Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-10-07

KINGS MOUNTAIN, N. c., October
THE following address was made by
President Hoover here today at the cele-
bration of the 150th anniversary Of the
battle of Kings Mountain:
My Fellow Countrymen:
This is a place of inspiring memories,
| Here less than a thousand men, inspired
| by the urge of freedom, defeated a
superior force intrenched in this stra-
| tegic position. This small band Of pa
triots turned back dangerous invasion
we'll designed to separate and diSmember
| the united Colonies. 1t was a little
army and a little battle, but it was of
mighty portent. History has done scant
| Justice to its significance, which rightly
should place it beside Lexington and
Bunker Hill, Trenton and Yorktown,
! as one of the crucial engagements in our
! long struggle for independence.
The battle of Kings Mountain stands
| out in our national memory, not only
! because of the valor of the men o. the
! Carolinas, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky
and Virginia, who trod here $50 years
| ago, and because of the brilliant lead
ership of Col. Campbell, but also because
| the devotion of those men revived the
| courage of the respondent Colonies and
set a nation upon the road of final tri-
| umph in American independence.
No American can review the vast
| pageant of human progress so nightly
| contributed to by these men without
renewed faith in humanity, new courage
and strengthened resolution.
| MY friends, I have lived among many
| peoples and have observed many gov
| ernmentS Each has its own institutions
and its own ideals, its own spirit Many
| of them I have learned to respect and
| to admire. 1t IS from these contrasts
| and these experiences that I wish to
speak today-to speak upon the inSti-
tutions, the ideals, upon the spirit Of
! America.
Vast Economic Developments.
In the time since the battle of Kings
| Mountain was fought our country has
marched from those struggling Colonies
on the Atlantic seaboard to the full
sweep of the Pacific. 1t has grown
from fewer than 100000 people to
more than 120,000,000. But far more
| inspiring than its growth of numbers
has been the unfolding of a great ex-
! pertinent in human society. Within
! this land there have been builded new
| and powerful institutions designed Of
new ideas and new ideals in a new
| vision Of human relations. Through
| them we have attained wider diffusion
of liberty and of happiness and of ma
| terial things than humanity has ever
AAAO"A NCAOAC. (dA PNOP1C i've Al a
! stronger security from enemies abroad
| and in greater comfort at home than
/ has ever before been the fortune of a
| nation. We are filled with justifiable
| pride in the valor, the inventions, the
contributions to art and literature, the
| moral influence of our people. We glow
| with satisfaction at the multitude Of
activities in the Nation, the State, the
| local community which spread benefits
| and hIaCciTOo Ua ho
proud of our vast economic development
| over these $50 years, which has secured
to the common man greater returns
for his effort and greater opportunity
| for his future than exist in any other
place on the earth.
In the large sense we have maintained
open the channels of opportunity, con-
Stantly refreshing the leadership of the
Nation by men OF lowly beginnings We
have no class Of caste or aristocracy
whose privilege limits the hopes and
opportunities Of our people Scierce and
education have been spread until they
are the universal tools of the common
man. They have brought to him the
touch OF thousand finer things of life.
They have enlarged the horizon OF our
vision into the inspiring works of God
Mighty March Of U. s.
This unparalleled rise of the Ameri-
can man and woman was not alone the
result OF riches in lands or forests or
mines; 1t sprang from ideas and ideals.
which liberated the mind and stinu-
lated the exertion of a people There
were other parts of the world even more
| easily accessible to new invasion by
| man, whose natural resources were as
great as those OF the United States, vet
their history over this $50 years pre-
| sents no achievement parallel to the
mighty march OF the United States.
But the deadening proverty Of other
lands was In the absence of the stirring
ideas and ideals which have lightened
the path Of the whole American people.
A score Of nations have borrowed our
| philosophy from US, and they have
tempered the course of history in vet a
score Of others. All have prospered
| under them.
These ideas and these ideals were in
the hearts and inspired the souls OF the
men who fought the battle of Kings
Mountain. They had spurred the
! migration Of their fathers from the
prosecutions and restricted opportunities
| OF Europe, had been sustained by their
religious faith, had been developed in
! their conflict with the wilderness and
had become the spirit OF the American
| people, demanding for man a larger
mastership of his own destiny. Our
| forefathers formulated them through
the Declaration and the Constitution
into new and practical political and
| social system unique in the world. De-
/