Napoleon in San Domingo and his pressing need of funds to permit him to face the enemies of the French. 'Westward Ho!' was the cry of the Old World. From the time when the genius of Columbus accepted the theories of the earlier astronomers the imagination and cupidity of adventurous spirits had been excited by tales of 'far off Cathay.' One hundred years ago the protocol for this territory was signed; one hundred years of history has been written; a nation of three millions has expanded into an empire of eighty millions of souls. Our country has not only become a power among the nations of the world, but has taken an advanced position in the progress and work of civilization. A westward passage to India was sought by Columbus and was still the aim of La Salle in his adventurous voyage along the mighty Mississippi. To-day the American flag floats at the very gates of China, and almost in sight of its walls, placed there by American valor and by American arms in a struggle for human rights, and liberty. Trackless forests and undulating prairies have become the highways for the speeding engines bearing the burdens of traffic to the Orient. No longer are they the pasturage for the buffalo, but the source of food supply for the whole world. Treasures of untold value have been laid bare by the ingenuity of man, but far beyond this wealth are the products in grain and lowing kine which add their hundreds of millions to the resources of our country, extending even beyond the dreams or the imagination of those who sought only the precious metals with which to return with a competence to their native land.