208 Manhood and Statehood 



history of mankind there is nothing that quite paral 

 lels the way in which our people have filled a vacant 

 continent with self-governing commonwealths, knit 

 into one nation. And of all this marvelous history 

 perhaps the most wonderful portion is that which 

 deals with the way in which the Pacific Coast and 

 the Rocky Mountains were settled. 



The men who founded these communities showed 

 practically by their life-work that it is indeed the 

 spirit of adventure which is the maker of common 

 wealths. Their traits of daring and hardihood and 

 iron endurance are not merely indispensable traits 

 for pioneers ; they are also traits which must go to 

 the make-up of every mighty and successful people. 

 You and your fathers who built up the West did 

 more even than you thought ; for you shaped thereby 

 the destiny of the whole Republic, and as a necessary 

 corollary profoundly influenced the course of events 

 throughout the world. More and more as the years 

 go by this Republic will find its guidance in the 

 thought and action of the West, because the condi 

 tions of development in the West have steadily 

 tended to accentuate the peculiarly American char 

 acteristics of its people. 



There was scant room for the coward and the 

 weakling in the ranks of the adventurous frontiers 

 men the pioneer settlers who first broke up the wild 

 prairie soil, who first hewed their way into the 



