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<br /> <br />"_J · <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />their opinion any people under any political system, or any economic <br />system Would have made like progress. <br />It is undeniably true that as a people we have been singularly <br />blessed in the matter of rich sources of essential material elements. It <br />is equally true that in the process of development we have wasted and <br />continue to waste much of thlS natural wealth. <br />"ie have been more than fortunate in that our nation has escaped <br />the ravages of war more fully than most. <br />Uone of these factors, however, seem adequate as explanations" <br /> <br />If vre sincereJy seek for adequate causes vre will mest assuredly <br /> <br />discover one sucll cause to have been the selective process by.which the <br />United States become populated. One of our historians has said that we were <br />settled by "a hardy breed of kickers." They were in the main people who <br />possessed a deep hatred for the restraints exercised by a self-perpetuating <br />authori tarian group. ~'here burned in their hearts a fire kindled and <br />sustained by a love of freedom. Their decisions to come to our shores was <br />not that of dispossessed people nor was it based on orders from any source. <br />They came in search of Liberty in its very deepest sense. It is not <br />necessary to contend that we stem from the "best people" of Europe. It is <br />enough to say that we stem from people best qualified to build a new world. <br />They did possess the essential qualities which make it possible <br />for all to have opportunities for advancement. It has been a badge of <br />honor to be born in log. houses in timbered areas and in sod houses on the <br />plains. The calloused hand and the sunburned face have constituted <br />credentials of real significance. ,ie have been burdened with no unproductive <br />nobility and with a minimum of groups submerged in poverty. <br /> <br />2479 <br /> <br />3 <br /> <br />