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THE CARROLL FREE PRESS. CARROLLTON, GA.
Southern lienor and the 'Gcnkderaei(
Memorial Day Address, Carrollton, Ga., April 26th, 19M.
JESSE M. DODD.
Madam President, Daughters of culture into the world's centers of gradual emancipation for instance,
the Annie Wheeler Chapter, Veter
ans of Camp McDaniel-Curtis, Sons
and Daughters of our Patriotic Fath
ers and Mothers, School Children,
Ladies and Gentlemen:
I deem it a peculiar honor to be
permitted to speak some words ap
propriate to this memorial occasion;
and, first of all, for the benefit of the
younger generation, it will not seem
improper to tell again of the origin
of Memorial Day: the credit is due
primarily to a child, whose mother
was Mrs. Mary Williams, of Colum
bus, Georgia; it was her custom to
take the young daughter when she
went to decorate the grave of the
husband and father with flowers,
and one day the little girl asked if
she might place some flowers on the
graves of other soldiers; the heart of
the noble woman being touched and
impressed, she sent to one of the city
newspapers the suggestion that the
graves of the Confederate dead be
everywhere decorated. This fire of
grateful remberanee was soon kin
dled on the altar of every Southern
heart: and in course of time Memor
ial Day observance spread through
out the entire country, North as well
as South. Georgia adopted April
26th, as we observe to-day.
I wish at this hour to speak on
the subject: Southern Honor and
the Confederacy. We are the de
scendants of honorable ancestors,
men of the purest motives and of
political and religious principles of
the highest order. Weary of oppres
sion and deprivation, our fathers, in
quest of liberty, were willing to brave
the dangers of the iiiighty deep and
to risk possible starvation or mas
sacre at the hands of cruel natives.
James Edward Oglethorpe, the pa
triot who founded the colony of
Georgia, was a man of noblest type-
unselfish, philanthropic, and for his
fellow men having an affection that
is divine in its power and perman
ence. There came with him a
company of men all of whom were
honorable, but most of whom, under
the bad economic conditions in
England, had been unfortunate, and
were therefore ready to seize the
opportunity in the magnanimous of
fer of Oglethorpe. But before em
barking for the strange new land
across the sea, each man was requir
ed to accept the stipulation of his
benefactor, who was as wise as
benevolent. These were, first, that
the land granted each man should
be "cleared, planted, and a house
built by a certain time", else the
right of tenure would be forfeited;
secondly, that "one hundred white
mulberry trees should be planted on
every ten acres", as the industry of
the colony was to be silk-raising
from the cocoon that grew on these
trees; thirdly, strong drink and
slavery should be prohibited by the
colony; fourthly, every man would
be subject to military duty and must
be a soldier. But first in import
ance, every settler must be of good
moral character and bf industrious
habds. Later the persecutedSalzburg-
ers came and in secognition of the
goodness of Providence named the
town they founded Ebenezer; then
came the zealous Moravian, unafraid
of the storm on the sea or the savage
on the shore; likewise the sturdy
Scotch Highlander ready to fight
and to die for his convictions; also
the outraged Huguenots from whom
come one of the purest strains of
Southern blood; remember also those
heroes of the faith whose names are
household words in Georgia homes,
John and Charles Wesley and George
Whitefield.
Such, my hearers, were the qual
ities of the first citizens of our com
monwealth, and thus were laid the
foundations of the social, moral, and
industrial well-being of the people of
Georgia, the representative and the
Empire State of the South.
And this same high standard of
manhood our section and our State
have consistently and presistently
maintained— through the changes
and vicissitudes incident to the rise
of a commonwealth—down to the
present heroic hour. War is on the
program of every progressive nation.
Contact is indispensable. Aggres
sion is inevitable. The principles
around which the community life of
our people rallied, and by virtue of
which our integrity has stood un
sullied, of necessity brought us into
conflict with the mother country,
whose political and social ideals were
as widely diverse from those of our
liberty-loving forefathers as are the
shores of that ocean whose perils
could not terrify the progenitors of
the American people. The Hebrews
waged their holy wars; Cyrus became
conqueror in the land of Israel’s
captivity, that he might issue in
favor of that subject people a decree
emancipation; Alexander, through
influence; the Roman eagle proudly | which could have,become effective
rM^iipjuuwLcaBdedJGimaaij^mJ
soared over the nations of the earth
only that he might herald the com
ing of the Prince of Peace; likewise
Teuton and Saxon in their turn
mingled their blood with that of the
heroes of the past as an oblation up
on the alter of peace.
So then our sense of human pro
gress need feel no shock as we con
template the disaster of the war
between the States. The most
momentous question before this na
tion from the hour of its conscious
existence was that of growth; and
the question of slavery as a national
issue was at the first wholly subsid
iary to that of territorial expansion.
But later when the matter of the
formation of newly acquired lands
into States came to hand, the main
issue was, Shall these States be ad
mitted as slave or free? Twenty
slaves were sold by the Dutch to the
Jamestown colony in 1619, but the
traffic began at Marblehead, Massa
chusetts where the first American
slave vessel was"built and launched”,
and the disastrous business received
the encouragement and patronage of
the “most influential men of the
colony". The Trustees of the Georgia
colony as an economic measure pro
hibited slavery, and in the first Con
stitutional Convention, held at Phil
adelphia in 1787, to revise the
Articles of Confederation and to
regulate questions of commerce,
Virginia refused to endorse the pro
posed agreement as to slavery, be
cause of her stout opposition to the
traffic, It would seem at the out
set but few of the colonizers would
see any moral question involved in
slavery, and the opinion was wide
spread that it would finally cease to
exist. However, the rice and cotton
fields of the South made the labor
of the negro indispensable, while in
the North there was little demand
for him and a growing sentiment
against slavery.
The Articles of Confederation were
to give place to the Constitution
which the Philadelphia Convention
agreed upon in 1787, and into this
compact after four years of discus
sion eaeh of the colonies “as a free
and separate State” entered, with
the distinct understanding that the
right to manage its own affairs should
remain unmolested. The Federal
Constitution which was finally
evolved after four months of vigor
ous debate, and which was at last
ratified after twelve months of heat
ed controversy, could become effect
ive as thejsubstitute for the Articles
of Confederation only after its a-
doption by at least nine of the States;
and New York and Virginia explicit
ly stated in thdr ratification that
the powers they were thus delegating
to a general government could be
resumed whenever on account of
“injury or; oppression" it became
necessary to do so. Such, fellow
citizens, were the convictions and
such both North and South was the
interpretation of the Federal Consti
tution when the sovereign States gave
to it the seal of their ratification.
They did not|regard it as a document
wl.ijh could deprive them of their
inalienable rights, but as a guarantee
of mutual protection in the enjoy
ment of those rights. The right to
secede was not signed away or de
spised on either side of the Mason
and Dixon’s line. In 1812 when
commercial interests were at stake
and the second war on with the
mother country, New England
affirmed her right to secede in the
interest of local protection and pros
perity, provided the federal govern
ment did not effect conciliation with
England. The very first agitation of
the question of secession was in
Massachusetts, the home of Sumner
and Phillips and Garrison and Parker
-the ablest of the Abolitionists and
yet, by some wicked trick in geo
graphical lines, when the States of
the South affirm their resolution to
stand by the original terms of the
federal compact, to, these citizens
are branded as rebels and traitors.
Were our fathers against govern
ment? Were they in favor of Anar
chy. A more infamous libel could
never have been uttered against us.
Many wise men have contended that
our fight should have been made
under the Stars and Stripes, because
we were defending the elemental
principles of our governmental sys
tem. The Confederacy stood for the
fundamental idea of the federal
union—the soverein inalienable
right of the people to such a form
and to such an administeration of
government as shall protect the
privileges of each State andof every
individual. The moral aspect of the
slavery question is altogether sub
sidiary. If the principal of slavery
is wrong,\as I heartily believe, there
might hawsj been found for the prob-
without the shedding of a brother’s
blood. But our brethern of the
antislavery states were wrong in their
premises: first, that the Southern
white man is the enemy of the negro;
and secondly, that the Southern
fathers, in the federal Constitution,
which the South did not violate; no
remedy, patriots, by any honorable
means, in the coercion of arms; no
remedy to prevent men to exercise
those sacred rights which neither by
written nor by tacit agreement they
had ^ever signed ,away. William
Lloyd Garrison, the stalwart leader
of the Abolitionists, and that “silver-
tongued orator”, Wendell Phillips,
the spokesman par excellence of the
anti-slavery movement, vigorously
denounced as a crime the military
invasioi of the weaker by the
stronger States in the attempt at
coercion. Madam President, I have
States did not have the right to
withdraw from the federal union
when its fundamental law was
broken. I am in favor neither of
slavery nor of the disunion of the
States. I believe Almighty God pre
served the union notwithstanding
the outrages perpetrated upon and
purest and most patriotia people the
world ever saw. But the manner of
abolition, the attempt at coercion
when we knew we were right, that
kindled fire in the blood of every
Southern patriot.
Ladies and gentlemen, you may
call me narrow if you will, but I
have always had too much self-
respect to read “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”,
written by the sister of the famous
preacher—I blush to say it—who at
the raising of the flag over Fort
Sumter in April, 1885, stood and
uttered the following false statement:
“The war was set on by the ruling
class, the aristocratic conspirators of
the South. They suborned the com
mon people with lies' with sophistries,
with cruel deceits and slander, to
fight forthe secret objects which they
abhorred,and againstinterests as dear
to them as their own lives. I charge
the whole guilt of this war upon the
ambitious, plotting, political leaders
of the South." With all the earnest
ness of my being I repudiate these
declarations as untrue and unbecom
ing to the man who should stand as
the champion of truth and righteous
ness. Our leaders were not con
spirators, our people were not trait
ors. With holy vehemence I spurn
that lie which brands them as such.
Of course our people did not want
war; certainly mistakes were made
in the South, as all men are human;
but the necessity for a firm stand for
the prime principles of our federal
government arose out of the con
science of the liberty loving South-
earn patriot, as well as the man at
the plough as the one exercising the
legislative or the judicial functions
of his State. We are resolved that
the rising generations shall know
the truth concerning this conflict;
they shall know that we have an
honorable record, and that none of
the pages of our history are stained
with the chronicle of dishonorable
conduct, although historian, orator
and even poet seem to have vied
with each other to create a false
impression about us. That poem of
Whittier’s which attempts to mag
nify the courage of Barbara Freitchie,
while it represents the Confederate
commander as ordering his men to
fire upon a woman, is at once a
miserable misrepresentation of the
truth and a slanderous outrage upon
the name of one of the purest and
most exalted charactersin the annals
of the race—Stonewall Jackson.
But one might very properly ask,
"Was the South alone in its inter-
p etation of that compact which the
States had accepted under the name
of the Federal Constitution”? Al
ready we have seen that the idea of
secession was born in the cold lati
tude of New England, and not of the
impulsive Southern heart,,but hear
the following authorities. Daniel
Webster, who in 1830 concluded his
great speech in reply to liayne on
the question of Nullification with the
immortal words, “Liberty and Union,
one and inseparable, now and for
ever,” said of the right of the South
ern States to secede: “If the North
ern States refuse willfully and de
liberately to carry into effect that
part of the Constitution with respect
to the restoration of fugitive slaves,
and congress provide no remedy,
the South would no longer be bound
to odserve the compact. A bargain
cannot be broken on one side and
still bind on the other." Again, hear
Horace Greely, journalist, statesman,
and historian of the war, one of the
most eminent figures in American
history, and one “who ardently sup
ported the Union cause” in the strug
gle between the States: “If the cot
ton states shall decide that they can
do better out of the Union, we insist
on letting them go in peace. . The
right to secede may be a revolution
ary one, but it exists nevertheless.”
Turn now to the grave, dispassionate
judicial mind for an opinion, to the
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court
of the United States, Salmon P.Chase
who politically was an ardent abo
litionist: “If a State should withdraw
and resume her powers. I know of
quoted those authorities not in the
rankling spirit of sectionalism, but
in pursuance of one of the lofty aims
of the United Daughters of Confed
eracy, namely, to bring forth the
facts concerning the struggle be
tween the States.
It behooves us now to view South
ern honor from another standpoint,
to-wit, that ; of the condition of
slavery. I have already said that
our brethren across the line were
wrong in the assumption that the
slaves were being abused. Every
friend of the truth knows that the
Southern white man is the best
friend the negro has ever had, and
the black man were he not duped
by men who do not know his char-
that the slaves were furnished with
medicines and received careful treat
ment at the hands of their white
owners. These facts together with
the wholesome, religious environ
ments under which the negroes lived
prepare us to receive without too
much surprise the statement that
not a single instance is on record
of that unspeakable crime for which
a negro always must expiate with
his life’s blood.” Said Henry Grady,
‘Had ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’ portrayed
the habit rather than the exception
of slavery, the return of the Con
federate armies could not have stay
ed the horrors of arson and murder
which their departure would have
invited.”
And then, what shall I say of the
happy religious life of the negro?
How are the "Uncle Remns” stories
possible, how could the cotton field
stir the soul of the slave to song,
how did “the quarters” become a
veritable paradise of contentment
and joy, if the slave dragged his
weary life through the long hours
of the day under the hand of cruel
overseers? You will remember
that when in sad exile Israel’s cap-
tors required of her a song,she dole
fully answered, "How shall we sing
the Lord’s song in a strange land?”
The slaves had a place in the meet
inghouse of the whites, had member-
acter, would everywhere recognize ship in the church with them, and
ledy to prevent it.” If a State
(mark the word), as New
York and Virginia expressly reserv
ed th<
Court
right to do; the Supreme
»f the United States knows of
.Noremedy
this truth. The attempt to repre
sent Southern slave owners as brutal
and inhuman is as diabolical in
motive as false in fact. That noble
heiress of Georgia antecedents and
traditions, Miss Mildred Rutherford,
an eye-witness to slavery as it exist
ed in all sections of cu: Slate, and
who is one of the authorities on
Georgia history, told us recently that
the abuse of the slaves, whenever it
did occur, was not the crime of our
Southern manhood, but of the west
ern overseers employed, and that
whenever discovered they were per
emptorily dismissed. Also that
owners were prosecuted by due pro
cess of law for the mistreatment of
slaves. One of the pioneer builders
of our Southern commonwealth says:
"Humanity and kindness were the
rnle which marked the treatment of
the slaves in the South. As in all
things human, there were evils con
nected even with Southern slavery- -
but any real cruel treatment of the
negro was very rare. The writer’s
life has nearly all been spent in the
negro belts of Alabama, Mississippi,
Georgia, and South Carolina, and he
knew of but three cases where slave
owners were charged with habitual
cruel treatment of the slaves," and
"all of them stood branded with
public odium." Such is the uniform
testimony of reliable writers of the
ante-bellum period.
Turn for a moment to the domestic
and social conditions which mark
the days before emancipation. Con
sider the devotion until the present
hour of the freedman to “Ole Mars-
ter" and to "Young Marster." Why
does the venerable gray-haired negro
delight to dwell on the days "befo’
de war”? Who that knows human
nature would say that men take
pleasure in the recollection of days
that were only evil? Why such
deference today to the white man
on the part of the negro brought up
under the slavery regime? And why
such respect in every true Southern
er’s heart for the old darkey? No
respect enforced by the infliction of
bodily castigation could hpve sur
vived a half century of civil rights
and prejudice producing manipula
tion by men who cannot appreciate
the former relationship between
whites and blacks in the South. Two
or three years ago a writer for a pop
ular magazine spent some week3 in
or around Atlanta, and then wrote
for that periodical a series of arti
cles on the race problem in the
South; and I said then what I repeat
today, that it was a series of monu
mental falsehoods. Divested of all
prejudice and bias, no man could
come to understand this question in
the time given. We owe everlasting
debt of gratitude to Joel Chandler
Harris for “Uncle Remus"—a faith
ful picture of old-time darkey, and
of the strong ties of affection be-,
tween him and his master’s family
Then as to the health and the
morals of the slaves, Judge George
Hillyer, of Atlanta, one of the most
conspicuous figures in Georgia his
tory for half a century, says: "Such
was the care and such were the com
forts enjoyed by the colored race,
that diseases such as consumption
and iiismity were practically un
known among them. I was nearly
thirty years old when emancipation
came, and have been a slave owner;
was raised with them and had ex
tensive personal knowledge” of them.
"I never knew of but one negro con
sumptive, and never but one insane
negro. Now, years after emancipa
tion, the death rate among the color
ed people by consumption easily
reached three times that amongst
the whites—and the State sanitar
ium at Milledgeville is crowded and
overcrowded with hundreds of negro
insane. I venture the assertion that
in slavery time suffering by negroes
for want of food, clothing, or shelter
was unheard of.” It is well known
on Sunday after-noon the place of
worship was at their service, and
the white pastor at their command
by requirement of the church. I
ask you, now, will you believe such
representations of those of “Uncle
Tom’s Cabin,” or will you accept the
unimpeachable testimony, of the
authorities quoted? I need not await
your reply. I know the hearts of my
people.
We meet today to decorate with
fragrant flowers the grave of the
dead hero; to decorate with a cross of
truth and freedom. Your sons will
walk in your steps. Your very
names shall live—this ■ after nooq
Robert E, Lee, of Virginia, grandson
of your immortal chieftain, will de
liver the Memorial address in Atlan
ta. Your sons, your sons’ sons will
forever perpetuate the memory of
your undying heroism.
The South is the home of senti
ment, the birthplace of affection; the
guardian angel of good morals, and
the shiine of religion. For her our
fathers fought „and our mothers
wrought; and
"For her my tears shall (all:
For her my prayers ascend;
For her my cares and toils be given,
Till toils and cares shall end.”
One of the worthy aims of the
United Daughters of the Confedercy
is to bestow crosses of honor upon
the Veterans and their lineal de
scendants, and this custom in itself
will forever keep alive the valor of
the heroes and heroines of the six-1
ties.
The following are the names of
veterans and lineal descendants of
veterans that received crosses od
honor on April, 26,1911: *
James J. Atwell, C. W. Baskin, G. W.
Bell, G. D. Creel, J. H. Croft, W. H.
Morrow, T. H. Powell, A. W.Quillian,
E. L. Turner, Arthur Lee White.
Mrs. R. H. Fitts, Sec.
Rhode Island Red Eggs
Have been selling from first pen
settings (of 15 ) at $3.00 From
second pen $1,50 per setting, but
as the seuson is passing will sell
them at $2.50 and $1.25. They are
pure strain, rs. W.T.Scrijklaai,
Whitesburg, Ga.
A COLD, LAGR1FPE,
THEN PNEUMONIA
Is too often the fatal sequence F'olty’s
honor the person of living hero; and I! Hone y a " (i ^ ar ex P els tne cold, checks the
♦ 'ti, “ x lagrippe, and prevents pneumonia It is
come now to crown'these assembled
heroes and heroines and their absent
comrades with the imperishable
coronation of a perpetual gratitude.
All honor to the United Daughters
of the Confederacy: the world never
saw more splendid fortitude than
they displayed throughout the hor
rible days of war and reconstruction;
to them is the honor due for the
Memorial Associations; the Confed
erate monuments; Soldiers’ Homes;
Soldiers’ pensions; Heroines’ Homes;
and chiefly for the true history of
the conflict between the North and
South. And now at last the Veter
ans are beginning to build monu
ments to your heroism, our mothers
our wives, our sisters, our daughters!
God bless you!
This is the rich legacy which you,
Fathers, have bequeathed to us—
the spirit of grateful appreciation*
the spirit of loyalty to the best
traditions of our people, the spirit of
prerpetual devotion to our mission of
prompt and reliable cough melicine that
contains no narcot ics it is as safe for your
children as yoarselr For Sale by Johnson
D.'dJ 0
Warning To Railroad Men f
Look out for severe and even
dangerous kidney and bladder trou
ble resulting from years of railroad
ing. Geo. E. Bell, 639 Third St.*.
Fort Wayne, Ind. was for many
years conductor on the Nickle Plate
He says: ‘‘TWenty years of rail
roading left my kidneys in terrible
condition. There was a continual
pain across my back and hips and
my kidneys gave me much distress
and the action of my bladder was
frequently and most painful. I got
a supply of Foley Kidney Pills ahd
and the first bottle made a wonder-
ul improvement and four bottles
ured me completely. Since being
ured I recommend Foley Kidney
rills to many of my railroad friends,
or Sale by Johnson Drug Co.
—MUBWlMg
ICE NOTICE!
Beginning Monday, May I5th, we
will have I e Books at the Carroll
ton Bank and J. L, Vaughan’s office.
Everybody wanting ice must supply
themselves with and ice book or
will have to pay the driver lc per
pound for ice. The books will be
sold to you for ic per pound. You
can also have a book sent out from
our factory with your ice order. All
books will be sold for cash.
Carrollton Ice & Bottling
Company
''