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Show As Gilpin Saw It. In all his speeches, from St. Louis south, President Roosevelt spoke of the Mississippi valley val-ley in glowing terms. But he nowhere rose to the grandeur of his theme as did Governor Gilpin, forty-Six years ago, at where Pueblo, Colo., now is. We have not a copy of the Governor's speech, but the thought behind it was as follows: "The Eastern continont is cone-shaped. From its apex rivers run down in all directions to the sea. From the beginning the valleys of those rivers have been inhabited by warring tribes, causing exhaustive wars and making the creation of any very great nation impossible. Our country is saucer-shapod. From a thousand miles away in all directions the streams run toward a common com-mon center to merge in tho Father of Waters. i c. That mighty aroa, greater than was the Roman empire in the centuries of its power, greater than I all western Europe, produces all the products pi 1 two Bone. When comntfunication is general and swift, bringing the people there in close business k relations daily, there will grow up a common busi ness interest and affection between them. Whdn their numbers incrfiate until that region shall be as thickly settled fts,I Massachusetts' now, there will bo within, that aroa one hufifird millions of I- people, who, when it comes to any question or k national interest or national prldeV or national f honor, will think together, act together, and they will bring to boar upon any subject d broader intelligence in-telligence than any other peopld dvor did, for this is a government of, by and for the people; and ; when our schools advance and the millions of our b- land appreciate as they never yet have their full duties as citizen's, in ofdry home thire will bo sovereigns intent upon having only the right ! things done for our dommon. cdtfhtry. And that region wfiFruTiTChYs ftepublic, rule it in the way that will bo best for every section and for all the people. And it will bo a dictating power for good for all this world, for, compared with It, all other nations, the very greatest of them, will be second class." Those are the thoughts that inspired Governor Gilpin when hardly a locomotive crossed, the great valley, when quite half of it was still unsettled, when in western Minnesota, the Dakotas, Nebraska, Ne-braska, K&nsas, Colorado and half of Texas the savage was still making his losing fight against advancing civilization. "With the eye of a seer, Gilpin saw the. wilderness vanish, the frontier melt away; he saw In thought the homes amT the cities, the Industrial enterprises that were to bo built up; he saw the little red school house Qn every sebtlon'- ftnd hdaVd tile stings' of the clfll-dren; clfll-dren; ho saw the stalwart race that was to spring tip; the now stars that wer,e to blaze out on the ; flag, find theft a i islbn" of the 'splendor, the majes ty and the irresistible" power whlbh wbuld bo our country's swept over the retina of his mind, and his words took on all the solemnity of prophecy. His statue ought to be In the Hall of Fame. |
