Bristol news. [volume] (Bristol, Va. & Tenn.) 1867-189?, 1870-10-14
Southern Commercial Convcn-
tion at Cincinnati.


At the opening of the Convention
the Hon. Geo. II. Pendleton was in.
troduced and made the following beau
tiful address.
GENTLEMEN OF THE CONVENTION
NY fellow citizens have done me inf
mite honor to-day. The civic authori-
ties, the commercial authorities, the
Chamber of Commerce, the Board of
Trade, the people generally, have COM
missioned me To speak t. you in their
behalf
They have commanded me TO i've
YOU II most fratcrnal greeting. They
have commanded me to say, with
IL sincerity an warmth for which
| find no fitting words, that you are
their hOnored and most welcome gusts.
They have commanded me to say that
t icy apepreciate tn" ht nor of your pres
rnce here, and that they desire to recog-
niZe it 10y every act of corteous and at
tentive and afltctionate hospitality.
These annual recurring meetings
this concollrse of representative men
these delcgat ons from every State
and city and Chamber of Commerce
and combination OF business men from
the Hudson to the Rio Grande-these
earnest. thoughtful, learned debates by
friends of every industrial interest,
and advocates of every grow ing enter
prise from ths Alleghanies To the
itOcky Mountains, attest the dignity
of TN s convention, and the magnitude
nf the questions committed TO its con-
sideratiun.
Your predeccs sors who met mt Nor
n I.slstn Il
the chief subject at their consideration
was the ocean trade Of the Atlantic
cit e. with Europe.
Your num- JerS already reach many
hundreds and your Dictates will touch
every project of material development
every phase of intelligent industry
every facility of commercial inter
cDurse-evcry plan of finance and taX-
atiun-cvery encouragement of inmi-
grat iUu-every questions of government
mental economy.
1t must bc so. This convention
meets to consider and advance the in
teicSts of the great Mississippi Valley.
| say this in no selfish or sectional
Sc ,st. ] say II in no narrow spirit. /
would limit your duties and your in
llucnce to no Il tcalities.
The interests of the Mississippi Val
ley are the center and source of the
well being of other portions of the
country. Its developments Is their
growth. Its prosperity is their wea tn
and when the hand of industry touches
into life any dormant element of pow
er which nature has hidden in its
fields, or mines, or lakes, or rivers,
they grow 10y its activity and move un-
,lrr lis impulSion
The Mississippi Valley! The very
name calls up II vision of trancendant
grandeur. Mountains filled with ores
valleys instinct with fecund life prai-
rites carpeted with the most brilliant
wild flowers and redOleut of the sweet
est perfumes lands generous with
wheat, corn and barley lands teeming
with cotton, rice and sugai ; the snow
clad fields of the North shading into
the dusky yellow of the parched an d
thirsty South ; the freezing blasts OF
Canada melted genial breeZes i'm the
warm embrace of the fervent winds OF
of Florida. IL stretches from Central
Pennsylvania to the western boundary
of Kansas, from the Lake of the Woods
To the Gulf of Mexico. It's soils are
fertile; its mines are productive; its
forests are eXhaustlesss its skies are
bright its climates are healthful; God
has given to ite very element of wealth,
every attribute of beauty, and through
its whole lengh the great River-maGe
of the coniluent waters of every spring
and rivulet and broad Xpanse-rolls
its ceaseless flood from the frozen re-
gions of Arctic ices to the golden or
ange or, yes of the sun begotten trop-
ics.
Cheap lands and aboundlng bread
stufls will secure its futuie. Ere long
hundred millions of people will in
habit IL. They will till It's fertile soil
they will work its fruitful mines they
will manufacture its raw materials
they will bring every force of nature
into corporation with every appliance
of art, and use beth with every device
of human ingenuity and every effort OF
human industry ia the development OF
its unrivaled resources.
They will he an active, enterprising,
self-reliant, audaclous people.
They will not submit to issolation.
They will require and they will have
free, uninterrupted, easy communica-
tion with the Gulf of Mexico by the
Mississippi river; with the Chesapeake
by the canals of Virginia; with SANDY
EOpk by the canals OF New YORK
with the North Atlantic by the lakes
and the st. Lawrence.
They will reach the Pacific by the
Northern and the Central and the
Southern railroads.
They will dig through the noun
tains OF Virginia, and import by the
way of Norfolk. They will thread the
valleys of Kentucky and Tennessee,
and load the ships of Charleston and
Savannah. They will build the levees
of the southern rivers. aud reclaim Ia
cttv ( on their rich alluvian.
They will sweep away every en-
hf r.assmeLt caused by a restrictive, or,
II YOU prefer the word, a protective
sySt m and they will demand every
Improvement in the burden of taxa
ton and i'm the benefits of currency
viii h tie most enlightened and sa-
gao ls civilization can suggest.
Aud | would fain believe In the
mi Is. of this splendid material advance
ment they will never forget that, in
the eyes OF God and humanity, they
are charged with the preservation OF