Knoxville Whig and chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1875-1882, 1875-09-01
Continued from Second Poge.)

passing what IS 20 De 1Ounu III buBlhHu
made rich by her vast deposits, or Sweden,
or the PANIED mountains of Missouri, in
convenient reach, are vast stores of coal
laid up for use in geological ages past. by
the force of the same genial sun that now
invites you to put forth all your energies to
utilize its efforts in your service. Nowhere
in the world is TO be found such abundance
and variety of mineral deposits. Nowhere
does bounteous nature so invitngly per-
suade man to tax his energies and procure
for himself all the blessings of wealth.
And let not the moralst say that wealth
is 10 be despised thatsman is so exalted in
being as to be superior TO its degrading in
huences Its not degrading nor TO lie de-
spised 1t ministers to our pleasures, in
creases our comforts, multiplies our re-
sources, commands for us political influence
and that consideration so gratifying to just
pride and laudable ambition. 1t provides
for us the leisure that gives opportunity for
the cultivation of the affections the devel-
opment of the intellectual faculties, and
the enlargement of the boundaries of
knowledge. The State that is rich is pow
full its voice will be heard its counsels
will be needed
How shall we Jas n people acquire this
wealth, and thus secure to ourselves and to
those who will come after us. Tho blessings
that follow in its train, and the ability, with
out daily sacrifices Of all the comforts Of
civilized life, to bear the great burthcn of
the debt that weighs so heavily upon us.
There is no royal way by which we can
attain to wealth. Our genial climate, our
fertile soils, our great deposits Of iron and
coal, will not of themselves become active
workers, and lay wealth as a tribute at our
feet. In the Providence of God. and ac-
cording to his decree, made the neXorable
law of our being, there is but one way by
which it may be acquired, and that is by
labor, and by the exercise of the virtues of
frugality and economy. In that way, and
by that alone, have other people become
rich.
To labor, hard, unwearying, ever ac-
tive, ever constant, we are indebted for all
that makes life pleasant; for our cultivated
lands and smiling fields and happy homes
We are indebted to it for the art that en-
bellishes civilized life; the science that
subdues nature to our wills, and for the
philosophy which throws its radiance upon
the dark shadows of this existence.
No brilliancy Of intellect nor splendor
of genius can supply the place of work;
the great men, the successful men of the
world, those who have borne down all op-
position, and moved steadily forward TO
the contamination of great enterprises (;
those who.have builded cities, have establish
ed empires, or founded dynasties; those who
have distinguished themselves by useful
science and philosophy or whose names
have become immortal by their great ac-
tions, without exception, have been great
workers
May l not, on this occasion, illustrate
my full meaning by referring to one who
spent the carly days of his life, and the
maturer years of his manhood, in your
midst; whose struggles and disappoint.
ments and great successes are familiar to
you all. To him, who, q poor tailor boy,
cast upon the world without a friend, ilit-
crate to the degree, that when he entered
upon mans estate he could not write his
name; spent the time wrested from the ne
cessity of unintermitting labor not in idle
ness, but in painful effort to gain some lit
tie of that knowledge denied to him by ad-
verse fortune, but freely bestowed upon
others, reared under happier auspices. His
life was a life of toll and this toll brought
to him his great reward.
From poverty he reached to wealth and
comfort. From ignorance he climbed to
the heights of knowledge. From obscure
ty he lifted himself to the greatest of earth
ly positions A; and now has gone down to
the grave, honored by forty millions Of his
countrymon.
What an example to the young men who
may listen to me to-day How encour-
aging the lesson to all of every age With
such possibilities, in this alone of all the
governments on earth, we should be taught
to prize more highly our free democratic
institutions.
1 have said that by labor, supplemented
with the virtues of frugality and economy,
we may become rich. This is not mere
opinion unsupported by facts. Your knowl-
edge ofsuccessful men establishes the prop
osition as regards persons; as to commun-
tiles il is proven by statistics
We have seen that Massachusetts, Con-
necticut, Rhode Island and New York are
rich and we are poor This unequal distri-
button of wealth is not the result of chance.
The Creator has left nothing to chance. His
government in the moral and social, as in
the physical wsrld, is government of law.
All is regular; all obedient to His will. As
we conform to that will, and subject our
selves to His laws, we have the right to
look for the rewards that He offers TO ODE
dience
Now, the rich communities, of which l
have spoken, have not more genial sun,
nor more fertile soils, nor more valuable
mineral deposits then we enjoy. Indeed,
nature has not not been 10 these SO kind as
TO US Their men have not greater Strength,
or natural capacities of any kind. What
is the cause FIR this disparity?
The census returns, to which have re-
terred, affords much curious and interest
ing information in regard 10 our people.
Among other things, it tells us who are at
work and who are idle; who and how
many are creating wealth, and who and
how many are drones in the busy hives OF
industry.
From these returns we find that in Rhode
Island 40 per cent. of the population, in
Massachusetts 80 per cent, in Connecticut
SO per cent, in New York 81 per cent. were
engaged in 1870 in gainful occupation, while
only 20 per cent of the people of Tennessee
were so engaged In other words, in every
one hundred persons we have eleven more
idlers than they have in Rhode Island, ten
more than in Massachusetts, seven more
than in Connecticut, and five more than in
New York. We have only 20 persons in
every 100, or, to give exact numbers, 367,
9S7 at work, and 800, 533 who are idle-but
this larger number includes the aged and
the infrm, the women and children.
But not alone in physical slOth have we
disobeyed the law Of our being. God made
man in His own image, and by so doing
gave TO him not only moral, but intellectual
faculties-e mind to observe, capacity to
think ana intelligehtly to direct his obedi-
ence to the command, that by the sweat OF
his brow he shall earn his bread Now, o
simple consideration of the waGts of man,
as he exists in civilized society, will make
plain to us that we have not rightly used