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Show THE BEGINNINGS OF AMERICA The corner-stone of a monument in honor of the landing of the Pilgrim Fathers on Cape Cod in 1620 will be laid in August, in the presence of the President of the United States and other notable persons. Although the influence of the Pilgrims Pil-grims upon American development has been great, it was not the earliest Old World force that began to work in this continent. Those familiar with the reasons for the Jamestown celebration, cele-bration, now in progress in Virginia, arc aware that thirteen years before the Mayflower entered Cape Cod Bay a successful colony of English gentlemen gentle-men had been planted on the James River, and that an English Protestant Church had been established. The Dutch in New York were some years later than the Pilgrims; but Spanish influences began at St. Augustine, Florida, forty-two years before the English spirit found expression in Virginia. The first President was a Virginian; New England supplied the H second. It would be invidious and is unucc- H cssary to estimate and compare the B influence of Spaniard, Dutchman, Eng- H lish cavalier and Puritan on the devel- H opment of the country. After them M all many other men of many other M races have continued to arrive, seek- M ing to enjoy the opportunities that the M new land presents, and to enlarge the M opportunities here for the advance- , M incut of their children. M Population has spread from the At M lantic coast until now the center of it M is in southern Indiana, instead of cast M of Baltimore, as it was in 1870. The M westward-spreading population has M carried with it the ideas of popular M government, with popular education H as its foundation, until today the mid- H die West is filled with colleges. Three H of the largest six in the country arc H in Illinois, and the attendance at the H state universities of Michigan, Min- H ucsota, Missouri, Nebraska and Wis- H cousin is surpassed only by that of H the largest universities of the East H Ex. |