Iowa in the Lead

 

IOWA IN THE LEAD

Hawkeye State Breaks All Records for Exposition Celebrations.

ALMOST EQUALS CROWD OF THE FOURTH

Citizens of Nebraska's Older Neighbor Do Themselves Full Justice.

DEMONSTRATION WORTHY OF THE STATE

Grand Commonwealth Gives Evidence of Its Material Greatness.

THOUSANDS JOIN IN THE EXERCISES

Great Parade Witnessed by a Huge Concourse and Speeches Listened To by All the Auditorium Would Accommodate.

Total Admissions Yesterady [sic.] 39,094

Total to Date ........ 1,477,457

To the Hawkeye state, assisted by The Bee's special excursions, belong the honor of haying the biggest state day of any commonweath that has yet made its obeisance on the exposition grounds. Its celebration was attended by the second largest crowd of the season and every feature was carried out with an enthusiasm that inspired the most hearty admiration. The attendance exceeded the record for the opening day by several thousands and the high water mark of July 4 was very nearly reached. Iowa day was a tremendous success in every de-tail and it will remain one of the red let-ter days of the exposition. The exercises of the day were heard by she biggest audience that has ever assembled in the Auditorium and the program was in every respect commensurate with the importance of the occasion. The parade was a real feature and not such a perfunctory affair as sometimes accompanies similar demonstrations and the minor incidentals of the celebration were of sufficient merit to interest every visitor.

But, after all, the crowd was the distinctive and striking feature of the clay. From the west heavily loaded trains brought thousands of people who joined the popular excursion organize' by The Bee. From the east the Hawk-eyes came in crowds that. swamped the railroads and threatened to depopulate the state. And when the two big crowds merged into one inside the exposition gates they filled up the big enclosure at a rate that almost equaled the tremendous congregation of the Fourth of Jury. The railroads were simply unable to haul the people who wanted to come to Omaha yesterday and every train that pulled across the bridge was loaded to the doors. The crush was almost as great on the street car lines. Early yesterday morning the street railway company turned out every piece of rolling stock in its barns. The loop service on the twenty-fourth street and Sherman avenue lines was multiplied until the trains were frequently running less than 200 feet apart and even at that every car carried all the people that could hang on the foot-boards. All three of the lines leading to, the grounds were run to their full capacity and the rush continued well into the afternoon.

Jam at the Gates.

At the grounds the crowd was in evidence from the minute the gates were opened. Several hundred people were waiting at the main entrances when the gatemen unlocked their turnstiles and from then until late in the afternoon the stiles scarcely ceased turning. There was a continual crush in front of the ticket windows, but the crowd was admirably handled and no one experienced any avoidable delay. Before 9 o'clock the rush was on in full force and for four hours there was no let up. Even the Sherman avenue gate south of the Horticultural building was literally besieged by visitors who headed for the Iowa building before beginning their inspection of the grounds. The state building was flooded with Hawkeyes all day and after 8 o'clock it was almost impossible to move through the apartments. The Iowa commissioners were overwhelmed, but jubilant, and they congratulated each other on the prospect that the attendance record might be broken.

The arrival of the parade soon after 2 o'clock added a very considerable contingent to the crowd and then the arrivals were less numerous until toward evening, when there was quite a liberal local' patronage. During the evening when the crowd came out of the buildings to enjoy the illuminations and the attractions of the Midway the avenues were almost solidly jammed with promenaders. The Plaza concert and the fireworks entertained immense audiences and the Midway attractions played to houses that were packed to the walls.

None of the exposition officials have been able to obtain definite information in regard to the prospective attendance of Mod-ern Woodmen today. The local committee of the order has expended a good deal of energy and printers' ink In organizing the demonstration and its members are confident that there will be not less than 5,000 Woodmen on the grounds. As the bulk of the Iowa visitors and nearly all those who were brought in by The Bee excursion will remain over it seems that this will be another record-breaking day.

EXERCISES AT THE AUDITORIUM.

Great Audience Hears Good Music and Excellent Speeches.

The official celebration in the Auditorium yesterday afternoon filled the big building as it has never been filled before. Every seat was taken long before the hour for the exercises to begin and still there was no interruption of the demands for ad-mission. The people filled the lobby and stood in the aisles by hundreds. From the stage to the pinnacle of the gallery there was scarcely enough space left to accommodate a 10-year-old child and if the building had been half an big again it would have been filled as completely. The pro-gram was commensurate with such an assemblage. There was not too much oratory and what there was was worth hearing. The speeches were interlarded with musical selections of more than ordinary merit and the entire proceeding was vitalized by the enthusiasm of the day.

The official party arrived very nearly on time and was greeted with vigorous applause. Vice President Allan Dawson of the Iowa commission called the crowd to order and introduced the Ladies' band of Eldora, which rendered an overture in a fairly capable manner. An impressive in-vocation by Rev. A. S. Barnes of Council Bluffs was followed by a vocal solo by Miss Nellie Mae Brewster, who sang a very trying selection with excellent taste. She displayed a soprano voice of exceptional range and purity, which was heard to bet-ter advantage in the ballad with which she rewarded a well merited encore.

Governor Shaw was then introduced and the audience welcomed him with a generous demonstration. His address was brief but pertinent, and it was heard with close attention. He said:

Ladies and Gentlemen, Citizens and Friends of Iowa: "Not many generations ago, in the place where you now sit, encircled by all that exalts and embellishes civilized life, the rank thistle nodded in the breeze, and the wild fox dug his hole unseared.il So said Charles Sprague, three-quarters of a century ago, and the utterance is as true when applied to the land of the Omahas as to the land of the Wanipanongs.

We meet this day as citizens of Iowa, on the soil of a sister state, for no idle purpose. The people of Iowa are not idlers, but the day will have been lost to us and to our children unless what is here said, and done, and witnessed, and enjoyed shall bring greater thoughtfulness and increased earnestness. The half century and two years since the admission of Iowa added the twenty-ninth star to the flag which has now become the protector of the world, have wrought great changes. Most of the improvements of earth, most of the progress in the arts and sciences, most of the advance in civilization, have been wrought within the period of our state history. Time would not permit, if the inclination were present, to account the achievements in the political, industrial, financial, agricultural, mechanical, scientific. educational, religious. or moral world. Suffice it to say that in all of these Iowa has rendered her full share of service and has reaped her full measure of blessing. We can well afford to leave to others the study of the past. Let it be ours manfully to face the future, now more than ever big with possibilities and with careful glance ahead improve the present.

Boast of Iowa's Homes.

In all the grand exhibit of this remark-able exposition there is not found that for which our state Las greatest reason to rejoice. The product of the farm, of the orchard, of the garden, of the herd, of the dairy, of the factory, of the mine are here I in great quantity and of superb quality. Truly Iowa is great in territory, great in resources, great in product, but she is greatest of all in her children. There is presented to my eye from this platform that which is infinitely more valuable than all herds and all harvests. I see scattered through this audience many of the youth of Iowa. They are from the city, from the town, from the hamlet and from the Iowa farm. They are representatives of an aggregate of 700,000 of school age, and of an equal number who have just passed from educational tuition to face the activities, the anxieties and the achievements of manhood and womanhood. These all belong to a generation which will surely be heard from. Their fathers and mothers have been industrious, have been ambitious. have been hopeful and have been successful. A generation thus circumstanced is always potential. Dr. Strong tells of a township in the Western Reserve which was settled with an energetic, liberty loving, God-fearing, educationally inclined people, and which in a limited period furnished many members of the state legislature and the state senate, and from the little village of only a few hundred inhabitants men went forth to college professorships east and west, to the supreme bench of the state and to the United States congress. The same author says: "Northampton, Mass., has among its native and resident population over 400 graduates from colleges and other educational institutions: it has furnished the world with 114 ministers, eighty-four ministers' wives, ten missionaries, twenty-five judges, 102 law-yeas, ninety-five physicians, seven college presidents, thirty professors, sixty-four other educators, twenty-four editors, six historians, twenty-four authors, two go errors and thirty other state officers, twenty-five members of the state general assembly, two generals, six colonels, thirteen other army officers, thirty-eight officers of the United States, among them a secretary of the navy, two foreign ministers, a treasurer of the United States, five senators of the United States, eight members of congress and one president." If a territory six miles square, under favorable conditions, can make such a record, what may we not hope-fully expect from a territory containing 55,000 square miles, all of it settled similarly peopled, and with conditions more favorable than Massachsetts ever enjoyed or Ohio ever possessed?

"Know thyself," said the Greek philosopher. "Know thine opportunity" has become a companion and equally important maxim. When you go home tonight, tell the children tin-at the world is big and constantly expanding; that this day's experience has broadened your vision; that life has become 1 more real and hope more ardent, and that both you and the world, and especially the state, expects something of them. Wake the , bow in the night, break in upon his dreams with stories of hopeful possibilities; watch the fire kindle in his eye, then lei him dream again of greater things, of broader expanses, of higher altitudes, of nobler achievements. Neglect neither seed-time nor harvest; watch the growing and maturing crops; watch and; protect both flocks and herds; zealously guard the interests of the shop and the store and the office; but, above all, look well to the youth of Iowa, and to all things that shall conserve the generation whose foot-steps crowd the threshold of the world's activities.

President Wattles' Welcome.

The conclusion of Governor Shaw's address was enthusiastically applauded and then the audience listened with marked appreciation to a violin solo by Miss Lucile Frauchere, who played a "Legende," by Wieniawski and a polonaise by Miska Hauser. Her performance displayed considerable artistic sentiment and a technique that is entirely creidtable [sic.] to so young an artist.

In the welcome be extended on behalf of the exposition management President Wattles declared that Iowa is the finest agricultural state in the union. It has a smaller percentage of untillable land than any other territory in the world. It has a smaller percentage of illiteracy and fewer criminals. This condition he charged to the fact that. farming was the principal vocation of the state's people. Agriculture breeds virtue and contentment and this influence is apparent in the Hawk-eye state. There are no large cities to draw the people into faster living and to inspire them with the greed for gain.

Continuing the speaker dwelt on the hardships and difficulties that were encountered in the pioneer life of the state. Their struggles with these conditions left the people inured to hardship and able to fully appreciate the luxuries and conveniences that came with civilization. How gladly the settlers who sauled their wheat 200 miles to market and then sold it for 40 cents a bushel welcomed the scream of the engine and the approach of the railroads. It is no wonder, he declared, that the people of such a state should be intelligent, prosperous and happy.

Referring to the exposition, President Wattles congratulated the visitors on the fact that their state had been the first in line to support the enterprise. The result is the crowning glory of the west. It marks an epoch in its history and reveals a vision of its future that eclipses the phenomenal achievements of its past. In conclusion he assured the visitors that they are equal partners in the enterprise and cordially urged them to make themselves at home in the magnificent White City that they had helped to build.

Cousins' Eloquent Speech.

The solo "Star Spangled Banner," by Mary Teresa Louthan of Toledo, was a very enjoyable interlude in the oratorical pro-gram and this was followed by the oration of the day by Hon. Robert G. Cousins, congressman from the Fifth Iowa district. Congressman Cousins was given an enthusiastic reception and his eloquent address was liberally punctuated with similar demonstrations. He said in part:

I have asked five of the ablest and most noted Americans what they regard as the chief thing or leading feature of the trans- (continued on Third Page.)   mississippi region and they have invariably answered: "Its men and women." The ether day I met one of (he oldest settlers of eastern Iowa—one of those original, rugged characters, whose wit and wisdom has lightened the settlers' hearts and homes for many a toilsome year—one of those interesting characters who never bores you and whom one always likes to meet—a man whose head is silvered and whose countenance is kind—and I asked him what be regarded as the principal feature of our transmississippi country, and ho scratched his head a moment and replied: "Well, I'm no scholar, but I've been round here nigh onto sixty years, and I reckon 'bout the most important things is the folks and the farms."

The men and women who settled the Hawkeye state were not those who expected to go back "in the fall," or as soon as they could prove up on their claims. They were stayers. They were not men to be discouraged by winter or by work. They were men who knew that nobody ever amounted to much in this world unless he had to. Most of them began simply with the capital of honesty, good health and their inherent qualities of character. They built their cabins in the clearings and watching the smoke curl up in the great, wide sky, felt just as patriotic for their humble rustic homes as e'er did princes for their castles or millionaires for mansions grand.

Civil government proceeded in Iowa with its rapid settlement. The pioneer became a model citizen. He knew the necessity for the laws that were enacted. He did not feel oppressed by government. He had experienced the losses of robbery and larceny and knew something of the embarrassment and inconvenience of being scalped. There was no hysteria about trusts and combines be-cause they had practiced combinations themselves for mutual protection. If any one would learn the true genius and examplification and philosophy of self-government, government of and for and by the people, let him study the records of pioneer life, the institutional beginnings and the evolution of their laws. It would be worth our while on some suitable oscasion when time permitted to talk over the interesting incidents of its territorial legislatures, the birth and growth of its statehood and the character of its officials. But the greatness of our state is not contained in any name. Its official history t is the exponent of its industrial life and character. Its greatness is the sum total of its citizenship. In order to he just, John Jones, the average citizen, must be mentioned along with our most illustrious officials. Somebody said that "the history of a nation is the history of its great men," but there is an unwritten history which that averment overlooks. The growth of a state is the progress of its average citizen. The credit of a commonwealth is the thrift of its John Jones and William Smith, and the character, prosperity and patriotism of the individual citizen is the history of Iowa.

What Iowa Has Now.

Industry and nature have made the state of Iowa a creditor. Her soil has always been solvent and her system of farming does not tend to pauperize it. She is a constant seller and therefore wants the evidence of the transaction to be unimpeachable. She has more school teachers than any other state, except the Empire state, and only. 3.6 per cent of her population are illiterates. The state of Iowa has yielded the grandest dividends on her educational investments., She has become illustrious on account of her enlightenment. She has progressed further from "primitive Indifferent tissue" than the land even of Darwin himself. and in her escape from protoplasm and prejudice she is practically out of danger. Marked out in the beginning by the hand of God, bounded on the east and west by the two great rivers of the continent, purified and stimulated by the snows of winter, blessed with copious rainfall in the growing season, with generous soil and stately forests interspersed, no wonder that the dusky aborigines exclaimed when they crossed the Father of Waters. "Iowa, Iowa, beautiful land, beautiful land." And now, my fellow citizens, a word about our great transmississippi region, the empire of the pioneers and of our country and its future.

We have on this side of the Mississippi river an area of 2,143,155 square miles of land, two and a quarter times the area east of the Mississippi. You could put England, Ireland, Scotland, the German empire, Austria-Hungary, Italy, Spain and all of the United States east of the Mississippi into this transmississippi territory without touching California or Hawaii. and Admiral Dewey would still have the Pacific ocean and Manila with rope enough to lasso and hang the last enemy of the United States and civilization (and there would still be left for sale a few choice lots in Omaha and Kansas City.)

Being a perpetual creditor, on account of its vast productions, the western region and all its states have a common interest in the largest possible employment of people in other avocations than producing food, be-cause employment not only creates appetite, but likewise the financial ability to satisfy it. The western region and its many statess [sic.] also have a common interest in honesty. Having given their labor for a large increase in wealth per capita—the largest of any section of the country—they are naturally interested in maintaining it. No one has a greater interest in the vested value than he who has exchanged his labor and his products fot it or who has a constant surplus to be sold and registered as accumulated wealth. You labor today and accummulate thereby. You may 'sent to rest tomorrow. 'sour accumulation should be secure. You have been selling all these years. You may wish to buy or build to-morrow. The credit registered by your toil, frugality and prudence should be forever sacred. The west should look to the future and think not only of its gains in one decade, but of the balance that will be to its credit in a hundred years from now. Do not forget that the world must eat and that mankind is multiplying by the millions and that the Creator is not making any more land on this planet. Hold fast to the heritage which God and the pioneers have left you and to the standard of integrity and value by which it was earned.

Let the future buy from you according to that same standard by which you have bought and by which your toil is measured in the present.

Beyond Human Ken.

No one can foretell a limit of the possibilities of this great, producing, half-developed region for the future, with the United States forging to the front in the commerce of the world, claiming its coaling stations along the lines of trade in the uttermost parts of the earth and realizing more than ever before that it is a joint proprietor with the older nations of the earth in the great high seas. Doubtless some people are over-reckless for expansion and some are so conservative that their intellectual estates seem almost in probate. Commerce will not [unclear] mountains, lays its cables underneath the billows of the sea and scorns the fury of its crests. Commerce is a greedy, moiling, tireless spider, catching all the world in a web of iron. and it will weave its wires wherever 'there is life. It has found the Orient and the Occident and it will never rest until it ties its cables to the poles.

America will build a greater navy and will build the Nicaragua canal and her merchant ships will take her commerce into all the harbors of the world and our battleships shall protect our commerce in its legitimate and rightful course. The American flag shall be visible and revered away from home as it is loved and venerated here, and under it a free people shall thrive and multiply in peace.

What shall be the events of the coming century? Probably with whatever degree of certainty we are able to comprehend the past and to understand the present, with that degree can we foretell the future. Yesterday and today are the premises of a syllogism whose conclusion is tomorrow. I believe there is a good reason for every-thing that happens to be in the universe. The indications are that the greet events of the near future shall be in line of commerce, as I have already indicated; of jurisprudence, of social economy, of science and of art. The tendency of the times is to get rid of lone established humbugs as soon as their copyrights expire. So long as toil shall bend the back of man his brain shall question science for its mysteries, and so long as mastery remains to form the boundary line of knowledge the scientists will strive and strive and climb and climb end reach beyond those hounds. They will make the electric current turn the wheels of all the world.

Emerson declared a little while before his depth: "We think our civilization near its meridian, but we are yet only at the cock crowing end the morning star." The future will verify Emerson. The greatest alliance ever protected in history will be the alliance of American efforts and American interests. Into the opening gateway of the twentieth century, hand in hand, shall stride our king of commerce and the queen of industry, the Sphinx-eyed scientist and his bride of art, the sturdy son of agriculture end the dreaming child of song, and their thought and tell and song shall glorify the Anglo-Saxon race and make our country great—essentially, exquisitely, magnificently great.

The exercises closed with a selection by the Iowa Agricultural College Cadet's band.

PARADE OF THE IOWA COHORTS.

Street Demonstration Not the Least Feature of the Celebration.

While the great proportion of the Iowa visitors came to the grounds during the forenoon enough remained to constitute a very respectable parade to escort the official party. The presence of the cadets from the Iowa Agricultural college Imparted a military tincture to the pageant and there were half a dozen bands to furnish 'the inspiration for the long march from the hotel to the grounds. The parade left the Murray hotel at 12.30 o'clock in charge of Commandant Knapp of the cadets. The Council Bluffs contingent, consisting of Governor Shaw and staff, Adjutant General Byers and staff, Mayor Jennings and prominent citizens in carriages, left the city across the river at noon.

The parade was headed by the Ames Agricultural college band, followed by the First and Second battalions of college cadets. Governor Shaw and his staff and Adjutant General Byers and staff mounted were preceded by the Logan band. Following the citizens of Council Bluffs in carriages came prominent citizens from all over the state. There were twenty carriages in all. In the first rode President Wattles of the exposition, Hon. R. G. Cousins, the orator of the day; General Barry, and C. G. McCarthy, Iowa state auditor. Among other prominent Iowans in carriages were the following: Judge and Mrs. Deemer of Red Oak, V. P. Dawson, Hon. Lafe Young, S. C. McFarland, John H. Wallbank, Judge Robinson, J. E. E. Markley, R. S. Bandy, A. B. Cummings, J. Y. Stone, F. N. Chase, G. M. Parker, Hon. L. M. Jaeger, J. E. Rowen, Thomas Arthur, George McCoid, Owen Lovejoy, Robert Moore and A. D. Huston.

The procession was received at the Sherman avenue entrance by General Manager 1 Clarkson and a squad of exposition guards and it passed on to the Plaza by way of the Iowa building where it was greeted with cheers by the enthusiastic Hawkeyes who packed the broad verandas. At this point the Eldora Ladies' band 'fell into line and their pretty uniforms added a femininely picturesque element to the spectacle. The parade passed up the East Midway and over the north vialuct and thence through the West Midway and the main court to the Auditorium. This was already so densely packed that only a small proportion of the marchers could secure admittance and the 'others made the best of it and started out to see the show.

Reception by Governor Shaw.

After the exercises in the Auditorium yesterday the crowd was informally received by Governor Shaw and the other state officials at the Iowa building. The reception was a sort of go-as-you-please in view of the tremendous crowd that filled the building, and hundreds of visitors improved the opportunity to meet the Iowa officials.

At 4:30 o'clock the two battalions of the t Iowa Agricultural College Cadets, commanded by Captain Herman Knapp, put up a very pretty exhibition drill on the Plaza. The drill was somewhat abbreviated, as the cadets had already done a good deal of marching during the day, but it was a very meritorious exhibition. There were upwards of 200 cadets in line and they showed a precision of movement that was highly creditable to their instructor. The drill was witnessed by a good crowd and heartily ap- plauded.

Closing for Iowa Day.

The Iowa day program was rounded off with a magnificent display of fireworks on the North tract. All of the 5,000 reserved seats were occupied and fully as many more people watched the bombs and rockets from the outside of the ropes. There were the usual number of rockets and shells, but the set pieces were prepared especially for the occasion. There was a fine portrait of Governor Shaw, shown in colors, and in addition there were the huge stars and the walking elephant. The "Welcome, Iowa," elicited a round of generous applause, while the naval fight between the two American boats and the Spanish war ship was cheered and cheered.