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PALMS OF VICTORY,
CROWNS OF GLORY!
greatest of her triumphs. In tears and
in trust we have sewn the seed and we
commit the harvest to the eternal
years of God.
WELCOME BY ATLANTA.
The next addrest was by Hon. Porter
King, mayor of Atlanta, who extended a
welcome on behalf of the city in the fol
lowing words:
Mr. President, Gentlemen of the Beard
of Directors of the Cotton States and
International Exposition Company, La
dies and Gentlemen:—
As the official representative of the
city of Atlanta, and In her name, and on
her behalf, I throw wide open our gates
to the assembled multitude. I bid yon,
and those to come after you, a coidial
and hearty welcome to a progressive,
thrifty, healthy, clean and happy city.
Breadth of comprehension, liberality of
spirit, a lack of narrowness, and indomi
table energy, pluck and determination
are the distinguishing characteristics of
this people. Our city has grown to her
present splendid proportions, with all
that is necessary to the happiness and
enjoyment of life, through the wisdom,
the courage, and the industry of her
men, and the heiptuiness of her glorious
women. I could point you to her mag
nificent public buildings, our state capi
tal, bearing the distinction of having
been erected within the original appro
priation, and a part of it being turned
back into the treasury; the Equitable
building,with its eight stories of marble,
pressed brick and tile, the splendid store
houses occupied by our merchant prin
ces, the numerous hostelries, and grand
and beautiful church buildings, with
their lofty spires reaching heavenward,
where congregations of all dcnomini
tlons worship God according to the dic
tates of their own consciences Our pub
lic school buildings too, are numerous
and commodious, models of convenient
and tasteful arrangement. And our pri
vate homes, with their modern houses
and lovely lawae, arc only less dear and
attractive than the charming people who
have builded them.
We bid you come and see all these
things, and share them with us. Nay,
more, we invite your attention to the
lavish manner in which nature has heap
ed upon us her blessings. Our elevation,
more than a thousand feet above sealev
el, and our salubrious climate, arc direct
gifts of nature’s God. They insure to
us health, and the absence of the ener
vation of a torrid summer, and the dread
of a frozen winter. All the trees of the
forest, all the grasses of the field, all the
crops and the fruits needful for man snd
beast, grow in this favored c’ime. You
have only to walk upon our streets to
witness the splendid paving, taken from
the mountain of granite that is planted
but little beyond the confines of our city
limits.
Welcome 1 Thrice welcome! to all
these blessings! Share them with us du
ring your stay, and make such stay as
long as you can. Wo remember that
you, too, have cities and homes that are
dear to yourselves, and an unworthy peo
ple you would be if your own hearts did
not beat a little faster, and there was not
• Butter of loving excitement, when your
ffi t .
' 'W Wo
\\ \\ \ jfe J \\
MAYOR KING.
own dear homes are called to mind. Fbt
the time, make onr city and our homes
your own, love them as nearly like yom
own as you can; and believe me, wo wel
come you with a sincere and hearty
greeting.
The occasion of this gathering is one
that will ,rove memorable in the anuale
of the country. It is the sec nd largest
Exposition ever given in America, and
certainly the largest ever seen in the
South. Our people are a brave and
a courageous peop'e, and of this sufll
Cient demonstration is given in the out
come of this day. It took bravery and
courage to enter upon the enterprise ot
an International Exposition when the
whole Union was suffering from the
throes of financial depression, such as
have been but seldom experienced, and
these were the qualities which animated
Atlantians when they came together to
inaugurate this movement. The firs*
meeting was a success, the leaven took,
the spirit spread, first a few, hen more
then the city, then the state, and the*'
the national government loaned their aid
and encouragement, until large and am
ple proportions were assured; and we
now have with us our friends and bretb
ren from a; I climes and countries.
It is the hope and purpose of Atlanta,
by this exposition, to show to the world
what manner of city she is, with her cos
mopolitan population of one hundred
and ten thousand souls’ to demonstrate
her breadth, her liberality, her thrif',
her morality, and her good will: and to
learn more of the good traits aud charac
teristics of the other cities aud countries
in the world. She knows there is com
mingled good and evil *n all human in
stitutions, and by a closer contact sh>
expects to learn moro of the good. She
desires to cultivate a feeling of friend
ship, and brotherly interest, with all the
counties, citie«. states and nations who
have generously taken part in this Expo
sition. And while she expects a benefit,
by the establishment of new ties, friend
ships, and relationships, she is not so
selfish as to expect or desire that th'se
benefits shall be solely her own. The.
bringing of the people together from
their widely scattered homes, with their
diversity of products, customs, and in
terests, can but benefit all. If any should
see here aught of the beauty or attrac
tiveness we know so well, and become
induced to make it their homes, Such
would be Atlanta’s peonliar gain.
She is not unmindful of the groat pro
gress she made after her Cotton Expo
sition. in 1881, the first time la the;
world’s history that the possibilities «
tbs growth and manufacture of this grew*
southern staple were made known. She
remembers, too, that she Is not only the
center of a great producing section, but
m well of a manufacturing people, and
she would encourage and stimulate
manufacture In every possible way. The.
worthiest tribute to this as a place suit
able for manufacture is that two of her
largest cstton mills have, within the
gev, dotted tfjeir caproUy; 4»d i(
CONTINUED FROM FIRBT PAGE.
home plants are thus enlarging tbeirbus
iness from their earnings, wa believe
others will come when thdy see and
know these facts for themselves.
While material prosperity is greatly
desired, and while Atlanta expects to
continue near the front in the advance
progress of the cities of the
woild, she knows that there are
ends above and bevond pik’ of
brick and mortar, and more to be
sougjit after than the riches of a Croe
sus. She believes in the mental and
moral elevation of tier people, and en
courages every agency having these
objects in view. She again bids you
come and welcome, and pledges herself
to join with you in the promotion of j
all elevating, refining and enabling
undertakings. For well she knows,
‘•The Immortal mtud, superior to bls fata,
Amid the outrage of external things,
Firm as the solid base of this great, world,
Rests on Ills own foundation. Blow, ye
winds!
Ye waves! ye thunders! roll your tempests on 1
Shake,ye old pillars <|f the marble sky!
Till ail Its orbs and all Its wo'rlds of Are
Be loosened from their seacst yet still serene.
The unconquored mind looks down upon the
wreck;
And ever stronger as the storms advance,
Firm through the closing tuln holds his way
Where nature calls him to the destined goal,'.
JUDGE SPEER’S ORATION.
After more music Hon. Emory Speer,
orator of the. day, advanced and in the
midst, of applause began his exposition
oration as follows:
This Is indeed a happy day for our
sountry. Cold and dull must be the na
ture of that man who is insensible to
these convincing proofs gathered that
the world may gee the advancement of
our people on all the paths trending to
ward a more perfect civilization. The
spectacle is Indeed auspicious. The as
tounding manifestations of the energy
of modern nations exalt, while they
amaze the understanding. They elevate
and enrich the imagination, and yet it is
mpossiblo for that lively faculty to con
ceive the complete reality of the won
drous and imperial display. Such is the
enobling panorama, this exhibition of
the possibilities of the young and potent
nation, will place before the sentient and
observant mind, inconceivably significant
of mightful national life, and weighty
beyond estimation in its lessons of pat
riotic duty to the people, to whom ac
cording to their several ability, as in the
parable of the talents, these potentiali
ties for the advancemert of mankind
have been entrusted by tbe Master.
The substantial magnificence and the
beneficent humaneness of this vast un
dertaking was possible only to the
resolution and activities of a free people'
An autocrat might rear these magic
structures and might gather tbis vast as
sembly. An arctic island on the borders
of Finland, in summer a heap of mud, in
winter a frozen marsh, accessible only
by pathless forests and deep morasses,
within a year was filled with a popula
tion of throe hundred thousand men,
whom tbe Czar Peter bad forcibly as
sembled to establish a new capital.
These ho brought from the vast plains of
central Russia, the sandy deserts of As
trakhan, the fertile meadows along the
Don, and tbe bleak promontories which
project into the Caspian.
Wharves, harbors, streets, palaces
and fortresses were created at the will
of the despot, as it he possessed tbe ne
cromantic lamp of the Arabian story.
Said Voltaire: “The whole wag a force
upon nature. Neither the inundation
which raised his works, nor the sterili
ty of the soil, nor the ignorance of the
workmen, nor even the mortality which
carried off about two hundred thous
and men in tbe beginning of the un
dertaking, could divert him from his
firin resolution.” Thus the material
victories of autocracy have been often
won, without regard to the agony in
flicted upon its subjects. Thus St.
Petersburg was completed. But that
..tately abode of bureaucracy and des
potism is not more beneficent to the
■people whose simple ancestors died
under the knout for its construction
than one of those fantastical palaces of
ice which annually glitter on the win
try banks of the Neva.
Not so with creations such as this,of
a free people. They are enlivened by
the benevolence of great and generous
men. They are encouraged by the
fostering hand of sympathetic popular
government. They are symptoms of
vigorous national life. They are at
tended with warm demonstrations of
concern by a people unpracticed in the
arts of dissimulation. Whether the
sagacious people of the British isles
provide and perpetuate the lucent gio-,
ries of the crystal.palace, or the bril
liant Frenchmen,‘while the soil of the
republic is yet scarred with the hoof
marks of tbe Prussian Uhland, by gi
gantic expositions demonstrate their
unimpaired power, or grateful America
lavishes her own bounty, and becomes
trustee for a willing tribute from man
kind in reverence for that sailor phil
osopher, whose genius and constancy
discovered half the habitable globe, or
these typical Georgians consecrate
their disinterested lives to demonstrate
to all men the strength of Southern
character, the plenitude of southern
resources and the adaptibilitjr of our
country as a home for unimagined
millions of prosperous and happy peo
ple, in any event, it is a creation of the
people’s prophetic intelligence, of their
resplendent public virtue, nourished
into generous activity by the kindly
hand of popular constitutional govern
ment-
Here the liberal and inspiring pur
pose is the advancement of our coun
try. It kindles the imagination of the
projector when the bright conception
dswns upon hjs teeming fancy ft re
minds the capital!* that economy in its
broadest sense is a distributive virtue.
With free bnnd, then, he makes bis
wealth a willing servant of public
honor. It animates the genius of the
architect, and his airy fancies becomes
a thing of beauty and a joy forever. It
gives precision to tbe trained eye and
power to the nervous arm of tbe arti
ficer*. It musically rings in tbe trow
els of tbe masons. It crackles like rifle
fire in the hammers of the carpenters,
Every detonation of the blast, which
swiftly sinks the foundations of the
great buildings to the bed rock sweep
ing down from tbe mountains, is a
salvo of triumph to the civilization of
a gaeat people. Over tbe fair and
mighty structures streams the ensign
of a nation’s hope and a nation's honor.
Beautiful Bag of tbe republic. Ail tbs
THE COMMEP3IAL: ATLANTA, GA., WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON, SEPTEMBER 18, 189 b.
fairest conceptions of government, or
social order, of human accomplish
ment, all that promotes the perfecti
bility of man are typified by thee. Law
and progress are thy color guard. Their
reviving and assuring presence is borne
on every zephyr that wooes the moun
tain and tempers the vale and brings
life and strength to the increasing
millions to whom thsu art an inspira
tifn and a joy. But not to them alone
“Humanity with all Its fears,
With all its hopes of future years.
Are all with thee, are all with thes. 5
Here o’er the mountain waves of the
ocean have been brought the treasures
pf other lan-ds. From the Gulf of Mex
ico to the Straits of Magellan our sis
ter republics proudly come, bringing
with willing hands of the bounty the
God of nature has bestowed upon them.
Comes the Argentine Republic, her
territory greater than all Central and
Western Europe, stretching from the
Atlantic to the summits of the Andes
which guide the mariner who sails the
distant Pacific, in latitude exceeding
our own, whose beautiful city is the
Paris of South America, and whose
gallant people have twice captured in
vrding British armies larger than
those surrounded by Burgoyne at Sar
atoga and Cornwallis at Yorktown.
Venezuela comes. If she has not
captured armies, has she not captured
one more terrible than “an army with
banners?” From the Llanos of tbe
MRS. JOSEPH HHOMFBON.
Orionoco, where tbe coffee and the co
coa are shaded by the scarlet erythri
nas, making a scene of brilliant beauty
enchanting as the garden of the Hes
perides, she brings her rich and varied
products. The average yield of her
gold mines, $3,700,000 per annum, has
excited cupidity elsewhere, but the in
tegrity of her soil is the anxious con
cern of every American parriot.
And Costa Rica, extending from Nic
aragua, which holds the keys of the
commerce of the world, to the undula
ting Savannas of Panama, from her
gigantic forests may bring Brazil
wood, India rubber, mahogany and
ebony. There may be found all the
fruits of the tropical and temperate
climes growingin luxuriant profusion.
There tne snow clad peaks of Irazu,
Turrialva and Pico Blanco may reflect
the tropical sun upon a flora compre
hendingevery growth from the shrink
ing Alpine violet to the gorgeous
splendor of mighty forests, gay with
birds of brilliant plumage, rich with
priceless products and gently stirred
by tbe odor laden breezes of tho Pacific
Ocean and the Caribbean Sea.
Salvador, the smallest but most
densely peopled of the republics of
Central America, contributes her in
teresting quota.
And what shall we any of our gal
lant neighbor, the Republic of Mexico,
who in the same century overcame the
armies of Spain and tbe imperial
forces of Napoleon 111. Indeed here
was a marvelous civilization, when
Cortez landed on our shores, and today
thousands of the original Aztec type
may be seen among her people. Her
administration is conducted in her
beautiful capitol seven thousand five
hundred feet above the level of the sea,
hard by where the storied lakes Tezcuco
and Chalco mirror, the surrounding
mountains on their sparkling waters.
Rich in all the precious metals, and
richest of any in argentiferous pro
ducts, in recent times over half the
silver of the world has been supplied
by Mexico. Up to 1880 she had afford
ed to the world $2,990,000,000 of silver,
nnd $120,000,000 of gold. Her supply
of copper and iron is simply inexhans
itble. Cerro de Mercado is an entire
mountain of magnetic iron. Coal, mar
ble, gypsum and alabaster are plentiful.
Iler territory stretches across seven
teen parallels of latitude. Her virgin
forests abound in every variety of rare
and precious woods. They afford one
hundred and fourteen species of trees
and cabinet woods, seventeen kinds of
oil bearing plants and more than sixty
medicinal plants are among the pro
ducts. She is rich in maize, wheat,
tobacco, cocoa and coffee. It is not un
common for her haciendas to rear an
nually twenty or thirty thousand head
of oxen, sixty million pounds of sugar
are produced in the State of Morellos
r y-r#
BON. GEO R. I’BOWX.
alone, ftnd the product of het peatl
fisheries in the Gulf of California rival
the fabled pearls of Ceylon. The noble
cathedral in the City of Mexico is tho
largest church in America. The float
ing gardens of Chalco and Xomilctio
bring tbechoicest fruits and flowers to
the markets of the capitol. Bound to
us by great railroads and even more
closely by tbe magic wires of the tele
graph, we welcome, thrice welcome the
I the proud sons of the laud of Monte
! zinc as.
But there i« one whom we would glad
i ly welcome, and who iz not here, beauti
ful island of Cuba, QuvC.nof the Antilles
The dim religi sus light of her hoary ca
thedral falls softly over tbe sacred ashes
of tbe discoverer. Rich and rare in all
her products, in ooffco. sugar and tobac
; co, in tbe pineapple, orange, banana, tbe
mahogany, ebony and palm. Her coast
I lino is indented with harbors. The alti
j tnde of bci plateausand mountains tern
« per with delicious coolness tbe soft bree
; zee of the tioplcs She has eeer been and
lis now endued with the abounding sym
pathy of ths people of this land of free
dom. May J not now paraphrase tbe
' language of Daniel Webster spoken in
rhe House of Representatives of the
brave Greeks when they wore driving
the unspeakable Turk from that land
j where “The mountains look on Mara
j then and Marathon looks on lh« sea.”
| “I will nut say Sir, tbit thsy will sue-
oeod, that rests with Heaven, but tar
myself, if I should hear tomorrow that
their last phalanx had sunk beneath the
Spanish sword. their last city had gone
down into ashes, and that naught re
mained but the wide melancholy waste
where Cuba once was, I should reflect
with the mo t heartfelt satisfaction that
I have asked in the name of seventy mil
lion of free men that you would give
them at least the cheering of one friend
ly voice.
These are our sister republics. Th«y
have imitated lhe example our forefath
ers gave. The great powers of Europe,
and some not so gr*at, have parcelled
out the continent of Africa. It is nearly
all within the sphere of influence as it is
called, of one or the other of the Eu
ropean nations. Almost the whole of
Asia is under European control. Evon
now certain great powers threaten to
divide the empire of China, and to assail
the Insular kingdom of Japan, the genius
of whose brilliant and heroic people have
placed them in the first rank of the
forces of civilization.
It is the plain duty of our own nation
to see to it that the sphere of influence
of European nations shall not further
extend to any foot of the soil of that
continent discovered by Columbus. Wo
owe it to the traditions of our glorious
past, and as well to the peoples who
from us have caught the inspiration of
popular government. Wo owe it to the
countless millions of self-respecting and
freedom-loving people who are to in
herit America when we are gathered to
our fathers. “America for Americans”
should bo the animating principle of
every administration which yields from
Washington the moral power of the
American people. Nor should we for
this reason withhold the due- need of
honor and admiration to those great
European powers which in their way and
on their own soil are contributing to the
advancement of mankind. To the Span
ish crown we owe the discovery of
America. Side by side with the light
infantry under Hamilton, the elite of
the French army swarmed over the
palisades at Yorktown- The great
Frederick, the last of the great kings,
refused passage through Prussian terri
tory to the Hossiati mercenaries hired to
subjugate our fathers and devastate our
land.
Os Italy it may be said that her sons
have surpassed any other people in
many departments of human endeavor.
In scupturb and architecture one may
point to Michael Angelo; in painting
to Titian. Corregio and Raphael; in
state craft to Machiavelli, to Cavour and
Mazzini I ih generalship to Napoleor
ind Massena; in poetry to Tajso and
Dante; in discovery to Celnmbus. Nor
should America encourage any feeling
save that of amity and pride for Eng
land. After America the strongest
friend of civil or religious liberty on
earth, a “land of old and great re
nown, where freedom broadens slowly
down from precedent to precedent."
It is well to meet at this great expo
tion the people of these and other
lands. In the French exposition of 1849
it was held by the minister of com
merce inadmissible and injurious to
admit the products of other nations.
No policy could be more short sighted,
ft isjuxclusfveness in her own and ig
norance of other lands that has re
deced China to the degr-ding position
she now holds. International exhibi
tions are among the most beneficent
means for the advancement of the peo
ple. Society in this way has its ac
counting. It takes stock of its assets.
A nation, like a business house, must
PRESIDENT COLLIER.
K'nbtlr how it stands. It must make its
exhibition to the world. When the
solvency of Jay Gould was questioned
by the magnates of Wall street, it is
said that he called them into his busi
ness office and spread before them the
millions of values in his securities.
Thera is an old adage that
“seeing is believing,” and the
exposition appeals directly to the sense
of sight, it, constitutes a compendium
of the accomplishments of a people. It
focuses tho perceptions of observant men
until tire truth of a nation's power is not
only made clear to all present, but
through the cumulative testimony of tho
witnesses, becomes unquestioned by all
the world. The exposition is to tho stu
dent of manufactures and the practical
arts, what tho luminous and the eloquent
commentaries of Blackstone are to the
student of Jaw. It was remarked by the
celebrated James Otis when he received
a copy of that work, that If he bad pos
sessed it when begining his studies, it
would have saved him seven years of
arduous labor. It is most judicious to
profit by a close contemplation of the
work of others. The German Emperor
at Kiel turned away from the festivities
Incident to opening his canal, to go
aboard our own splendid ship, the “New
York.” This he did, not merely to en
joy the artistic hospitalities of that fine
officer * Fighting Bob,” but for the bene
fit of the imperial navy, to examine from
main truck to stoke hole, every feature
of onr gallant cruiser which “walks the
waters like a thing of life.” So too Her
reshofl and Watson, the builders of Val
kyrie and Defender, stood four mortal
hours in the broiling sun of the Erie
basin, when the rival yachts were
docked, neither bestowing a glance upon
bis own creation, but scrutinizing tho
work of the other. No doubt they
wished tbeir eyes were wbat Sam Weber
called “patent double million magnifyin'
gas microscopes of hextra power."
Besides, who can doubt the educative
effect of of such proofs of human ad
vancement as tins exposition. A lad can
walk through these halls and acquire
knowledge of which Sir Isaac Newton
und Sir Francis Bacon were ignorant.
He may behold dainty products of all
lands for which Lucullus might have
i sighed In vain. He may watch the
■ noiseless operations of engines, a Watt
! or a Stevenson could not have conceiv
ed, models of Shins of war which wouid
have been deemed impossible by Nelson
or Rodney, by Bainbridge or Decatur,
arms and munitions Marlborough or
Frederick, Wellington or Napoleon
would have pronounced the dreams of
a mad-ma* “Home keeping youths"
said Shake-peare, “have ever homely
wits.” Tho powers of the brain are
like Uh-lire in the flint. Aecolljsion
with tie- bright steel of other min'd* is
essential to evoke 1/ sacred epnrk.
This exposition, carefully studiwi, will
boa liberal education for thousands
who attend tv To be attained, knowl
edge must bo sought, and wbat toy it
)
imparts. What matters to the ignor
ant man, the clear and lucent glories
of the dawn, the zephy rs which attend
it and scatter incense to delighted na
ture. What the mysterious dome of
heaven inlnid with pa tine.- of pure
gold, what the rolling billows of tlie
deep and dark blue ocean, what the
the mighty grandeur of the storm,
the lift giving breeze, the green fields,
the placid intelligence of domestic ani
mals.
“A primrose by a river’s brim,
A yellow prjmrose Is to him.
And It is nothing more."
But to him whose mind is stored with
knowledge*, every suggestion of nature
brings its Joy and fills his heart with
images of indescribable beauty and in
effable charm.
But the utility of this exposition to
our stale and our section is especially
significant,especially opportune. The
prophecy of the generous Bisbop
Berkeley, the friend and associate of
Oglethorpe, has been completed.
.‘Westward the course of empire takes its
way,
The four first acts already past;
The fifth shall close the drama with the day—
Time’s noblust offspring Is the last."
The young and strong civilization of
the West has reached and appropriated
the golden shores of the PaciuO and
/jT wk *
GOVERNOR ATKINSON.
slack tne westward snore is reached,
the tide of strong, and resourceful men,
“strong backed, brown handed, upright
as the pines” must pour backward,
through many channels to the fruitful
nnd opulent land which in their west
ward progress they had passed with
bet a glance.
There were grave reasons which di
verted this army of civilization from tho
soil of the southern states. Slavery was
hero, nnd the toiling masses from other
lands could not, or would not, compete
with the slaves. But when slavery had
been abolished, the obstacles to health
ful immigration wore scarcely less insur
mountable. What wa* termed the “ne
gro problem,” that is tho doubt enter
tained by multitudea as to the effect of
the presence of the negro upon tho life
and advancement of the Southern people
was over present. There was never the
slightest danger of continued negro con
trol in the local affairs of a Southern
state. Those who apprehend it, bad
done well to consider that of all tbe
American Union the Southora people
present the largest percentage of the old
Anglo Saxon stock. Os tbe white men
of Georgia, perhaps 90 per cent are de
scended from ruen who were patriots
el her actively or in sympathy with the
American Revolution. Evett now there
is but obo and one-fourth per cent, nt
foreign blood in tho population of this
State. These apprehensive persons had
done well to considbr also the imperious
and commanding nature of the Anglo
Saxon. They might have reflected
that the twelve provinces of India, with
one hundred and fifty feudatory states,
an empire of one and a half million of
square mile*, and peopled with two bum
drod Mid forty millions of dark skinned
men are nndpr the absolute control of
men of our race who Inhabit a little Is
land on tho other side of the world. And
yet the people of British India bad an
anoieat and famous history when the
Roman leeionsiries first landed on the
savage shores of Britain.
They were overcome by a handlul of
our kindred and are wisely directed oh
tbe paths of modern progress by the
English government as readily as it
controls a parish in Yorkshire or Kent.
The Southern whites are homogene
ous. The Anglo-Saxon and the North
ern people have never inter-married
with a darker race. From the Penob
scot to the Altamaba, the English,
Scotch and Irisli landed on tho eastern
coast of the continent. Everywhere
they found numerona and often pow
erful Indian tribes. For two or three
centuries their increasing numbers
lived in almost constant association
with tne aboriginal inhabitants of
America. These are gone. They have
left everywhere the monuments of
their existence here. Their names are
on our mountains. Their memory will
lastaslongas Yonah and Currahee
! r
J/ •
MR. WALTER <5. COOPER.
shhll redden with this ‘‘rosy bldsh of
incense breathing morn,” or catch the
purple shadows as tho setting sun il
lumines tiie heavens with the splendor
of hie evening smile. Their names are
on our rivers and we cannot blot them
out. The Chattahoochee as it glances
“down from the hills of Habersham
and out of the volleys of Hall,” the
Tugalo, tbe Turora, as they swiftly
flow to join tlie brimming Savannah ;
ths Hiwassee and the Toccoa, ns they
bear the crystal waters of Georgia's
mountains to the rolling volume of the
Tennessee; the Thronateeska, as it
pours Its turbid current, suggest leg
ends of mighty tribes, whose heritage
was Georgia’s soil. But not a drop of
I tile Ir>dian’» blood flows in tl>e veins of
i the white men who succeeded him. I
here declare tbat the so-called “race
i question” does not exist.
Tbe Indian was a nomad. The negro
i has tbe strongest local attachment and
will remain, but as a race unto himself.
Nor do I mean to suggest that forco
j or violence In any form will be essential
! for white control of the local affairs of
(these estates. Ihe representative people
of this state, and I believe of the south,
will never tolerate such a demoralizing
I and cruel policy. It would recoil on
i them and their children even unto the
i ihird and fourth generation. The same
! luiluenco which a fleets men elsewhere
, will ever prevent tbe solidarity of th* ge-
gro vote hero. Every Intelligent southern
man understands this and a northern man
who comes here soon ascertains the fact
for himself. This is a fortunate fact for
the negro and for the country. Our
theory of government does not contem
plate voting on color or other class line.
There are millions of colored people
who live, and who will live among
many more millions of white, people.
Why shall any one forge a race issue?
Honest and decent men will accord to
the negro that just measure of favo.* as
a member of society tbe laws afford
him, and which his conduct deserves,
and the long processes of time, will
determine whether his presence is a
benefit or injury to himself and to the
land, to which he is now as warmly at
tached as his white neighbors. No
process of reasoning, no fertility of
conjecture, no empirical legislation
will afford any other solution of the
so-called question. Why agitate it
then? It’s unnecessary discussion, as I
have already said, has withheld from
the resources of this state, the develop
ing hand of the industrious white man,
whether farmer or artisan, who earn
ing a bare support, elsewhere, could in
this genial clime, win an abundanccof
which he never dreamed. It is more
cruel to the negro than it is detrimen
tal to the white men, for the prejudice
it awakens causes the idle, ignorant
and lawless, to become his suspicious
enemies. It is, indeed, a source of
alarm to those industriousand respect
able negroes whose intelligent labor,
and self-denying habits have support
ed their families, educated their chil
dren and added millions annually to
the taxable values of these states. Tbe
true policy of our people is to ignore
the question and drench with vltrolio
contempt the narrow, intense, inflnh
tesimal creatures who forge the istae
and disturb the good feeling between
the races to advance their selfish po
litical ends.
There is one thing, alnoehis emancipa
tion the south hM ever guaranteed to the
negro, that is no matter wbat his trade
or occupation, the privilege of earning
his living. It is a common spectacle
upon structures of every character to
behold numbers of white and negro me
chanioi working aide by side. I have
regretted to learn that this is not truo in
the northern states. I was informed by
the president of a technological school
from Philadelphia, a naan of great intelli
gence and great benevolence, that they
yearly turned out numbers of colored
youths, trained, skillful in the trades
they had mastered, but that if one of
these men should be employed as a
skilled laborer on any work, every mem
ber of the trade unions would quietly
gather up bls tools and quit the job. No
snob practice has existed here. The
opportunity for technical education is
the greatest benefaction his friends o«u
bestow on the negro. The skill of the
graduate of an Industrial school Is his
capital. Be has been taught to appre
ciate the dignity of labor. He is not
striving for tbe unattainable. Be is a
useful citizen from tho start. Ho begins
his life work on a solid basis. How in
comparably superior is his condition to
that of one of bis race who is trained for
a profession where he must depend upon
the patronage and slender means of his
own people, or of one who has merely
acquired a fatal faoUlty of speech. If
it be said that the argument would re
strict the genius of the Afro-American
orator (though who “Afro” Ido not
know), let him bear in mind'that It took
three hundred years for the white people
of America to bring forth such orators
as James Otis, Samuel Adams and
Patrick Henry. A poor man should
make sure of tbe means of livelihood
before he attempts excursions into the
domed* of art. Let him remember the
epigrammatic language of our sagacious
president, “It is a condition and not a
theory that confronts us,” and the cer
tain Comforts of a good home and ample
support are worth more to him than all
the orations sines Demosthenes thun
dered in Athens or Cicero charmed tbe
crowds of the Roman forum.
The truth is after making due allow
ances for her disadvantages tne world
should awaken to the fact that no other
■
land lighted by the sun in its diurnal
progress around the world affords such
attractions as a home for men with lives
befbre them as do these southern states
of tbs union. This Is demonstrated be
yond quastrorj.
Here the observant traveler will see
on ode farm the luxuriant beauty es
our royal staple, tbe dark rich green
of the India# corn, the golden glory
of tne ripening grain or every kind,
tbe sweet yams, Irish potatoes, peas,
hay, ground peas, sugar cane, sor
ghum, watermelons, apples, pears, figs,
pomegranates, grapes, plums and other
crops and fruits all grown in perfec
tion in the same soil. Os late years the
Georgia peach for its flavor, its size
and its beauty commands the market.
Georgia is especially fitted for small
farms. In the mountain country of
Habersham, where is my summer
borne, there are a number of Swiss and
Germans. They were very poor,
when a lew years ago they purchased
small holdings of land on what was
known to be a barren ridge. They
planted the grape, and while tnuqy of
tbein were in danger of starvation an
ti! their vines becamp productive, I do
not know now any where a more thrif
ty rural community, The income from
wine and grapes of a man who with
his wife does the whole Work of tbe
vineyard and farm, hie plow beast an
ex without the pride of ancestry, Is an
nually from 11,500 to i‘2,000 net. Tbe
industrious people are all living in
great comfort. These are object les
sons which might be gathered from
every county of What may be accom
plished in this genial clime under cir
cumstances tho moat unfavorable. At
tbis moment the rivers of Georgia flow
idly over admirable but pndevoloped
water powers which would turn the
spindles of the world, The mountains
of North and tho swamps of South
Georgia are luxuriant wit h a great
variety of rare and beatiful hard
woods. The Georgia pine is famaus
throughout the world.
There is scarcely a farm in the state
which has not u copious water supply,
even for the hottest season of the year,
i The authoritative figures of the
cotton exchanges and other business
( associations bear out and sustain all I
have said with regard to the produc
| tivenose of the South. Texas is ths
■ first and Georgia second as cotton
states. In 1898-4, Georgia produced
1,125,000 bales, Texas and the Indian
Territory 2,059,000 bales. The total
crop of that year was 7/50,000 bnles,
audit will be remembered that in 1818
' the entire cotton crop of this country
was but2oo,ooo bales. But while tbe
f traduction es cotton has wonderfully
ncreased, its consumption has inoreao
ed proportionately, in IS9B-4the betel
! consumption for the United Btatee was
I 2,319,388 bales, of which 718,615 bales
were taken by the spinners of the
South, and in the consumption by
Southern factories, Georgia is only
surpassed by North and South Caro
lina. The aonsumption of cotton
throughout the world has doubled since
the year 1870. The average annual in
, crease in consumption is 245,000 bales
of 400 pounds each. Os all the eottrn
grown in the werld the United States
i produces seventy and two-tenths per
cent, it shpuld ever be borne iu mind
that cotton is a quick money crop. It is
incomparably the chief article of export
from this country. It was the founda
tion of oer national credit,and enabled
us to redeem our national debt after the
civil war. American cotton is held in
higher esteem than any grown else
where and it may be marketed at less
cost. I have not spoken of that beau
tiful grade of cotton known as sea
island, which is grown in South Caro
lina and on the coasts and more latter
ly with great success in many of the
inland counties of Georgia. Indeed
the chief sea island cotton market of
the world is tbe beautiful and thriving
city of Valdosta in Southern Georgia,
one hundred and fifty miles from the
sea. But a ship load of cotton goods
is infinitely mare valuable than a ship
load of raw cotton, and the cotton
manufactures of the South are increas
ing rapidly.
I read in the New York Herald of the
Bth of this month a statement from that
valuable publication, the Manufacturers
Record of Baltimore that during the past
throe months there have been projected
in the South seventy-seven new cotton
mills, with 800,000 spindles—a greater
number than-ever before projected du
ring a similar period. Most of them are
under construction, or are contracted
for. The Herald concludes, “It is no
longer doubtful that the South is des
tined to become the loading manufactu
rer as well as grower of its great staple.”
The rapid extension of the textile in
terests of the South and the phenomenal
activity prevailing in iron and coal mat
ters coupled with tho increasing demand
for farm lands for settlement by West
ern people is bringing about an unusual
ly healthy condition throughout this en
tire section.
I onoe hoard that distinguished New
Yorker, the Honorable Abram S. Hewitt,
an expert on the subject; declare that
iron could be made in Alabama cheapen
than in any other iron producing coun
try.
Gur great lines of raHrodes arc now in
tho hands of men who have something
to lose, and not everything to gain. They
know that the safety and profits of tiro
hundreds of millions they represent, de
pend on the broad and CVbn develop
ment of our country, and in sympathy
with thia purpose, our people will award
them their ungrudging support
The truth is the South is beginning to
think more of its interests and less of it*
rights. We have more earnest workers
and fewer grand stand performer*. The
most important fact of all i* that our
people have at length learned the inexo
rable necessity of taising their own food
crops. This was always easy* An im
mense acreage in cotton had a delaslva
charm which for years they oouid not re
sist. They bought their coin and meat,
and when the cotton crop was sold and
the coat of production paid, no profit re
mained to tbe farmer. This is no longer
true. The great packing houses like
that of Armour have commenced to or
der meat from Georgia farmers. Tbe
estimate furnished me a day or two ago
by the largest commission house in Cen
tral Georgia states that since 1691 tho
sale of corn from other states has de
greased seventy one per oetjfi and moat
sale eighty five per cent. The estimate
is taken from tho books and railroad de
livery records df the houae. These fig
ures are most slguificent and demon
strate that our people almost entirely de
pend for support npoti their own farms,
and yet the trade of the cities have large<
ly increased. The mayor of Columbus
wired me on the 11th instant that th*
/
BOOKEB T. WASHINGTJN.
lobbing trade of that city bad locreaeed
bOO per cent. In ton years, and Is how
$4,000,000. Thte does not include the
manufacturing trade, I’he retail trade
has doubled ih ten years. The city has
nine cotton factories,' 2,184 looms, and
8,500 spindles, with a value of $2,000,000.
The secretary Ot tho board of trade of
Macon informs me thatln’ten years the
commerce of that city baa Increased 50
per cent, end further that there are 80,-
000 apindlts, a upw knitting mill with
230 kbitting machines gad sowing ma
chines, with capital invested pi $8,1150,000.
And Augusta, the afiebnd largest in
terior notion market in tho world,
Memphis being the Stet, hha Increased
its trade 25 per cent. It IBBS-4 it re
ceived 181,‘100 bales of cotton, In 1894-8,
211,981. Its cotton factories have in
creased from four to nine, and the cap
ital invested troth $2,200,000 to $4,000,-
000.
Savannah, the second largest cotton
and first naval Stores market in the
world, shows the following surprising
figures : In 1872 Savannah’s commerce
by water was and in 1892
over $150,000,000, an increase of moro
than iOp per cent. And What shall we
sa> of thia glorious city, the finest typo
Os Southern progtesa? Such an eno
the Master must bare had in pi mi
when he exclaimed, “Yo are the light
of the world. A city that la set on a
hill cannot be hid.” I might enlarge
on the Inspiration its eturdy peoplo
gather from its bracing clime, tb&ir in
defatigable industry, their broad and
liberal talents, the cordial Welcome
they give the stranger that is within
their gates, the exemplar of municipal
activity and municipal virtue it af
fords. it is American to the core. Its
every expiration is a hurrah, within
the structure es tbe ma tea tic church of
St. Paul’s, in London, there is a simple
inscription inhonor of its architect,
Christopher Wrenn, who is there sleep
ing: “Si monunientem requiris, cir
cutimpice,” If you would behold his
monument, look around yo«. This was
an iaseription to tho mighty dead. It
is equally appropriate to tbe mighty
living. If you would behold the m un
it incuts of this proud Georgia city, t he
pride of Georgia, teok around you.
While onr winters are bracing and in
vtgeratlng, our streams are never fro
zen. The death rate throughout tho
entire state is fifteen and a fraction to
tho thousand, and among the while
people even ices.
Moreover the people ot Georgia re
spect and enforce tbe lawq. I have lbs
opportunity to know tbs trsth. I ray
with absolute sincerity what i bavu
repeatedly asserted elsewhere, that I
never knew a failura us justice K a
CONTINUED ON BIX I’ll I'AUB.
5