The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1875-06-02
JEFFERSON DAVIS ADDRESS AT THE
TEXAS STATE FAIR.
A Brief AIIusiOn 40 the War, and
Several 10 the H4adies-Ihe NobiI.
lily Of H-abor-Need of 6Ianufac.
tories in the South.

4
. honor. | have for many years de
: sired to pay a visit to your State
F / was prepared for all that hospitalit,
con d offer. | was prepared for all thai
Z. generosity could give In the day OF
trouble and disaster you would not turn
your backs upon me- This is your honor
: that while other nations have held THEN
leaders responsible and received them
with curses a. the authors of their mis-
fortunes, YOU have not chosen to hold me
responsible for your miseries. The wei.
come with which you have received me
makes me almost unfit for utterance.
GU are the descendants of those brave
men who, true to their Anglo Saxon in
stincts, achieved glorious victory on the
soil Of Texas, from the smoke Of which
the Lone Star rose and shone with bright
efmgence. With the recognition of your
independence you became fit to take
a place among nations. You achieved all
that could be achieved; but your hearts
yearned back toward the Union from
which you came. Four times and thrice
happy to stand in the presence of such
men Five times and four am | proud.
1t has been said that the last war was a
war of women. If so, | hug the charge to
my breast; | am proud of it.
| was told that | was not expected to
deliver you formal address nor shall
1 do If. But upon coming here [ find
that this Is the opening OF the State Fair,
and it would be like the play Of Richard
with King Richard left out if did not
make a speech. Your purposes are ag-
| rlculture, mechanics, commerce. Agri-
culture was the first employment Of man.
! From the record of creation-that record
which we know to be true-we learn that
when the Creator had separated the land
| from the water, created the fishes and
| the birds, one thing more was wanted to
utilize this creation to till the soil
| Right well has your President told you
OF the honor and the duty of work. But
there was still one thing more wanted.
Man was created out Of the dust of the
earth and made living spirit But
something more was required, something
nobler for the creation of woman-that
dust etherealized and ennobled was used
for the creation of woman, and we are all
the descendants of the Adamc race. BY
tilling the soil wealth is created, manu-
features change the condition Of the pro
ducts of the SOIL and increase their value
commerce interchanges their location,
and thus increases their value but agri-
culture alone produces wealth. But it
may not be that agriculture shall look
down on commerce and manufactures.
That would be as if the hand should say
to the head and the heart, what use have
| for thee? Mechanics and commerce
follow in the footsteps of agriculture. |
One of the two sons of Adam kept t1ocks |
and herds, and so you who live on the |
vast plains of Texas are included in the |
list Of laborers You have now reached |
point where manufactures are springing
up in Texas As a Southern man [ have |
often been ashamed that the very broom |
corn which grows in our fields is taken to
a Northern village, where timber is less
plenty than it is with US, and made into
brooms, brought back, and that our /
blessed women are required to sweep their I
floors with a Yankee broom. Why not |
make our wagons, carriages, and wheel |
barrows2 Why not make our own yarns |
The profit would be greater and the
freight less. Then you may go on and |
make cloth !; but it will not be until you
have a crowded population that you can |
produce the finer fabrics. l am not OF /
those who would have you turn away I
from fields to seek the profits which ag- |
riculture would give you more readily. I
| do not intend to tax your patience by |
telling you all / know about farming.
Mr.. Davis here made graceful al
fusion to the Changers, and the advan-
tares to be derived from concentration /
and accumulation Of capital.
hope the time will come, hecontinued,
when Texas will make all her own agri- /
cultural implements, and that our women /
may have time to read as many novels as I
they please, without being forced to help |
their husbands compete with Illinois IN /
the cultivation of their fields. To get I
our full benefit of good we must have /
direct trade. Direct trade will increase
the profits and diminish the cost. Direct /
trade will enable you to send out ships I
which, like Noah's dove, will go to and
fro over the earth promoting the peace of
nations Then, if ever, are nations to .
be unified, swords beaten into plowshares, I
and spears into pruning hooks. But TO /
do this we must have ports, and we will +
have them. | am glad to see that the .
works begun for the improvement of the I
harbor of Galveston are successful, and +
that there Is an equal prospect of the i'm
provement of your own bayou. The river I
Clvde was a smaller stream than your
bayou, suitable only for sloops and sehoon- I
ers but they have dredged it out until its /
artificial channel accommodates the larg- I
est shipyards Of the English navy. -
NJ. Davis here alluded at some length T
to the invention of a ship which proposed +
to carry 10, 900 bales on sixteen feet of
water By the aid of such ships he
thought that the harbors of the Gulf
would be served. This ship had been /
tried and found to succeed, making one
knot more to the hour than other vessels. +
Their great breadth of beam, so he argued,
would accommodate immigrants in large
numbers This brought Mr.. Davis TO .
the question of immigration, and he urged /
upon the people the necessity OF provid- /
ing for immigrants, establishing agencies I
in Europe, and argued that it would be
better even to pay for the passage of inn
migrants than not to get them at all. /
Mr.. Davis laid great stress upon the ne
oessity of making no promise which could /
not be sacredly kept. He showed how
the railroads had succeeded in bringing
immigrants to the country, and hethought /
that if they could do it to Northern lands, /
Texans, who had the advantages of them !
in soil, climate, and other facilities, could
do more. Passing in brief he reviewed
the products of the country, and said |