rican people is their Puritan ancestry.
The word Puritan is here used to apply not only to the New England
Pilgrims, but to all our early forefathers, whose traditions and
practices have served to set this country apart from the other
countries of the world. Because of the traditions which have been
handed down to us, we are healthier-bodied and cleaner-minded men and
women. We are more efficient, not merely in making money, but in
everything that goes to make a full and well-rounded life.

It is well to realize the resources of other nations. The agricultural
possibilities of France appear to the casual observer to compare
favorably with any equal area in the United States. One may see farm
land in Italy which has been cultivated for at least two thousand
years which is evidently as fertile as any of the limestone valleys of
the Atlantic States, the prairies of the Mississippi valley or the
Palouse district of the Northwest. Russia has enormous areas of
fertile soil. Careful observers report that in Manchuria there are
great stretches of country, which today possess natural opportunities
similar to those which the Mississippi valley offered one hundred
years ago. The recent stories of the deposits of coal and mineral
wealth in China are almost fabulous. Europe has rich mines, great
forests and unrivaled water-power.

Some years ago a native of Argentina and a native of the United States
were dining together. The Argentinian had served his government as
consul to Canada. He related that he had recently written an official
letter in which he had occasion to refer to the people of Canada and to
those of this country. He explained that in alluding to the former he
could say the Canadians, but the latter he could not call Americans,
since his people were also Americans. After due consideration he
referred to us as "the Yankees." "But," turning to his hearer, he said,
with great emphasis, "I do not look upon the people of the United
States as a nation, but as a new civilization." In other words, our
nation is not simply one of fertile farms, enormous mines, great
forests, unparalleled railroad systems, palatial stores, or wealthy
cities, but he saw that we are a people of different economic,
political, educational, social, moral and religious ideals.

There are in every rural neighborhood certain forces whose objects are
to increase the educational advantages, the social opportunities and
the moral aspirations of the peop