Such has been the remarkable growth of the western states in population and wealth within the last seventy-five years, that many a worthy citizen of Maine has regarded it as a misfortune that our fathers did not emigrate to the West instead of to Maine. At the date of the earliest settlements of this section of Maine, very little was known of the "great west." Ohio, the nearest western state, was then an almost unbroken wilderness, at a great distance away. The difficulties and hardships involved in emigrating to Ohio were an effectual bar to emigration to that state, where, in after years, so many residents of Maine emigrated to their sorrow. Sensible people of the next generation had but little reason to regret that they had been born in Maine. If the question of choice had related to the relative capacity of contributing to the food supply of the world, Maine could have been a factor in that case. If, on the other hand, the question had related to the type of men and women, who could boast of Maine nativity, its citizens would not shun the comparison. The best types of men and women are not found in the most productive section.

"In marches of a mighty age.
Our place is on the van."
-Mrs. Mace

The pure breezes from the hilltops, mountains and sea contribute to the physical, mental and moral fibre of her citizens. The late Honorable James G. Blaine, who for breadth of statesmanship and grasp of detail, had had no equal in the United States, was an adopted son of Maine, where he lived through the whole of his political life. The Honorable Thomas B. Reed, formally Speaker of the National House of Representatives, a position of importance next to that of President of the United States, was a native of Maine. William P. Frye, President pro tem of the Senate of the United States, who, with his colleague, Honorable Eugene Hale, hold the chairmanship of some of the most important committees of that august body, are native to Maine. Honorable Nelson Dingley, the able leader of the national House of Representatives, was a native of Maine. The late Honorable Charles A. Boutelle, the Representative from the fourth representative district of Maine, held the chairmanship of the Naval Committee. The late Honorable Melville W. Fuller, also a native of Maine, received the appointment as Chief Justice of the United Sates Supreme Court. The Honorable Bartlett Tripp, minister to Austria under President Cleveland, was born in Maine. The late Honorable Alfred E. Buck, at one time minister to Japan, was a Maine man.

The distinction of serving as governor of Massachusetts, has been accorded to several Maine men. Daniel Webster has been credited with saying that, "New Hampshire is a good state to emigrate from." It may truthfully be said that Maine is a good state to be born and reared in.

Maine is comparatively free from many physical evils that affect the West--evils that result from adverse atmospheric conditions. Among these are flood, which sometimes submerge large areas of territory, phenomenal storms of wind, hurricane, and blizzards, also cyclones that sweep through tiers of states, destroying crops, houses and sometimes whole villages and attended by great loss of life. The population of the West is largely more heterogeneous than that of Maine.