The Glenwood post., 1923-07-12
Uncle Ted's Bed Time Stories
Current Events for the Children
and Grown-ups, Too
"MoTHER COUNTRY"
IDEA OVERWORKED

"Maybe they will give us some new
history textbooks to study when school
opens in the fall,'' remarked Ruth
while she and Jack were talking over
the work they would have to do at the
end of their vacation.
eyes, responded Jack, 81 hear
that some of the school board are dis
satisfied with the history we use now
because it is too favorable to Eng
land.''
"Well, 1 don't see why it shouldn't
be favorable to England because that
is our Mother Country added Ruth.
"Mother Country! Nonsense!" in
terposed Uncle Ted, who had overheard
the conversation. cit is only in
very limited sense that England is our
Mother Country. 1t is true that most
people in the United States speak the
English language. 1t is also true that
the first permanent settlements in the
United States were made by people
who came from England, but if you
will think carefully when you read
your history of the United States you
will see to what a small degree Eng
land can claim to be the Mother Coun-
try of the United States.
"The English settlers at jamestown
came to this continent with the aid of
England, but the Pilgrims came to get
away from persecution in the old
country. In all the years of Colonial
history the attitude of England toward
the colonies was one of oppression.
England tried to use the colonies to
add to her own wealth and made laws
governing the colonies to retard their
development In the Declaration of
Independence you can find long list
of the evil acts of England towards
the colonies. They were not the acts
that you would expect from true
Mother country.
''After the colonists gained their in
dependence, which they did after a
long and bloody war, they set up a
form of government which they devised
themselves and they took great pains
to guard against the evils of the Eng
lish governmental system. While VT
got some of our laws and customs from
England, our form of government was
distinctly a product of ideas that had
been developed here.
''If you consider the United State;
today from the standpoint of territory
you will find very little upon which e
base the statement that England is ou
Mother Country. Only a small striI
along the Atlantic coast and east o.
the Allegheny mountains was in th'
possession and control of England. The
coonists did most of the work and tn,
fighting necessary to gain control Of
that portion of the original Thirteer
Colonies which lay west of the ALE
ghanies. We got 100000 square
miles from France. nearly a millior
square miles from Mexico; a quarter
of a million square miles by the ex
plorations conducted by Lewis ani
Clarke; $4,000 square miles from Spair
when we purchased Florida; 6O0,0Ot
square miles from Russia when We pur
chased Alaska. Less than 10 per cent
of our total area was ocnuire1 from
England.
Although our people speak the Eng
lish language, only small per cent OF
them are of English ancestry Ger
mans, Norwegians, Swedes, Ir sh, Rus
slams, Poles, Italians, Greeks, and othel
nationalities are the source of a large
proportion of our present population
About 10 per cent of our population
had its original ancestry in Africa
That great section lying west of thc
Allegheny mountains and constituting
the great farming region of the United
States was transformed from a wilder
ness by the efforts chiefly of Norwe
gians, Swedes, Danes, Germans, Rus
slams and Poles.
''I am not telling you these thing'
for the purpose of creating prejudice
in your minds against England. VIVA
] am trying to get at is that there il
no particular reason why we should