A NATION OF CITIES.
A little over one hundred years ago our fore.
fathers declared themselves to be a free people.
After a long and desperate struggle against one
of the most powerful nations of Europe they be
came a nation,—a nation which has extended its
borders and grown in population and wealth un
til to-day it ranks among the greatest nations of
the earth.
What has caused this phenomenal growth?
Have occult influences been at work ? No 1 What
then has caused it? •
Nature out of her boundless store has endowed
us with a temperate climate,—vast mineral wealth,
—a long line of sea coast with many good har
bors,—a chain of great lakes on our northern
border,—one of the most magnificent river sys
tems in the world,—almost illimitable forests of
the finest timber and an immense area of fertile
farming land.
Dame Nature bath endowed us with all of these
advantages; yet it seems to me that there is one
thing besides, that has had an even greater influ
ence on our national growth and development,
which has given to us liberty of thought and ac
tion, our free ballot, our free schools, our free
press and liberty to worship our God as we may
desire; which has served to unite the states into
one grand whole; which is the most enduring
monument to the wisdom of our forefathers,
namely: our Constitution, which as the years roll
by becomes more powerful and more Precious to us.
These were some of our original sources of
wealth. Have we made wise use of them? Let
us stop a moment and see what has come from our
comparatively insignificant beginning.
The vast mineral wealth that lies within our
borders is being constantly developed. Manu
facturing establishments are springing up on every
side, which, taking the raw product of our mines,
return it to us in forms of beauty and utility. Our
foreign and domestic commerce is increasing with
every passing year. Our forests are giving way
THE FREE LANCE.
before the woodman's axe. The products of our
fertile fields find their way to every part of the
To-day where only a few years ago the red man
pitched his wigwam and roamed unmolested
through the forest or over the broad prairie, the
iron horse forces its way. On every hand vil
lages are springing up, embryo cities as it were.
The constant whir of machinery is heard. Every
where the sounds of labor abound as we fashion
articles that shall bring the wealth of the world
to our feet. Every incoming ocean steamship
brings to our shores hundreds of immigrants who
come to make a home in our fair land. Men of
all nations and conditions flock here. Every day
brings forth new discoveries in science and art.
Busy brains are striving to find newer, better, and
quicker methods of doing work. We have chain
ed the power of steam and made it our servant.
We have harnessed the lightning and made it do
our bidding. We have accomplished more in the
one hundred years of our life as a nation than
had been done in many centuries before.
What marvelous strides we have made I What
a change from the infant republic with its popu
lation of four millions to the mighty nation of to
day with its sixty million of people 1 We have
made an unprecedented advance, but we are not
satisfied. We are not content to lie back on the
laurels we have won. Our cry is ever "Onward."
Who can tell what the century to come shall
bring? We may not reach that ideal state which
Edward Bellamy in his book "Looking Back
ward" has unfolded to us. It may never be that
our government shall control all industries. Our
President may not be the head of all our business
interests, our music, our literature, our art, "yet
it doth not appear what we shall be" when the
embryo cities of to day shall have become a reality.
When we shall in truth have become a nation of
cities will our country then be more corrupt ?
Will morality be at a lower ebb among us ? I
say emphatically, No! And why not? Because
illiteracy and vice go hand in hand. As educa-