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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