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About The Conservative (Nebraska City, Neb.) 1898-1902 | View Entire Issue (July 25, 1901)
8 Conservative. given place to peaceful herds and flocks. The wandering wigwam has been replaced by the settled homo. The ground of the war dance is occupied by the school-house , and the pole hung with scalp locks by the steeple of the church. The vast desert spaces are now laughing with harvests , and the various tribes of the white men are dwelling there in unity. Who can doubt that such expansion is in accord with the purposes of the Almighty in the regen eration of the world ? In this spirit and with such purpose the expansion of the republic has more widely advanced in later years. The beneficent changes to be wrought in the alien races may require a full generation or more for their accomplishment. The work of the church is dilatory. But we have the glorious assurance of the past that we are doing the will of the Great Ruler of nations while wo follow our providential law. Since the middle of the last century wo have been led on step by stop beyond the ocean boundary of our continent , following the snu in his western course until scores of is lands of the southern and central Pacific have come peacefully under the domin ion of the United States. The Alaskan islands carried the jurisdiction of the republic within the longitudes of north ern Asia. By an unforeseen emergency of the Spanish war , declared for another and a humane purpose , we came into the unexpected possession of the Phil ippine islands on the south of the Asi atic continent. Like Louisiana , their purchase and annexation were unfore seen by the statesmen and people of our country ; and like Louisiana , they will in the process of civilization reveal un expected resources for the blessing of mankind , and for the advancement and security of the republic. We look back with amazement , and with gratitude , upon this century of our history. The first year of the nine teenth century found our youthful na tion barred on the west by our great mediterranean river , aud shut off from the sea on the south , with the barriers guarded by two formidable military powers of Europe. Our incipient com merce was wantonly destroyed on the high seas , the common prey of warring European navies , without fear of reprisals or punishment. Even the paltry powers of the Barbary coast levied tribute on our commercial ves sels and held captured citizens in slavery. Our political parties at home were more hostile to each other than to the foreigners who insulted our flag. The republic was neither respected nor envied , neither courted nor feared , by any power of Europe or Asia or Africa. But now , in the first year of the twentieth century , all this is changed. Our matured nation is in possession of the whole northern shore of the gulf , including all the peninsula of Florida , with -jurisclictioii extended across the continent to the shore of the Pacific , and leaping thence to the farthest coast of Alaska. Our flag floats over a thousand islands of the western ocean. It was the first to bo welcomed in the harbors of Japan , Korea and of China as the emblem of international peace and justice. The fame of our navy is wafted around the world by every wind that blows , and the flag that covers its guns assures protection to our commerce on every sea and in the harbors of every continent. The republic is respected and honored as one of the great powers of the world. At home a common pat riotism unites our political parties as never before. It has been exhibited during this mouth when all parties in various sections of this great country have been assembling to greet and ac claim a president who is himself the soul of patriotism and national honor. It is a marvelous expansion , a mar velous transformation , a miracle of the nations ! Thanks be to the Almighty Power which has so directed our destiny that in this first summer of the new century , and in the third generation of the ex plorers of the west , the sun never sets upon the territory of the republic. That brilliant orb which today gilds the summit of Iowa's historic monument will shed his bright beams in every hour of his daily circuit around the globe upon some state or territory , some plainer or mountain or island shore , over which floats the beneficent flag of our ex panded republic , carrying in its folds the assurance of peace and liberty , order and security , education and civilization to all the inhabitants. May this memo rial stand for ages to come to remind our children of the manly virtues of their race , which in the nineteenth cen tury made the republic so glorious in the annals of Imtory. At Colorado LETTERS TO Springs , Colorado , ANOTHER Mr. Louis R. Eh- GENERATION. rich has developed a plan by which the twentieth century will communi cate intelligently with the twenty-first. He has a very intelligent and active co adjutor in this scheme for talking with the people who shall inherit the earth one hundred years from now , in the person of Prof. L. A. E. Ahlers. The Colorado Springs Gazette of July 14 , has this to say about the scheme , and THE CONSERVATIVE suggests that the good people of Nebraska City and Otoo county might , with great propriety , en ter into the purchase of a "century chest , " to be transmitted in a similar way to those who shall inhabit here abouts in the year 2001. A Century Chest. "It was felt that the present prosper- ous condition of the country brings with it considerable danger that in the desire to catch fortune at floodtide we may lose ourselves in materialism. A thought of the future , loving considera tion of those who come after us , may bring about at least a short reaction from this tendency. Then came the question : How can we fitly give ex pression to our fellow men , who sluill walk our streets a hundred years from today of our thought of them ? Here Mr. Ehrich's plan gave a delightful answer. He suggested that a series of \ letters be written , addressed to the oiti- I , zens of Colorado Springs in the year 2001. These letters should come from prominent men and women , who pos sess an intelligent knowledge of the present conditions of our city , as well as of its past. In addition to these let ters , portraits of the writers should bo inclosed in a strong box made for this purpose , also photograps of all classes of residences , streets , industrial plants , ladies and children in modern costumes ; in short , good representations of our selves and our surroundings of today. The box is to be made of wrought iron , lined with zinc. A copper plate with suitable inscription will tell the gene rations to come what it contains and when it is to be opened. " The Norwegian , FREDERICK whose name heads GIERTSEN. this paragraph , is a school teacher in Christiana , Norway , and he is intend ing to erect during the coming year , a monument to the memory of his grand father , because that ancestor planted one hundred years ago a splendid forest of spruce and Norway pine. His de scendants are just beginning to realize the value aud altruism of this benef icent act of their ancestor. Those in Nebraska , who desire to be remembered one hundred years , should emulate the altruistic tree-planting of this benevolent Norwegian. If the domo- PRESIDENT cratic party seeks FAIRCHILD. a presidential candidate - didate in New York , and will not nominate John G. Carlisle , it may find ex-Secretary of the Treasury Fairchild eligible. He might make a stronger candidate than Dave Hill , and a far better president. The private and public character of Mr. Fairchild is faultless. "Those persons who are striving to admire the McKinley administration ore necessarily compelled to ignore the fact' that Tom Platt is permitted to fill the judicial vacancies as fast as they occur in Now York , " sententiously notes the Philadelphia Times ( Ind. ) .