Whig and tribune. [volume] (Jackson, Tenn.) 1870-1877, 1871-11-11

ana use oI Ind4ureS, recelAeu more
than VIZ taken from them. II we
would cease to import calico and do
J mesties. knives and forks, pianos,
carriages and furniture, shoes, boots
and saddles, and the thousand and
, one aftities we use in every day life,
, ana make them at home, having a
surplus of them, and export what We
now import, our lands would regain
their original fertility There soems
70 be a general law governing these
matters, and that law is this: All
countries first partially exhaust
themselves by exporting agrieultur-
al products, and are then restored
when il becomes necessary for their
populations to engage in other Pur-
suits than farming for subsistence.
1t is natures great law for restoring
1 her equilibrium
| But, fellOw-citizens, our own peo-
pie must be first accommodated We
can secure no better class of popula-
tiOn anywhere. They have grown
up in the same habits of thought
with US. They are part and parcel
Of the glory of Tennessee, We must
keep them here. We must provide
them with homes. If they are work
ing men, by all means keep them.
That is the class we need-men who
are not ashamed to be found at
work, either in the field or in the
shop. We need men who viii look
into every part of their business
with their own eyes, direct 1t and
eeceHaRlize their time-men who will
read, and think, and work-men
who viii depend upon themselves,
/ add not upon q servile race; who viii
shape their own career; overcome
all difficulties that lie in their paths
to usefulness, honor and wealth.
/ We want farmers and mechanics en-
| ightened, educated, preserving, who
are determined to succeed. There
may be- difficulties in their way.
There may be lingering prejudices
against them; but earnest faith, per-
severing industry and patient toll
viii remove all these and lead them
] to triumphant and brilliant sue
/ cess.
1t is an egregious oversight COM
mitted by our people, especially by
our farming population, in fixing
their ewes upon the professions as
the goal and future destiny of their
sons. A greater wrong upon them
selves, upon their children, and
upon the country, & a more serious
blunder, cannot well be conceived.
The professions are already crowd
ed, and it is lamentable TO see so
many men who might be made ca
pable and useful, making themselves
respectable non-entities by wasting
their time, sitting their energies,
emasculating their mental capaci-
ties, blighting and whitening their
ambitions by trying to follow path
in life that is crowded to repletion;
and, we must say, with all due re-
spect to their followers, that the
professions contribute nothing ex-
eept by indirection to the develop
ment of the grand industries of the
world. 1t is sheer nonsense, it is
worse than folly, nay, it is criminal,
TO hold out dazzling professional
honors 10 all the youths of the land.
Let them be instructed TO believe
that in whatever vocation of life
they are engaged, whether in turn
ing up the rich, sweet earth, sowing
seed and reaping haryests; or rails
ing on high the majestic edifices that
bespeak the refined tastes, the cul-
tiYated intellects and the spirit of
the age, that in our time, at least,
and in America, success is the test
of merit. We live in an age emil
nently practical Great ideas and
great thoughts spring as readily
from an industrial education as from
a classical one. Who, for instance,
had. rather be the protector the
tunnel at Mt. Gents, than TO be the
translator of Homer, or the annota-
ter of Littleton Who would not ]
rather be the architect of our beau
tiful State Capitol. than the judge
who sits in il?
My fellow-citizens, il occurs to me
that the great mistake of the people
of.the south is that they do not snf-
ficiently appreciate the dignity of
these pursuits in which majority !
of them is engaged They seem to !
believe that work in the field or the |
shop is the vocation of boor; that |
respectability should never soil its |
hands by grasping the plow or the |
plane; that intellect has no connec- |
ton with agriculture or the arts. |
Never was there a more suicidal |
policy. The agriculture of every |
country in the world has been pros |
porous in proportion to the capital !
and knowledge of the actual culti- !
vators of the soil. IL the South must |
be anything in the future, it must |
be from agriculture and the mechan- !
ic arts. Politically it is dead. A !
generation must pass away before |
they can hope to regain their inAu- |
ence in the government, and that !
can only be rest tored by an increased
prosperity, an increased population, |
and an increase in wealth. Poverty |
in States is not respected. Influence !
results. from power and power from |
wealth and intelligence. To regain |
our lost influence in the government, |
we must build up our fortunes, and
to build up our fortunes we must ed
ucate our children, our first duty is
to teach our children the necessity,
policy and respeetability of labor.
God himself, who from chaos shap-
ed the fructifying universe, worked;
and man himself, while carrying
out the Injunction to earn his bread
by the sweat of his face, can elevate.
dignity and eXalt labor by educating
himself up to his work. The high
est examples are not wanting TO
cheer him on. From the farm, ,WheI e
he gave his personal attention TO de-
tails, Washington was called to the
I loftiest destiny ever opened to the
grasp of humanity. Jefferson, with
| the same hand that drew the declara-
| ton of independence, showed the
| spade and used the pruning hook
around Monticello. Webster, who
/ shook senates with the thunder of
| his eloquence, would vie with his
/ iaboreFs in manly strength in the har-
/ vest field. Nathaniel Macon, return
/ inc from his place in the Senate,
| would take his place with his labor
ers in the field: No. my fellow-eiti-
zens, there is no disgrace in coming
/ in contact with the soil. Our dis
grace is that we send the intellect
! and worth, genius aud industry to
rust out in professions that are
/ crowded. If we have sou who
/ talks well, he must be lawyer (; if
we have one that learns Greek and
/ Hebrew readily, he must be minis
J ter. If we have one that takes TO
/ chemistry. he must be physician;
and if we have one that cannot learn
/ at all, why he must be the farmer!
| That business upon which the sta
bility of the government rests, must
/ be left for the most ignorant of the
family, when really it requires the
most intelligent Times are chang
! ing, and ignorance is no longer a
necessary qualification for carrying on
a farm. Experience and knowledge,
! Judgment and prudence are essen
/ tial to a successful prosecution of IL
/ 1t calls forth the most varied quail
l ties of mind and body-patience and
care, diligence and zeal, energy, in
/ dustry and economy; tact to manage
| and Skill TO direct: fertility of re-