Nappanee High School - Napanet Yearbook (Nappanee, IN)

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This Signific ance of tiii By BELLE ’ jjfT Is just one hundred and three years ago since Livingston. Monroe ami Marbots signed the treaty by which France ceded ILouisiana to the Flilted States. The actual signing took place on May 2, but the document was dated April .'to. This event In the history of the Fritted States which is worthy to rank with the Declaration of Independence and the formation of the Constitution was the resultant of three long continued forces in American History, the advance of pioneers toward the ffest, the struggle between France, Spain, Kngland and the 1’niled States for the possession of the Mississippi Valley and the rivalry of these powers over the Empire which Spain had established in the New World. Although other nations might temporarily get possession of the Mississippi River it would be easy to believe that in the long run the vast interior would be under the control of the American government. The vast American population alone insured this idea. At several times the Mississippi Valley narrowly escaped being the seat of conflict between the I’nited States and the powers of Europe. If such had been the case the F. S. would have been involved as an ally to one or anotner of these powers and European interests would have dominated the fortunes of the New World. At the beginning of the Fnion the West was more Interested in opening the Mississippi River than in the newly made federal government, and this fact would make it easier for an European power to gain possession of the River and hold it If they treated the settlers with liberality. At the close of tlie Revolution the Fulted States had established settlements along the Ohio and its tributaries between two great Indian confederacies which wen anxious to check the advance of the Fulled States. The great stream of settlers which poured into Kentucky, Tennessee, and Ohio in the closing year of the confederation found their industrial life blockaded by the Spanish closure of the Mississippi. Then in the face of many difficulties the I’nited States attempted to hold her own. At tlie close of the year 1792 France determined to enrich herself at the expense of the Spanish Empire In America and win hack her lost American provinces. Rut fortunately the Reign of Terror in their own country com. pel led them to look for their own safety. Had they regained their possessions, affairs might have taken place which would have changed the whole History of the Fnlted States. After various conflicts Napoleon appeared on the scene. On the last day of September he made a treaty with the Fnlted States and the next day Spain retroceded Louisiana to France. Napoleon gave Spain the promise nev- : liOl ISIANA PUU’HASK WILT cr to alienate tin- province. Peace was acquired with England by the treaty of 1801. Rumors of the transfer of Louisiana readied the I'nited States in the summer of 1 sol. President Jefferson, in the spring of 1802 wrote to Livingston, our minister to France that “the day France takes possession of New Orleans fixes the sentence which is to restrain her forever, within her low water mark. It seals the Fnion of two nations, who in conjunction can maintain exclusive possession of the ocean. From that moment we must marry our selves to the British tleet and nation.” The closure of the Mississippi River gave the the Federalists an opportunity to demand war with France and Spain. Jefferson made earnest efforts to check their military spirit, but in this way he could do nothing. So he sent Monroe to France. March 2,1803 to purchase New Orleans and the Floridas. and if necessary to grant France her territory beyond the Mississippi River. Jefferson, it seems, was willing to take merely the right of navigation rather than have this territory cause war. “Peace is our passion.” was his maxluin. While Jefferson was preparing to send Monroe to France Napoleon had informed his ministers that he had decided to relinquish the Louisiana territory. While Livingston was bargaining for a little strip of territory at the mouth of the River one of the ministers asked him what lie would give for all of loulsiana. A week passed in decision of t lie price to be paid. Few people then realized the importance of the vast wheat and corn lands, cattletiekls and mines which Napoleon was ready to give over to us. Even Livingston himself did not realize this fact, and this was the cause of the delay insetting the price on the territory. At last for a consideration of $15,000,000 Louisiana was secured to the United States. The effects of the Louisiana purchase upon America were profound. Politically it resulted in strengthening the loose interpretation of the Constitution. It laid the foundation for a readjustment of sectional power within the Union. The purchase not only worked a revolution in the constitutional doctrines of the strict constructionist but it also made certain a change in the conception of state-hood. Tile old idea of state-hood could no longer exist when the fruit of tlie Louisiana Purchase was made manifest. Tile area of the purchase furnished the issues which resulted in tlie Civil War. The Missouri Compromise, the Kansas Nebraska Act, and the Civil War in Kansas were the prelude to the Civil War. When the details of American History arc taken into consideration it is

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Hen.tamin Franklin By ANNA jijljHKTnER we approach him as a statesman, diplomat, scientist, pldloso-H plier, Inventor man of letters, or a great business man. Benjamin Franklin impresses us not merely by what he did but by what he was in himself. He was a man of great practical ability and singularly diversilled talents. He was venerable, kind-hearted and full of a humorous appreciation of the weaknesses of others. Even Washington is hardly so real and living to us as is this Philadelphia printer, although Washington and Lincoln will always be named before him because in certain achievements they stand altogether alone. Franklin though greatest in no one thing was great in many things, and his qualities were made valuable by his practical sense, lie was interested in nothing unless lie saw in it some use. and he found use in almost everything. His practical nature made him a typical American citizen. In his public career Franklin was a typical American patriot rightly placed beside Washington as one of the founders of the Republic. In his humble origin, in his oft-told story of his rise, through his own push and industry, from the tallow-chandler's boy to the man honored in two continents and successful in hundred varied enterprises, we see the great example of our national hero, the self made man. who worked his way through every social stratum. He was virtually unassisted in his efforts to advance himself. It is said to l e the highest merit of a democracy that it offers a free chance to all the men of ability in the community to turn their talents to good use. and Franklin showed us what a man could do for himself in a free country as ours. “No one,” writes a French critic, “began lower than the poor apprentice of Boston: no one raised himself higher, by his own energy than the inventor of the lightning rod: no one has rendered more splendid services to his country, than the diplomatist who signed the peace of 17h:{ and secured the independence of the United States. He was the fifteenth child of a poor tallow-chandler and soap-maker, and received all his public school education before his eleventh year, but in spite of his early struggles we see him in his later life the Idol of the French court, pleading for the struggling American colonies and gaining what lie sought a Typical. American NEWCOMER almost as much by his social tact and charm as by the power of his well trained mind. He did not lead men. he managed them. This was shown in the French court where he in his unadorned and solid manhood, moved as the representative, even to many of the I’arlslans. of a better order of things. It was the style in his life time for men of leisure to study and to play with electricity but Franklin notonly studied, but made practical use of his knowledge and gave us the lightning rod. devised systems of ventilation for buildings and suggested that white since it absorbs the least heat is the best color to wear in summer. As a man of letters his reputation rests on his journalistic work, essays and correspondence, and Ills autobiography, which has been called the corner stone of American literature. Poor Richard’s Almanac was one of Franklin's great business successes in which he printed year after year those familiar proverbs which he regarded as the best practical rules for the conduct of life. He founded the first literary club in America. He was the first to illustrate a newspaper and point out the advantages of Illustrated advertisements. He founded the Philadelphia Library, the “mother of all the American subscription libraries.” He was not in the finer sense a literary man hut his practical genius confined his literary style to clearness, simplicity and directness. Franklin's greatest work as a statesman and diplomat, was shown during the Revolution when his labors in France were proven to be remarkable. His virtues negotiated for him ami before the second year of his mission expired no one conceived It possible to refuse fleets and armies to the countrymen of Franklin. How did Franklin make himself so effective a man? How did lie succeed where others failed? The secret lies In his practical philosophy of life. Some of his most pithy sayings are: “Diligence is the mother of good luck. “He that can have patience can have what he will. Heaven helps those who help themselves. Ills maxims are worldy wise butare sound rules of conduct and lu employed them toserve not only himself, but his friends, Ids neighbors, and Ids country. ly

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possible to argue that the doctrines of the Louisiana Purchase were farther reaching in their effect upon the Constitution than the measures of Alexander Hamilton or the decisions of John Marshall. The international effects were even more significant than the political effects. It closed the struggle for the possession of the Mississippi River. The Monroe Doctrine would have been impossible had it not been for the Louisiana Purchase Having gained a foot hold west of the Mississippi River the United States has lieen marching steadily forward to the possession of the Pacific Ocean, and from this event dates the rise of the United States in to the position of a world power. It nearly doubled the area of the United States. It added territory equal to the combined areas of Great Britian. Germany, France, Spain. Portugal and Italy. Great numbers of immigrants have poured Into this country until its present population now numbers fifteen millions. Perhaps the most important of all its effects is the emphasis which the Louisiana Purchase gave to the conception of space in American Ideals. The immensity of the area has continually stirred the American imagination, tired their energy and determination, strengthened their ability to handle vast designs and made them measure achievements by the scale of the prairies and the Rocky Mountains. . vW TRAI3K UNIONS By EDWARD WILSON i|N one form or another combination has existed since the employed class v) and the employing class have been distinguishable from each other. These combinations were in the beginning strictly forbidden by law. Probably the first combination, which bears any likeness to the unions of to-day, was organized in the year 1543 in England: many of the laborers were working from fourteen to eighteen hours a day, and this combination was made to regulate the number of hours they should work and the amount of work they should do in the said hours. On becoming a member of this combination or union one had to swear that lie would do but a certain kind and a certain amount of work In a day: add to these features regulation of wages and tlie closed shop, and we have the trade union of to-day. In Kngland Parliament had passed acts through which it endeavored to prevent combinations among laborers and also among employers, but in 1824 these acts were rejiealed and others passed by which unions of laliorers and of employers could be formed on condition, that they would in no way interfere with those who did not in come members of the unions. One year later, in 1825, an act was passed which made legal all unions of laborers formed to settle the rates of wages and number of hours for work, but prohibited other methods being used to control the employers in the use of their capital. Since then legislation has gone farther and declared unions legal when acting in restraint of trade. Our modern trades union is a very complex organization. Some one has defined a trades union, as a combination of workmen, to enable each to secure the condition ino6t favorable to labor. The funds of a union are supposed to give the union an equal advantage with the capitalist and his money. The union of to day publishes a paper in which is stated the conditions of labor in different parts of the country, it keeps a register of men unemployed, and one of employers wanting men, it assists men from town to town in search of employment. It regulates the number of apprentices in the trade, it regulates the wages, it regulates the number of hours its memtiers shall work, it organizes strikes and boycotts, it maintains men in resistance to employers. The union insists that this is the only way In which lalwr can meet capital equally, they claim that where business is poor, wages are cut, and as it grows lietter the employer puts off as long as possible the restoration of former wages. In this way, they say, the workman is the first to feel the effects of poor business and the last to receive any benefits of ••better-times.” The attempt of any one man to better these conditions would meet with failure. for the employer can get along without the services of one man until his place can be filled by another, and one can easily see that when it comes to negotiating in matters pertaining to wages and other terms of labor, that the union is at once on an equality with the employer. The union points to many regulations which it has introduced in the interest of the laborer: they think that although they have lost in many strikes, they have in the long run gained the points contended for. They believe, also, that as the labor organizations become more perfect, the necessity of strikes will become less and that the just limits will lie more carefully comprehended, and that the sufferings and 21