The Daily state journal. [volume] (Alexandria, Va.) 1868-1874, 1871-05-15
rHn MAN nF PRoGREss I


thorns and, foot-sore, will at last sit
down upon the highest pinnacle of human
ambition, closing his eyes to the world,
still hoping that those who follow, will
find that his labors have freed them from
the soul-aching trials which be has con-
quered.
These trials make heroes of men, for,
without struggling against bitter opposi-
ton, without warning with the opinions
of men, without originating new ideas,
without searching among unexplored
worlds of thought, without improving
we are but of the common herd feeding
out of the same platter, each grasping for
the richest food found at the bottom.
The world moves, and man must move
with it, Governments change, diseases
change, requiring new remedies, each by
scientific advancement keeping equal pace.
The physician who refuses to keep up
with the rapid progress of science, is sure
to be discarded as an "old fogy," and
kicked out of her path by the younger
and more inexperienced, but nevertheless
the more intelligent and better suited to
the times.
Our people, our Virginia people, and we
love them for their many virtues, while we
pity them for their obstiuacy in claiming
themselves in the damp, loathsome dun
geon OF despair, gallautly yet foolshly
fighting the great army of progress, which
is commanded by the Great Creator him
self, aud being led to victory with as
surances of certain success, in spite of the
puny resistance of man.
The man of progress, than whom none
can be so unpopular, does not stop to en-
quire into the pedigree of those who are
willing to assist him in his grand object,
nor will be scrutinize the color of his skin,
the fatness of his nose, or the curliness of
10 hair but only knows that he is aided in
his efforts to 90 che great work planned !
for him by the Almighty, and accepts it
with grateful heart.
1t would be strange to see the people of
the present day so bitter in their oppos-
ton to this progressive individual, but the
history OF all ages is but repeating itself,
leaving us without anything at which to
wonder
There is not a fash of electricity, bear
ing in a moment of thought messages from
here to Europe, which has not from its
inception to its completion, met with scorn
and derision. There is not cloud of
smoke curling heavenward as it is belched
forth from the bowels of some gigantic
engine, the powers of whose steam is driy-
ing mighty ships, burdened with the fruits
of enterprise across the great oceans, which
has not been savagely blown by the breath
of cruel opposition. Our railroads, climb
ing great mountains, dashing on with
lightning speed, laundering amid the hills
and valleys, quickly bearing us and ma
lures products from place to place, have
bsen compelled to run over aud crush with
their mighty weight the childlke forms of
thousands of opponents, who believed that
OK carts and numbering stage coaches were
sufficient to meet all the wants of man.
The roadside inn, at which "food for
man and beast" was dispensed where
chickens, butter and eggs of the neighbor-
hood found a ready sale, dared announce
to the lovers Of justice that they would be
destroyed if the railroads were permitted
to exist. Yet, in spite of them. we have |
railroads which furnish better markets. ele-
CANT and handsome hotels now mark the
spot of their past existence, and all traces
of opposition obliterated and discarded as
follies of the past. The history of the
''man of progress is the same from the
creation to the present time. He can find
ia all advancements of the past the same
opposition which he encounters, and yet
lie has never progressed SO far as to be able
TO discover an efficient remedy.
No science has progressed more rapidly,
or at a greater cost to the American people
than politics; and yet, its march is still
opposed. We acknowledge, therefore, the
more to be blamed, that in Virginia, the
Democratic party possesses the greatest
amount of talent and responsibility, and
yet what use do we see made of it?
1t is squandered and wasted perverted
from its original channel of purity, and
mixed with the filth and mud of oppose
tion to advancement. 1t, our boosted
talent, would make slaves of us all, who
honestly differ with it politically; it would
drag US bound hand and foot into an ac-
csptance of its ideas, instead of persuad-
ing US that we are in error, If such an
opinion is entertained. 1t is used to
oppose the prosperity of the State and
her people; it is found arrayed against
every effort to pull down the old and build
up the new, and is selfish in excluding
those who are prepared and willing to
assist u.s.
We have, 10 our mountainous regions,
a L. c G. =.