be justified:
ITO secure lands for farming
purposes it. was, in former years,
necessary to get the written con
sent of the missionaries under
whose control they were ere the
Government could give legitimate
possession; therefore their acqui-
sitiOn depended entirely upon the
good will of the friars. II may be
justly supposed that by this re-
strictiOn the colonization of Cali.
tOrnla was rather retarded. So il
was. for the immigrant was placed
a. the mercy of preiudiced mis-
siOnary who might be averse 10
anything like secular Improvement.
AT first the seculari2ation was con
sidered disastrous to the prosper
ity of California. and the wanton
destruction of property which fol
lowed seemed to warrant the con
clusion; but the result proved to
be quite the contrary Individual
enterprise has placed the country
in a more f1Ourishing condition,
and the wealth. instead of being
confined to the monastic institu-
lions as before, has been distribut.
ed among the people"
THE Mission Play" is stepped in
L poetry. 1t is not only its
phrases, sweet wales, "sun-kissed
hills" sunset wave" and the like,
used simply, naturally, sincerely
without attitudini2ing or bombast
1t is the feeling which runs through
it all It is the spirit which nos
sesses it. This is romance! II Is
such romance as, to many of us
has seemed all our lives to belong
to an unreal world, a world Of
imagination and dream, at most a
world centuries dead and gone
which can never come to life again
But 1t is all real And it is herer
Romance is in the air we breathe
THIS is play for America And
i the turmoil of great cities.
where the strife of the markets is
most incessant In sordid mann
featuring towns. where tired men
and women live out their lives
beneath skies that seem a million
miles away from ours of heavenly
blue, this Mission Play should
be performed, and they should
know what is the sweetness and
the glory of the Golden State
Some day they will come to see us.
Then In the morning they will say.
Never a fairer day dawned upon
this EARTH" and in the evening
they will see a world TRANSFORMED
in the light of setting suns. Then
this fact will break in surprise and
gladness on their souls:
This is not some foreign land of
which We have had 10 read in
books, this land Of the palm and
the pine, with its Spanish names
and Italian airs, and Latin TO-
nance, and Greek delight in beauty.
1t Is America, And it is all onr
own. California is one of the stars
on our flag. Its growing greatness
is our strength. The gold in it's
mountains and rivers is our wealth.
Its sinewy manhood and beautiful
enfranchised womanhood are as
red blood in the veins Of the Amer-
lean Union. Its power TODAY its
promise OF tomorrow, and the
pride and patriotism of its peopIe
are the imperishable possession of
the American citizen wheresoeveF
born!
And only to hear Father Junfper,
SeTTa-Or George OEho,rrr, e. So