The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1916-06-29
Can Any State Beat Iowa?

for his children, he keeps back his
most perfect gift for the best. A1teI
all the things have been presented
which affection can prepare, or flllal
hope anticipate, the climax OF gener-
osity is reached when the last ana
most precious gift is discovered,
beneficience conferred in seeming
extravaganza of giving. In the grad
ual ascent to the apex OF perfectlon
in uncovering the varied regions OF
the world to his children, the ALI
Fathers masterpiece is Iowa
| Nothing has been left undone by
nature to complete the work. First,
Destiny covered Iowa with the waters
of the sea, and for millions OF years
there dropped to the dark levels OF
this primordial ocean the lime, the
gypsum, and the clays which form
| the basis and provide for the renewal
of her soil. There fell also the sand
stones for her buildings, when man
! should come to make them. Then the
scaled rose, the waters receded, and
in the hot, moist breath OF the car
! boniferous era were laid down the
Goals, so that when man came ne
might find the suns heat stored for
him. clay for that heat to convert to
brick, and lime, gypsum and clay TO
combine with heat into that liquid
| rock which pours like water and turns
to living stone.
But His hand was stretched out
still. The clay and lodges and sands
were then no better than those OF
any other land They would not DO
! for the Masterpiece. SO there came
on the earth great chill, and the
waters were made to pillow, and with
: that pillow of ice the GRANTEES OF the
north We're ground up that their
potash might be made soil, and the
phosphates were mingled with the
potash, and through all ran the lime;
and the glacial pillow passed over
Iowa and made her a great plain OF
4 smooth filth, and strewed it with
/ black drift fit for the pigmy ploW OF
man.
4 Then Destiny waited while the wat
ers made channels for themselves.
And the swamps dried up. And for
millions of years the forces Of nature
stored nitrogen in the black soil, and
! filled it with vegetable mold like that
which delighted the children of Is
rael when they spied out the promls-
ed land Of Canaan, and reported that
it was goodly land.
And there it lay, a great green
savanna, veined with tiny embroider-
les of forest along the streams, its
! ground-swell and unending success
sion Of low rounded hills, its rlpples
the shadows made by the wind in the
waving grass. Destiny kept Iowa one
vast cleared field fit for the ploW
Destiny laid the Missouri along her
western border and the Mississippi as
her eastern boundary, that commerce
might find in them arms OF the sea
for her future trade. And God look
ed on His work and found that it
was good; but in order that it might
be superlative, He tilted the surface
a little to the south so that the sun
might the better work with the rain,
and both with that matchless soil for
the. good Of man.
Then the curtain was drawn aside
from the western continent. And still
Destiny was not ready for Iowa.
American institutions had to be de-
veloped and somewhat perfected. At
last the hour struck for the discovery
of Iowa. 1t was the unveiling OF
| lovely picture-a great undulatlng
green sea enameled with flowers.
Not parched by drought like the reg
ions to the west. Not sodden and
swampy like the ralnsoaked forests to
the east. Not stony and sterile like
regions farther south. Not in the
region of fugacious summers OF the
north-but just in the right place. In
the heart of the empire Of corn, the
realm of wheat, the kingdom OF the
| paddock, the pasture, the meadow ana
good brown earth, where winter is
| cold enough to rest and reVlvlfy the
soil. and summer warm enough and
long enough to flood the world with
produce.
To the unwilling Of Iowa came all
the peoples Of America. This gives
the Hawkeye the power to understand
all America. Up along the rivers
came the cavaliers from Kentucky
and Virginia, and the woodsmen OF
Missouri and Tennessee. There came
also the southern Hoosiers from In
diana, and the long Suckers from
Egypt. Iowa was settled as south
ern state. Her river cities We're
southern. The first business life of
Iowa was southern, and her great
men were southern in their sympath-
les and characteristics. South OF the
20 one still flndS the pOlltlcal ana
social life profoundly affected by the
early settlers of the Boone and Crock
| EFT stripe Here and there are the
!! descendants of the French voyageurs
and coureurs de bOis.
But there came sitting through IL
linois, Michigan, Ohio, and Wiscon-
sin the sturdy stocks of New York
and Pennsylvania-and the New En-
gland conscience in it's migration
from New England gave Iowa to local
self-government and the common
school, and after oldfashioned
| Americanism had become entrenched
in the towns and on the farms, there
came the best people Of Europe
Danes, Norsemen, Celts, Germans,
British-and filled the state with
their virile strains and their demo-
cratic PHILOSOPHERS.
God is the supreme opportunist.
He proved it by keeping back the best
lands in the world for the best peo-
pies in the world, and then turning
the plant over to the stockholders
the people Of Iowa.
1owa's wealth is staggering Her