Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1875-06-04
JEFFERSON DAVIS.
His Speech at Houston. May IIth,
atIhe Texas state Falr.

evidences of your affection not to be
emitted TO that honor. 1 have fOl
many years desired to pay visit to
your State. / was prepared for all
that hospitality could offer. [ was
prepared for ali that generosity cOuid
give. In the day of trouble ard dis
aster you would not turn your backs
upon me.
This is to your honor, that while
other nations have held their leaders
responsible, and received them with
curses as tie authors of their misfor-
tunes, you have not chosen TO hold me
responsible for your mlserles.
The welcome with which you have
received me makes me almost uutit for
utterance. You are the descendants
of those brave men who, true to their
Anglo-Saxon instincts, achieved giO-
rious victory on the sill of Texas, from
She smoke of which the Lone Star
rose aud shone with bright etfulgence.
1t has been said that the last war
was war of women. If SO, l hing the
charge to my breast; l am proud Of
it. / WAS told that | Was not expected
to deliver you formal address. Nor
shall L do it. But upon coming here,
[ find that this is the opening Of the
State Fam, and it would be like the
play of Richard, with King Richard
left out, if L did not make speech.
Your purposes are agriculture, me
chaDics, commerce. Agriculture WAS
the first employment of man. From
the record of creatlon-that record
VIII ch we know to be true we learn
that when the Creator mad separated
the land from the water, created the
/, ~ L.,
was wanted to utilize this creation
man to till the soil. Right well has
your President told you OF the honor
and 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 some
thing more was required, something
nObler for the creation of woman
that dust etEerealized and enuob!ed
was used for the creation Of woman,
and we are all the descendants of the
Adamic race. By tilliug the soil wealth
| is created, manufactures change the
condition of the products of the soil.
and increases their value; commerce.
interchanges their location, and thus
increases their value; but agriculture
alone produces wealth. But /, may
not be that agriculture shall look down
on commerce and manufactures. That
would be as if the hand should say to
the head or the heart. what use have |
for thee ? Mechanics and commerce
follow in The footsteps of agriculture.
| One of the two sons of Adam kept
| fOcks and herds, and so you who live
on the vast plains of Texas are in
| clud Il i'll the lists of labOrers. You
have now reached a point where man
ufactures are sprlDglng up III Texas.
As a Southern man L have often been
| ashamed that the very broom corn,
which grows in our fields, is taken to
Northern village, whore timber Is
less plenty than 1t is with AIS, and made
brooms, brought back, and that our
blessed women are required to sweep
! their floors with u Yankee BROOM
! Why not make our own wagons, car
riages and WheelbarrOWs ? Why not
spin 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 from fields to seek the prof
| its which agriculture would give You
! more readily. | do not intend to tax
your patience by telling you all know
about farming.
Mr.. Davis here made a graceful al
lusion to the Graugers and the al van
| tages to be derived from a cOncentra-
| ton and accumulation of capital. Ii
is deeply regretted that the eXigencies
| of the telegraph will not allow the full
| production of this and some other pOr-
tiOns of his address.
[ hope the time will come when
Texas will make all her own agrl cul-
tural implements, and that our wo-
men may have time to read as many
novels as they please, without being
forced to help their husbands com
pete with Illinois in the cultivation
of their fields. To get our full bene
fit 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
which, like Noah's dove, will go tC
and fro over the earth, promoting the
peace of nations. Then, if ever, are
nations to be unified. swords b atal
into plough shares, and spears into
pruning hooks. But to do this WI
must have ports, and we will have
them. l am glad to see that the work:
begun for the Improvement of th'
| harbor Of Galveston are successful anC
that there is an equal prospect of th'
improvement of our own bayou
| The river Clyde was a smaller strean
than your bayou, suitable only fo
sloops and schooners; bnt they hav
dredged it out until it's artificial chan
mel accommodates the largest ship
y, rd OF the English navy.
Mr. Davis here alluded at som
| length to the invention of a shi
| which proposed to carry ten thOusan
: bales ON sixteen feet water. By til
aid OF such ships he thought that tn
> harbors OF the Gulf would be serve 4
This ship had been tried and found t
| | succeed, making one knot more to tn
= hour than other vessels. Their grea
e | breadth of beam, SO he argued, woul
/. | accom- madte i'm immigrants i'll large nun
{ bers.
J.! This brought MIR Davis TO the que'
1 ton of immigration, and he urge
: upon the people the necessity of prt
i, vlding for immigrants, by establlshln
!, agencies in Europe. and argned thu
|, 1t would be better even to pay for IL
G passage of immigrants than not g
l. | them at III.
k MIR. DAVIS laid great stress upon Il
~ necessity of making no premises whic
l. could not be sacredly kept. He shoN
u ed how the railroads had succ eded
e bringing immigrants to the cOuntr
Ii and lie thought that if they could do
l. TO Northern .lands, Texas, which HI
4 the advantage of them in soil, china
,r aud other facilities, could do NOR
t Passing in brief, he reviewed ii
as products of the country. But 1t
le only after you have raised everythil
is man wants to eat that you can
r this. When you go to al inhabitat
,e Great Britain and tell him that Tex
a produces all kinds of fruits al
le grain, and then that you import 20
,d meat and -four from the North, he m
IA not tell you that he don'5 believe yo
ic but he hardly does. You must n
.,f