Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1917-11-08
AS Northcliffe Sees Us.

From the Minneapolis Journal.
The United States without Alaska is as
large as all Europe without Russia. New
York is as %populous as London, or more
SO, Chicago Is greater han Berlin. Texas
is more extensive than Austria-Hungary,
or Germany, or france. California and
Montana exceed the British Isles or Italy.
And our hundred millions are one people
spiritually. economically and politically,
one as they never We're before and as few
others are.
Our vast distances and areas, our null
titude. our resources, engender our own
peculiar methods. Our railways sprawl
across the continent. our assembling
places dwarf those of any other land, as
our ports are huger, our rivers longer,
our mountains wider, our valleys, deserts
and plains greater.
These physical features have compelled
our people to wholesale actions, so to
speak, whereas others deal in retail. We
have been inventive for $50 years, and
have become the most practical and eff.
cient race in history. Nothing stops us.
We do not recognize the word ''impossi.
ble.' We have no regard for p~recedents;
we make our own and then upset them
The American mind travels from one
point to another by the shortest line and
arrives with dispatch at its objective
landing with both feet upon "the home
plate"
Lord Northcliffe, writing to his own
London Mall, senses these Americans ever
more distinctly than We do ourselves. He
Is In this country on a mission, and has
had opportunity to observe our stipend.
Gus preparation. 1t a little dazes him
but he does its magnitude and its celebrity
Justice. The dust does not blind him,
nor any incidental confusion. He see.
that we are "tackltng" an herculean job
but getting away with it, in character.
1stic American style.
We are accustomed to immensities. We
think in stupendous figures. The bis
thing Is more easy for US even than thu
little. We go at 1t right and we push II
through. We stir up a lot of row, but
we make good. There Is waste, there ar,
mistakes, there is much noise and a hea,
OF running around. But in shorter time
and with better result han is possibl,
to any other people, we accomplish what
we purpose. Northcliffe, with his owl
power Of tremendous energy and initia
tive, understands our powers. Better than
any E~nglishman who has come over, h.
understands our American genius. Hi,
own is akin to 1t. They call him in Eng
land the man who gets things DONE
He understands a people who gets thing
done.
Slow? We are slow in coming to a view
in arriving at decision. We null around
~ AoA5 AAAAS oSeiSOAy oo1S W llldh0 uD Oul
minds where we are at. But the moment
is reached finally, and then the light.
ming flashes and the hunder rolls. We
get into action instantly. No grass grows
under our feet. We go after results and
we get them in huge masses.
No. we are not a military people. But
when we make war, we make it to the
limit. We make 1t a business, and W.
make it as we make any other business.
And our business training has accustomed
us to colossal enterprise. Hence, IL unn.
prepared In a purely technical sense. W.
are prepared by mind and habit to q
superlative degree. Never again will a
foreign diplomat call US "idiotic Yankees.
or a top lofty monarch think OF the United
States as negligible"
Our enormou exertions today will save
our xIture a lot Of trouble Nobody will
ever again carelessly step on the tail OF
Uncle SANS coat. This Ii not spread
eagleism-it n fact.