Manhood and Statehood 207 



ual. When in a given locality the settlers became 

 sufficiently numerous, they were admitted to State 

 hood, and thenceforward shared all the rights and all 

 the duties of the citizens of the older States. As 

 with Columbus and the egg, the expedient seems ob 

 vious enough nowadays, but then it was so novel 

 that a couple of generations had to pass before we 

 ourselves thoroughly grasped all its features. At 

 last we grew to accept as axiomatic the two facts of 

 national union and local and personal freedom. As 

 whatever is axiomatic seems commonplace, we now 

 tend to accept what has been accomplished as a mere 

 matter-of-course incident, of no great moment. The 

 very completeness with which the vitally important 

 task has been done almost blinds us to the extraordi 

 nary nature of the achievement. 



You, the men of Colorado, and, above all, the 

 older among those whom I am now addressing, have 

 been engaged in doing the great typical work of our 

 people. Save only the preservation of the Union it 

 self, no other task has been so important as the con 

 quest and settlement of the West. This conquest 

 and settlement has been the stupendous feat of our 

 race for the century that has just closed. It stands 

 supreme among all such feats. The same kind of 

 thing has been in Australia and Canada, but upon 

 a less important scale, while the Russian advance in 

 Siberia has been incomparably slower. In all the 



