The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1871-11-23
SPEECH
GOVERNOR WALKER
DELIVERED AT THE
DANVILLE FAIR

1kAEN " 4LLI EA41V ~.
Fezzoao- Citizens, Ladies and Gentlemen
[ find that some one has taken an unwarrant
ed liberty with my name, for [ am told tina
/ am announced for speech here to day
When [ visited your Fair two years ago,
promised to visit you again. am here to.
day in fulGllment of that promise, and for the
purpose of observing what progress you have
since made in the development of your agri-
cultural and mechanical resources, and the
general advancement Of your material inter
ests. And when say to you that am more
gratifed with the evidences of prosperity
see all about me aud on every hand, am
giving but faint expression to the feelings Of
satisfaction and hope which they inspire.
Danville seems endowed with new life and
new energy. New buildings are being erect
ed and old ones renovated; your business
men are active and hopeful; your artisans en-
ergetic and confident Everywhere an air OF
activity, progress, and prosperity seems to
prevail. I am rejoiced at this, and the more
SO because it is evidence Of the highest char
acter that the country around and tributary
to DanviHe is recuperating and again becom
ing prosperous. We all know that the coun-
try is the fountain-head Of municipal life, and
that agriculture is the foundation upon which
is reared the superstructure Of all commercial
and manufacturing industries. Blast the one
and you destroy the other, but prosper the
former and the latter fourishes In fact, the
growth and prosperity Of towns and cities are
a verv correct measure Of the prosperity
which obtains in the country surrounding
and supporting them. If this be correct
criterion, who can doubt that our State has
really started out upon career of progress
and prosperity? When WIS Danville, or
Farmville or Staunton, or our capital city Of
Richmond, more prosperous than now? It
may be that they have not the accumulated
wealth of former days, but wealth alone is
not the measure of prosperity. but rather bus
iuess-acsive, paying, profitable, expanding,
and increasing business: nd this we have in
this and other towns of the State. And does
not this revival Of prosperity in our towns and
cities indicate the growing and increasing
prosperity of our whole State, just as the
glimmering sheen heralds the splendor Of tho
coming day
I see in the faces before me in this vast au-
dience the evidences of hope for tie future
The faces of your old men and your young
men are cheerful. see it here to day, saw
it in Farmville few days ago; saw it moi
long ago as passed through Staunton, and
saw it in vast assemblage at Lynchbure
last week | congratulate you, fellow-citi
zens, upon this cheeriulncss and hopefulness
and 1 congratulate you, gentlemen Of thu
Border Agricultural Society, upon the en-
success of your exhibition, and up
on its inspiring effect upon all your people.
You, fellow citizens Of Virginia, are to b.
especially congratulated upon these things
but our felow-citizens of North Carolina
who have joined your undertakings and ar
partakers Of your success, are likewise to b
heartily congratulated. l would congratu
late them, too, upon their good fortune ii
living SO near to the borders of Virginia.
Laughter and arpl u.s.. a.4g
do not intend to assert that all our peopl
are prospcring That day never has arise
and neryer will arise when universal prosper
ity prevails. What do mean to say is tina
the State as awhole is prospecting, that W
have reached and passed the turning point i
cur fortunes, and that henceforth our. pre-
gress Will be upward and onward. I hay
most profound respect for the past, but
have never yet been able to comprehend tn
wisdom Of wasting our time, and exhaustn
our vitality in believing the ashes Of depart
ed greatness with our tears, or in singing jer
cmaids ever what we have lost. Reason
| manhood, patriotism, al alike summon L
away from puerilities ike these. and bid I
take position in the sturdy, battling rank {
present and prospective progress. The pas
| is gone, and gone forever but, drawing 10
spiration from its lessons Of wisdom, its great
ness, and its glory, let US maufully grasp tn
living present with its vast opportunities an
its magnificent possibilities. Never befor
/ in our history had Virginia brighter pros
poets than she has to day. Never before. ma
her sons higher or holier incentives to actor
Our people are becoming wiser IN their ger
Grafton, and are tettsr understanding thel
own condition and wants; and our vast ayr
cultural and mineral resources are becomln
better understood abroad.
| In the past our internal Improvement 10
| lev looked mainly to the development Of th
agricultural portions OF the State, but no
attention is turned toward our mountain
where lie buried, almost in virgin purity, III
told millions Of mineral wealth-the re;
wealth of Virginia. Railways are heingr
idly pushed through, across, and bctwcse
these mountains. Soon the Goals Of kanawh
will be melting the iron Of Augu ia and oth'
western counties. Indeed, | confidently b
lieve not only that the young men here b
fore me, but even those whose heads, likem
own, are silyered over with the frost Of yea
or, it may be, the weight Of w;siom-wl
yet see the day when the Blue Ridge, fro
the Potamac to the Tennessee line, will |
lighted up with the glare Of a thousand fu
naces. rsF.fa. as .y s.ga5
EelloE-citizens, what State in the emit
| South equals Virginia in present advantag
or future prospects? What State is poss'esst
Of commercial and manufacturing faellltl
| like ours, or what State has 50 genial al
,,~t, a