310 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY 



ernment, the American race is no longer merely Anglo- 

 Saxon. European noblemen have learned this and are 

 seeking wives from the new race, without asking for ped- 

 igree. There is nothing fairer on earth than a child 

 fresh from the hand of God, and the new race has the 

 merit of being the last product of the world's evolution. 



As late as 1844 Mr. Lyell, the great geologist, estimated 

 the rate of progress of the American people to the west 

 at seventeen miles a year. But the telegraph and the 

 railway came in due time, and the American race was 

 especially adapted to the era of steam and electricity. 

 The American people, made from them all, has sprung 

 suddenly into the first rank among the races of the world. 



I am no pessimist, and I will not preach the gospel of 

 despair at an old settlers' meeting; even if I were in the 

 very slough of despond, I would not talk it here, for I do 

 not wish these old men to die regretting that they helped 

 to found Iowa. 



Planted, as the original colonies were, upon the coast, 

 new material steadily crossed the sea, and the result was 

 a new type among the people of the world. In building 

 up the West, the strongest young lives in the East turned 

 their faces to the setting sun. Thus it is that the truest 

 American type is found in the boundless West. 



The greatest event in its results, occurring in the year 

 1803, was the purchase of Louisiana, by Monroe, acting 

 for the administration of Mr. Jefferson. Monroe built 

 better than he knew. He was sent to buy New Orleans, 

 and bought the whole Louisiana Purchase instead, includ- 

 ing the great state of Iowa, which was but a small part of 

 Mr. Monroe's acquisition. His memory was commem- 

 orated in your own county at one time, by the location of 

 the state capital at Monroe, and it was at Monroe, I am 

 told, that the first cabin was built in Jasper county. It 



