Evening star., 1928-10-07
Capital Sidelights

Every once in a while q searchlight
Is thrown upon some historical incident
that we have overlooked and we are
impressed with its importance in the
development of this country. Repre-
sentative Charles j. Thompson Of Ohio
now turns the spotlight on an out
standing achievement OF Gen. Anthony
Wayne and what it meant to the Ma
ton Of today. apropos Of the plan to
erect memorial building on the site
of the old fort grounds at the con-
fiuence Of the Maumee and Auglalze
Rivers at Defiance. Ohio.
In the Third Congress Of the United
States during the second administration
of President Washington, Maj. Gen.
Anthony Wayne received a few lines
of thanks for the great campaign
against the Indians which eliminated
in the Battle of Fallen Timbers. Fort
Defiance was the base Of his opera
tions.
1T is not easy" said Representative
Thompson, Ito overrate the Importance.
from a national point of view, Of the
victory over the savages on the 10th
Of August, 1874, after the march OF
Waynes army from Defiance to the
battlefield of Fallen Timbers. 1t was one
of the few in our history which we
may call decisive That it dissipated
the cherished dream of the Indians that
the Ohio River was to be the perpetual
boundary between them and the whites
was, perhaps, the least important OF its
results. In opening the magnificent
national domain of the West to imm1-
grants, secured In their life, liberty and
property by laws of their own making,
1t may we'll be regarded, when we re-
fleet upon the history Of that vast re-
gion during the last 100 years, as having
given birth to new era in the history
Of American civilization. The millions
Of freemen who now occupy the ener-
getic and vigorous CommonwealthS ly-
ing between the Ohio and the Mis-
sissippi should cherish the memory of
Wayne as that of the man who by his
sword made it possible for white men
to live in peace and security in this gar
den spot Of the world; and the Nation,
proud as it ought to be of Wayne's
achievements during the War of the
Revolution, should never forget that it
was he who by his skill and prowess
changed the bowling wilderness of the
Northwest Territory, where the highest
glory of the savage inhabitant had been
the scalping of the whites, into a
country where the cultivation of all the
arts of peace betokens the highest civ
ilization''
X y
Oklahoma, one of the States where
the presidential campaign wakes warm
est is only SO years old, Representative
e. B. Howard of that State reminds US
There are men prominent in Washing
ton today who remember with Repre-
sentative Howard that bright April day
when several thousands of sturdy
pioneers engaged in a mad race for
homes in a most virgin part of this
country that was the first opening to
white settlement of public lands, and
marked the beginning Of what is to-
day one Of the greatest States of the
Union. That race for homes was the
start Of the construction of the great
State Of Oklahoma. That fertile coun-
try which was inhabited in the morning
by the occasional cowboy and coyote
at eventide Of that same day boasted
of cities of thousands and a population
running nigh to the hundred thousand
mark. Thereafter there was opened to
settlement in succession the Cheyenne
and Arapaho country, the Sac and Fox
Reservation, the Cherokee Strip the
surplus lands of the Pottawaton1ies and
the rich and fertile Kiowa and Co
manche domain After that for about
six years Oklahoma was one of the
bright young Territories of this Nation.
Then in 1907, by act of Congress, this
great domain, comprising what is now
the western part of the State of Okla
homa, was merged with that great
country, famous for its fertile valleys
and prairies. known then as the Indian
Territory, and through that merger
there came into the Union the forty
sixth State of the Nation, and there
was formed what is today probably our
richest State in agriculture and min
eral products. The name of Oklahoma
Is Of Indian origin and means Happy
Home of the Red Men,