Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1915-06-09


miles Of prairie and plateaus that
have just been left behind, and We
feel that there Is q broadness Of ex-
panse, and farsightedness on every
hand. The great love Of freedom and
independence which was implanted in
the hearts of our fathers at the time
Of the Revolutionary war shows itself
in the broad tracts Of farming lands
divided into hundreds Of spacious
farms, which gives to the occupants,
q feeling of freedom and might.
The American tourist Is now ready
to realize that this is his country and
that he is one Of its citizens. He is
just awakened to the fact that he is
hungry for more Of his great environ
ment that has developed a nation of
such wonderful capacity. Where can
the mind Of man see or feel bigger
thing than the Grand Canyon of Ari-
iona? Think of the workmanship of
nature, having wrought out an abyss
a mile deep, more than ten miles wide
and over four hundred miles long.
The faint ribbon at the bottom, is O
gigantic river, ever rushing on with
fearful speed, and grinding deeper in
to the bowels of mother earth, with
a supply of water greater than the
Great Lakes and Niagara are pouring
into the st. Lawrence. This marvel
of nature, this giant of canyons, this
monument of grandeur and beauty by
day, and a mournful, mysterious
abyss by night, where the Indian
found the abode of his dreaded spir-
it's, has awe-stricken alike, the poet
and painter. No word picture or ar
lists brush has been able to paint the
wonderful colors, changing with the
suns light and shadows.
Just as the wondering eye follows
the different strata of rock each SOW
ing the earth's formation, of millions
of years Of development, just so does
the American nation today, stand as
a climax of human progress and thot.
This monument of cosmic power, no
human hand can conquer or spoil.
Mans workmanship, the greatest of
them, as the Pyramids in Egypt, are
mere pebbles in the great stream.
Descend with me down the zig-zag
paths along the side wall. We find
that the sun is constantly pouring it's
efforts into this great abyss and is
heating the air; when nightfall ap-
proaches, and the suns rays are no
longer in sight, the hot air rises from
the depths below, and a great wind
roars thru the canyon for hours. We
have now reached the resting places
at the bottom, that were never dream
ed Of when we looked down from tue
top; from the bottom of the canyon,
nothing indicates to the eye or ear
that the earth is inhabited, or was
ever civilized.
Again, foresight, breadth of thot,
and deliberation hold us bound as an
American, riveted to the very floor of
this continent, as we stand with ra,s-
ed head, peering into space. And we
feel as never before the sublimity of
peace, in contrast to the cruelty and
shame on the European continent To-
day. We feel as we have never felt
before, that we are sheltered by a
sacred grandeur that spreads itself
everywhere like the blue canopy above
us. There on that continent where
the world turned it's eyes for cen
turtles, for all that was sacred to hui
man advancement, we find that tie
noblest dust Of centuries has been
scattered to the four winds of the
earth or trampled beneath the feet to
mingle win the clay of mother earth.
Does this mean that American genius
must now come to the rescue and
swing the balance of science, litera-
ture and art, against these great de-
structive counter-balancing forces? Is
the cry Of milk for the starving con-
tinental infants only a sign that the
world is ready for the American wo.
men to assert their rights and trample
to death the remnants of the Sabel-
liam war-god? Must they interpret
the wasteful cost of war and must
motherhood rise to It's field Of action
and refuse to give it's sons to be shot
in support of vagaries of monarchs
and kings, or false ideas of national
honor?
Have we, as nation reached the
great civil height when American rule
and liberty have become synonyms OF
the English language?
We halt a moment in the hurrying
pace of the century, and the inner
voice of man says: "Above us hover
the divinities of our racial ancestors
who cry out, devote to me, not the
title of human life, but give me in
return of all that nature gives you in
this magnificent scenic beauty of your
continent. Scatter the fertile earth
of your republic over the surface of
the entire globe, and let it bear the
fruit of the stripes of red and white,
and the stars in the field of azure
blue"
Let us pass on to the most power
full laboratory of all ages. This IS
found in our own Mammoth Cave.
Here, the acid solution made by nat
ure, has worked out cavern after cav
ern, and for roof support, it has again
deposited it's salts, and built up pill
ar after pillar, wrought in the most
fantastic conventional floral design
Just as this great monument of 9,
chemical laboratory lies hidden Z 8
meath the surface, just 50 do we find
millions of tons of chemicals buried
in it's beds of rock. Mother earth gives
ond rivoc. novor urouino uoorv ~