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Show THE SEAT OF EMPIRE. il At Wallace, Idaho, Secretary Moody, speaking fl as a citizen of Massachusetts, said: "We in that fl corner of the country who have, in the century Ifl just completed, played so great a part in the gov- fl ernment and in the development of the country, .H have learned that our sun is set and that the gov- IB ernment, the seat of empire, the power which con- IB trols tho country, has passed to the great west, fl but we are content when we reflect upon our part in the upbuilding of the West.' fl The San Francisco Chronicle agrees with Mr. fl Moody that thereat of empire is moving west, fl and says: "There are many wise men who be- fl lleve that the future seat of empire will be on fl the western shore of the Pacific with San Fran- .1 cisco as its center." Of course the Chronicle fl meant eastern instead of western, but that is fl immaterial. It is difficult to see by wha course, fl K II t of reasoning the Chronicle reaches the conclusion Bt h I that the center of power in our country will ever Btv? gravitate to San Francisco. Gilpin with almost Mp 8 i ! inspired prescience, half a century ago pointed B out that the old world had an apex near its cen- B I t ter with streams running down in all directions, B I i and that warring tribes had been the occupants B, f I ' i of tlie valleys1 along those streams for centuries, Wt J i while our country was saucer-shaped with streams Bj j ' S i converging to a common center; that eventually B .1 , V the dwellers of the great central valleys would BL If, i think in common and would assume and hold B- ' ! ' ' ' control of the whole countiy. Wr- If f j We believe his reasoning was prophetic and Wt that it is unassailable. It would not be changed B' I'jI I even tuo annexation of Canada and Mexico. B I '. I j That mighty valley from the Rockies to the Al- B, I , ' ! leghanies, from the Lakes to the Gulf, contains B. fJ 1,400,000 square miles, more than half the Union Br In I exclusive of Alaska, and when its population be- B Iff ! v comes as dense as that of Massachusetts is now, BMr r they w111 number more than 500,000,000 souls. B I t Their occupations will naturally bring them in B ; close relationship; a few years hence all that is B j sectional between the northern and southern por- B pi 1 t tions of the valley will disappear, if any new sec- B 1 j tional prejudices spring up, they will be in op- B I position to something favored east or west of B j them and whenever a test comes the solid central B I vote will control. That ought to be a guarantee B I I of peace at home for all time to come. mU I ! B m With Mexico annexed the eastern half will be B r : ' ' but a continuation of Texas; should Canada H jj 'C eventually ask for a union with our Republic, it H i L i would be but a continuation of the valley the M fj J ' line of division being so slight to and through B p t the Hudson Bay country. m L ! That, too, will be a stalwart race, strong and B ! . true and aggressive, brave enough to dare any- B (I thing, brave enough to be just and to compel jui'tice from others, even if the others mean all the world. If no great elemental or political cataclysm smites the country, ours will be something of a nation before the present century closes. And neither Now England nor Virginia need worry that the power has moved westward, any more than the mother need worry over her son's triumphs. tri-umphs. The men and women of the west aie but a composite picture in which the stern faces of the Puritan and the fiery flashings of the eyes of the cavalier are softened into a new distinct face where all that was great and high in honorable hon-orable ancestry shine out as an assurance that justice will be done and Progress receive greater and greater impetus, as the splendors of their achievements each year Incite noble efforts for the next. k |
