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6 ;• M % .A; m . ■ / M' % < t mm ' i . ] 9 m - At this time, when we gather again to glorify Georgia’s matchless resources, through the talent and enterprising spirit of her own people, let us pledge ourselves anew to that loyalty to State and co-operation along practical lines which such a significant event as the Peach Blossom Festival should inspire. Georgia is great in resources. It is our solemn obligation as citizens to merit this greatness by greater achievements in the de¬ velopment of Nature’s wonderful gifts and in sound economic advancement. As we congratulate Fort Valley let us catch the broad vision of the New Day of Opportunity which challenges our honest intelligence and utmost energy. CLIFFORD WALKER Governor. THE LEADER-TRIBUNE A WELCOME To The Fourth Annual Peach Blossom Festival The Peach Blossom Festival held an¬ nually in Fort Valley is not a mere neighborhood jollification — it is not simply a holiday. IT IS A GLAD GLORIFICATION Of a great industry, and in the minds of those conceiving it, it symbolizes years of toil and effort, of failure and success, of triumph over nature and with nature. IT IS A FESTIVAL A joyous expression of a people's faith, a just expression of a people’s pride, a generous expression of a people’s grati¬ tude. IT IS A FRIENDLY THING Born of selfless hospitality, shorn of commercial taint, shot through with warm-hearted humanness. IT IS A DISTINCTIVE THING Nowhere else in all the world is any fete so much a part of a people’s life or so typical of their hopes and fears, of their plans and purposes, of their ambi¬ tions and expectations. IT IS A PRIMITIVE THING An attempt to express man’s kinship with nature—his oneness with flower and fruit, with sun and tain, with all that lives and grows by natural law— an instinctive feeling that bade the Per¬ sian hold the sun sacred, and the Druid to revere the oak, and the Saxon in his great hall to celebrate the passing of the Winter solstice. IT IS A WORSHIPFUL THING A looking beyond nature to nature’s God. Every blossom kissed into life by the vernal sun is a token of the resur¬ rection, is a prophecy in pink of God’s good intent—and the festival is a glad recognition of the source of every good and perfect gift. FOR HIM WHOSE EYES ARE HOLDEN OR WHOSE SOUL IS DEAD For whom the feast is just food,—the pageant only colorful raiment, and the blanket of bloom but a splash of pink— it were better for that man that he had not come. BUT ALL ARE WELCOME WHO CAN PARTAKE OF THE SPIRIT Of the festival, all who can see poetry in pantomime, who believe in the holi¬ ness of beauty, who' love children and laughter, and flowers and friends—to all such the gates swing wide and hearts are open. —RALPH NEWTON. f * % ■ • x * Q S2r This opportunity to greet the citizens of Fort Valley and her visitors, upon the occasion of the Fourth Annual Peach Blossom Festival, is one of pleasure and pride as we look upon the very promising ex¬ A pansion in our agricultural life. There can be no praise too warm for a community that lifts the standard of more suc¬ cessful farming through di¬ versified products, and these Georgia products must grow in abundance with such a pro¬ gressive spirit as is indicated in the Peach Blossom Festival, an occasion on which we join in happy greetings. WALTER F. GEORGE, United States Senator. •<25C>