202 NATIONAL GROWTH AND NATIONAL CHARACTER 



tury its contributions to material prosperity and national char- 

 acter were limited ; but within five years the problems presented 

 by its frigid valleys and fruitful fishing-grounds have come into 

 prominence, while its gold has become a bait for settlers, as did 

 that of California a half-century past. Within a year Hawaii 

 has come to us, like Texas, of her own volition ; Puerto Rico has 

 come through fortune of war for humanity's sake; Cuba and 

 the Philippines have been liberated in such manner as to de- 

 mand policing yet to promise early entry into the sphere of en- 

 lightenment. The ultimate effect of this series of additions to 

 the nation — past, present, and prospective — may not be foretold 

 fully, though it may be prevised in terms of past history : The 

 trans- Appalachian acquisition by Washington and his compa- 

 triots united the colonies in a nation, opened an era of educa- 

 tion and invention, and raised a race of pioneers; the acquisition 

 of Louisiana and Oregon by Jefferson and the people brought an 

 era of canal-building and steamboating, revolutionized agricul- 

 ture, and diffused intelligence beyond previous imagining; the 

 admission of Texas ushered history's most heroic struggle for 

 liberty, lifted industries connected with horses and kine to a new 

 plane, and introduced a type of manhood required for further 

 conquest; the Mexican accessions brought wealth and national 

 power, made America the foremost railwa}^ and telegraph nation* 

 enlarged intelligence, strengthened character, and produced the 

 world's highest type of humanity. In the light of these preg- 

 nant facts, it seems safe to presage important physical and in- 

 dustrial and moral advances through the influence of the later 

 acquisitions ; and if Cuba and Puerto Rico, Alaska and Hawaii, 

 and Luzon and her neighbors do not make America the fore- 

 most naval and shipping nation of the earth within a quarter- 

 century, then experience stands for naught, history is a delusion, 

 civilization a failure, and enlightenment a farce. 



In reviewing the territorial growth of the nation, it is needful 

 to remember that the forces and conditions which led first to the 

 predominance of Britain and then to the independence of the 

 American colonies are still in effect. The blood-blending and 

 culture-commingling have continued increasingly until the 

 American has come to represent the world's most complex ethnic 

 strain, and his culture to comprehend that of all other ages and 

 lands in addition to his own rich product. The selection of the 

 strong by pioneering has been repeated over and over again, and 



