The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1917-02-02

should first interest ourselves. And
that is a fundamental law OF sales
manship-(a ttracting settlers 10 our
state is only broad form OF sales
manship)-that we must DeleVe IN
the thing we try to sell.
And there are sufficient reasons
why North Dakotans may ana snouiu
appreciate their state. These are set
forth in greater detail elsewhere IN
this issue of The Herald as they are
being set forth in nearly 4OU otner
North Dakota newspapers this week.
The Herald firmly believes that no
state in the union is more progress
sive, more prosperous, more fortun-
ate, than is North Dakota.
Appreciation week for North Da-
kota is, then, time when we
study our own conditions, compare
them with those of other states, and
If we do it fairly, the result will be
q profound belief in our own good
fortune which will enable us to eff
fectively place North Dakota's OPP
portunities before others. The net
result will be greater satisfaction for
ourselves and the bringing within our
borders of new settlers seeking the
opportunities denied them elsewhere
and which we have to offer in abund-
ance.
Appreciation week is also particu-
larry a time when we should give
credit to those forces. those move
ments and those men who have laid
the foundations of North Dakota's
prosperity and progressiveness.
We owe much to those men and
women who as pioneers in a new and
unknown land laid the foundations
of the great North Dakota common
wealth Of today. While many Of them
are still with us let us render to
them the thanks. which should be
theirs for the foresight and the forti-
tude which enabled them to conquer
and possess a great empire that we
of today may here build our homes
in comfort and plenty.
Let us, too, give due measure OF
recognition to those movements, such
as the Better Farming" movement
which within a comparatively few
years have helped North Dakota on
to success and achievement. Here in
Williams county we owe an especial
debt to this very movement. No one
familiar with conditions in Williams
county five years ago and conditions
today will attempt to deny that we,
as a county, are not only hundreds of
thousands Of dollars richer as a result
of this very movement, but immeasur-
ably richer in our social relations and
in our ability to cooperate for the
further upbuilding of our commune
ty.
Many other causes for our appreci-
alton might be named. The men and
the movement which caused the writ
ing Of the prohibition law in our state
constitution and which has made
North Dakota a pioneer in the prohi-
bition wave now enveloping the ma
ton; the men and the forces who
have placed our school system on a
par with any in the nation despite
our sparse population and our great
distances; these and others which will
be fresh in the mind of every reader
are all deserving Of our praise and
our gratitude.
And most of all let us appreciate
to it's full value our future. This his
tory of the past is written, and nobly
written, let us say, but the future is
in the making and is ours to make.
Let us so mould 1t that we may pass
on to our children. and our children's
children, heritage, which like ours,
shall be to them a model and an in
spiration.