Show wm COUNTY GRADUATES the tha exercises of the district school the journal Pub publishes lisles the essays ani ancl orations of the students in order tha that theland thy and their parents may preserve them for future years in addition to the commencement exercises of the two colleges which THE JOURNAL has published exclusively we present today a portion of the exercises of the county district school graduate with the promise tb that at more will follow if the students and school children of cache valley need 9 newspaper friend they have it ia TIIE JOURNAL if they wish lep resen tation for the products of their pens pena they find it in THE JOURNAL the following is an essay on OUR AND ITS achievements BY HALE our country was discovered oct 12 1492 by christopher columbus who believed that the world was round and that by sailing west he ha could reach the east indias andias he was determined to try this route but did not have the means to obtain the things necessary for the tha journey ile he was finally befriended by isabella queen of spain who provided the ships men and provisions necessary ifor for the voyage aa vr biary they laihr e ii ancsan an salvador on the icsis the day of oct 1492 other discoveries were made during he c 4 fifteenth century and in al a jay spanish colony was planted wt at st i augustine augustin defloria eF florida loria a this was the first permanent settlement in ia america other settlements began to spring up a few of the most moat important port arit are port royal N C by the french in 1605 jamestown by the english in 1607 quebec by the french in new york by the dutch in and plymouth by the pilgrims or the english in 1620 these first settlers suffered great privations at times nearly dearly a whole settlement dying of starvation As immigration increased settlements became more numerous and each by itself contended against the indian in 1619 slavery was introduced A captain of a dutch vessel sold the colonists twenty negroes who were utilized in the cultivating of tobacco As their labors were found to be very profitable large numbers were afterwards imported from this circumstance though it seemed very verj small at the time ensued most momentous consequences consequences that long after rent the republic with strife the colonists were greatly oppressed by the mother count country rr england who treated the settlers BS as a inferior class of people the laws were framed to favor the english merchant and manufacturer at the colo colonists expense manufacturing fac was prohibited in ameria ca and the colonists were compelled to send their products to england to be exchanged for manufactured articles england also attempted to tax them to raise money to so pay the tha expenses of the war the they y resisted the measure ind and declared that as they were not represented ep resented in parliament thit that taxation without representation s tyr rany this terrible oppression until they could endure it no and it finally led up to the th revolutionary war which be began gam 19 ih 1775 after eight years f severe fieting fig ting they gained gaiard their independence the declaration of independence was signed july ath 1776 during the war the states had bad been governed by articles of confederation they now began to realize the weakness 0 ot this government and sept 1787 the constitution was adopted which bound them under one government ern er ment washington ton was chosen 1 first president pa from ram this thia time on i our country progressed very rapidly at the close of the revolution abo U S extended only from the atlantic 10 To the mississippi river in 1803 a large ti act called louisiana west of the mississippi was purchased from france this increased the U S to doble its former size in 1819 florida was secured by a treaty with spain in 1815 texas was admitted into the union in 1818 the region C known as california was purchased from mexico in 1853 what is known as the gaveston Ga deston purchase was secured from mexico the last acquisition was alaska which was purchased from russia in 1867 from 1857 to 62 slavery became the most important question some held that slaves should not be carried into a free state others dez declared lared that slave owners might take their slaves into any state in the union without forfeit forfeiting in their ri rights E lits this was one cause of the civil war another was that some of the southern states had threatened to secede if lincoln was elected president and in 1860 they seceded and on april 1861 the he great civil war broke out four years of severe fighting fi biting ensued and on april oth the confederates surrendered and turned homeward as american citizens these states were again admitted into the un nion from this time there has been nothing to molest our peace and more progress has been made As to population we find that a century ago portland me providence R I 1 richmond va were very small towns springfield and lawrence were mere hamlets washington was described as a little village in the midst of the woods the first store was opened st at louisville ky in 1783 the population of the entire united states atthe at the time of the firsteen first census was less than now it is about the es in 1790 numbered 75 the mail was carried mostly by men on horseback the saddle bags holding the scanty mail mails were forwarded from new york to boston three times a week in summer and twice in winter and in smaller places the mail was allowed to accumulate until there was enough 0 to pay the cost of transmission we can readily see the progress that has been made in this one one thing for today nearly all small towns receive a daily mail the postage on a letter carried under 40 miles was 8 cents over 40 and under 90 10 cents over 25 cents now we can send bend a letter to any part of ithe ibbs united states for the small sum of 2 cents at the time of the revolution men mea were mainly clad in homespun and used the flintlock rifle were repressed by england and agriculture was the favorite pursuit articles of daily use such as hats bats clothes shoes and harnesses harne Larne ses were made at home the land was plowed with a plow whose mould board was fastened with strips of iron made by straightening out horse horre shoes the grass was mowed with a scythe the grain with a sickle and threshed out with a flail or trodden out by cattle wool was carded and spun at lome home with freedom came a marvelous development of mechanic arts cotton became an important staple of agriculture and in 1787 a cotton mill was ivas set in motion in 1793 the cotton gin in was invented by whitney this rendered ered cotton raising very profitable in 1880 over l acres were devoted to its culture producing near nearly ay bails when washington delivered his first message to congress he was clad in a suit of broadcloth manufactured at hartford in 1880 over worth of this goods had been manufactured in this country in 1607 fulton invented the steamboat in 1819 1519 a steamer crossed the atlantic in 1830 peter cooper mude made the first locomotive built in america darin daring a that year 23 miles of road was c constructed while in over miles was laid morse invented the telegraph in 1841 1844 the first message was sent from washington to baltimore in 1890 over miles was opened for business this the printing press of a century ago would print on an one side about sheets per hour now in the tame time can be returned turned out four paged newspapers folded pasted and printed on both sides eides of each sheet other inventions are the sewing in machines mc chines hines the reaper the mower the horse rake the thresher the breech loaded loading gun the steam fire engine the drawing room vestibule and sleeping cars the elevator the type writer th the e telephone one the phonograph the electric light and the great X ray which is edi eons bons latest invention many other inventions might to mentioned which add to our comfort and the worlds progress in 1887 over 21 patents had been issued from the time of the first settlements education has rec received dived great attention schools and even colleges were started but the i evolution left all these institutions paralyzed but as soon as it was over education was the first thing that received their attention aparton A part of public lands is set apart for purposes of education and section 16 of every township is ig devoted to the maintaining of public sc schools bools in 1848 when oregon was organized a territory the section was also set apart for school purposes in all acres of land is devoted to the support of common schools in the midst of the civil war congress took time to pass paes a bill granting acres of land in each state to maintain an agricultural college instead of 9 colle gesas in pre times there are nearly besides all the free schools which are carried on at the expense of the government in colonial times there were but few books in use and these were chiefly on theology during the revolution politics became the usual theme of discussion and writings of patrick henry adams franklin dickinson Di kinson and were read with interest later on writings of jay adams Pu adison hamilton jefferson lef lerson and washington which were mainly on the Del declaration of independence and the constitution came into general use uee writing of of poe emerson hawthorne longfellow whittier irv ija gand bryant secured general recognition ignition tion the progress in journal is iem m has been especially marked at the time of the revolution there were 37 papers in circulation there are over at the present ti time me education has made us an en enlightened people and it is said that we read as much as all the rest of the world who read at all As the philanthropic and religious institutions in nothing do we see where we have shown more generosity than in charitable institutions and philanthropic associations As the country has grown in size and wealth relief has been more widely extended to human h suffering and efforts have been made to elevate the moral and religious conditions of our race the world awid over |