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VOLUME SIX
NUMBER EOUR
THE SOUTH OI TOMORROW:
The Nation's Chief Presides While Flags of Southern States Are Folded 'Beneath Stars and Stripes, and Senator Gordon
Tor the "Old” and Clarence J, Oto ens For the "Neto” Speak Amid a ‘Delirium of Cheers and Tears.
UST such a climax of patriotism
was never seen before on Ameri
can soil. And because the story of
that hour cannot be told without
description and description can
not be given without detail, we
give to our distant readers the fol
lowing glimpse of the great South-
J
I ern Congress which brought to
Atlanta last week what John Temple Graves
declared to be “the most notable gathering of
national celebrities ever seen on Southern
soil.”
The Constitution’s “story teller” gives
the following graphic picture:
“In the presence of the nation’s Chief
Executive, who was a conspicuous actor
in the stirring drama, the old men whose
eyes are fixed on the past and the young
men whose faces are turned to the future,
pledged themselves to hold in reverence
the memories of the old South and to be
worthy of the promise of the new. It was
a historic and intensely interesting occa
sion.
“President Taft presided and in the
audience were distinguished notables,
statesmen, empire-builders and captains of
industry, such an audience as has prob
ably never before gathered in the Phoenix
City of the South.
** Gordon for Old South.
“Colonel James Gordon, of Okolona,
Miss., colonel of a regiment in the civil
war and later a Senator of the United
States, spoke for the old South and its
memories. Clarence J. Owens, comman
der of the United Sons of Confederate
Veterans, spoke for the new South and
its duties and obligations.
“The old Confederate soldier, who had
once raised a regiment to fight for his
state and against the Union and had
made the Stars and Stripes the target for
his arms whenever and wherever he saw
it waving, told how he now loved and
reverenced that emblem of his reunited
country.
“The younger man who only knew of war’s
destruction and devastation from history and
tradition, spoke of the ideals of the men of the
new South and their indebtedness to the future.
It was a study in contrasts and a picture to
fascinate the student and delight the eye of
the painter.
“Around the hall were scattered the state
flags of sixteen Southern States. To the stir
ring tune of ‘Dixie’ these various standards
were advanced to the stage, one by one, ac-
ATLANTA, GA. MARCH 16, 1911.
companied by an honorary escort of each
state’s most distinguished citizens. The em
blems of South Carolina and Mississippi, Ala
bama and Florida and Georgia, in the order
of their secession from the Union, were
brought up on the stage and placed in position.
“Finally all were arranged, each beloved em
blem occupying its separate position as the
representative of a sovereign and independ
ent state of the American commonwealth. The
band had been playing ‘Dixie,’ when suddenly
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HON. CLARENCE JULIAN OWENS.
its tones were hushed and the strains of
‘America’ pealed forth. From high above the
stage the silken folds of the Stars and Stripes
floated down, completely covering the semi
circle of state emblems and overshadowing the
beauty of the smaller flags as the sun pales the
beauty of the moon.
Audience Cheers.
“The audience stood and cheered, and cheer
ed again, waving handkerchiefs and applaud
ing. It was an inspiring, a pulse-stirring mo
ment. Across the face of the big flag was a
blurred band. The covering was removed and
the emblem, ‘E Pluribus Unum,’ blazed out
in red, white and blue letters, while 5,000 peo
ple testified their appreciation of the signifi
cance of the poetic allusion.
“The work of the congress thus set forth
in a patriotic ceremony struck deeply into the
minds of those present.
“The lesson of the contrast between 1861
and 1911 was further emphasized by the re
marks of the two principal orators of the morn-
ing. Speaking for the South of yesterday
and today, Colonel Gordon said:
“ ‘We have the greatest country in the
world, blessed with more natural re
sources than any other nation. We have
the most perfect system of self-govern
ment in the world. Standing here as the
representative of the old South, I am the
rear guard of her grand army. Most of
my comrades have passed over the dark
river, where they rest under the shade of
the trees. I feel it a great privilege to
speak here to the American nation, and
especially to the sons and grandsons of
the two great armies who once contend
ed on ensanguined fields, and are now one
( people. We are now one nation of re
united States.’
“Speaking for the South of today, and
particularly the South of tomorrow,
Clarence J. Owens said:
“ ‘The hour has come when the South’s
new union must’ be perfected, when the
states with a common interest, agricul
turally, commercially and industrially,
must be bound together in a new com
pact for the interpretation of resources
and for the removal of every misconcep
tion concerning the South.’
The Re-United States.
“The first duty devolving upon Presi
dent Taft after he took the chair was the
introduction of ex-Senator James Gor
don, from Mississippi, which he did in a
few short but apt words, speaking in
highest terms of commendation of the
venerable Mississippian.
“Using ‘The Re-United States’ as his sub
ject, Mr. Gordon showed how the meeting of
the Southern Commercial Congress marks the
completion of not only a union more glorious
than that formed by the same states fifty years
ago, but a closer binding together of the entire
nation, without regard to section or political
differences, past or present.
“In part, he said:
“ ‘Sixty years ago I passed through Atlanta
(Continued on Page 5.)
$1.30 57 y£XX.
jive cents a cory.
A CLIMAX of
PA TRIOTISM