The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1876-07-19


u Mississippi, June >, 1876.
GENTLEMEN OF THE ALUMxI SoCIE
TY:-Among the characteristics whic
dignity and exalt community, State 0
nation, few are more important tina
material prosperity. Relieving the pee
pie from struggle for the necessaries Q
lie, and yielding to their labor comfort
aud luxuries, it opens to them new field
Of civilization and happiness Pushe,
out from the shadows of obscuritY int
the current Of national life, such peopl
take among the States Of the earth
position Of dignity and power SixteeI
centuries ago a historian Of Imperia
Rome wrote Of an island in the Western
ocean covered with continuous fog, anC
Inhabited by wandering tribes of war
like barbarians. Today the British
isles are the heart Of the Commercial
world, and the head of an empire which
girdles the earth, while Rome, amidst
her weakness and poverty, is only great
/ in the vast ruins of her eternal capitol
| Curious is an inquiry into the causes
which bring to one people wealth and
greatness, to another poverty and ruin.
At the Athens of Mississippi, my coun-
trymen, | thought l could talk to you
| about no more interesting thing than
the nlateriaL prosperity Of our State.
Nature has not been unkind to Missis-
sippi Her soil is wonderfully fertile.
Animal and vegetable life abounds.
The State is watered like a garden. A
network of brooks and rivers covers her
surface. On the East flows the Ala
bama and its tributaries. On the West
roll the turgid waters of the Mississippi.
And her Southern shore is washed by the
Gulf Of Mexico. Her climate is suited
to the luxuriant growth of the products
of the temperate zone. We have no hot
times, like the summers in China, when
the thermometer rises to hundred and
ten degrees, and to venture into the sun
is To die. Nor have we any cold seasons
like our Northern States, when the rivers
are frozen and nature is robed in snow
From the census Of 1870 has been
made, under the supervision of the ma
tional government, book showing by
charts, the comparative physical condi
ton of the different States of the Union.
By the chart exhibiting the comparative
wOodness, it ia shown that in most of
the great West to which you want to i'm
migrate, there is scarcely a shade tree,
while Mississippi stands among three or
four Of the best wooded sections Of our
country From the chart showing the
comparative rainfall, 1t appears that rain
falls in that Western FL Dorado but in
FIVE weeks of the year, and water ls meas
ured to the people by inches, while more
rain falls in Mississippi than in most
parts of America. And by the chart
showing the comparative healthfulne~s,
it is seen that the piney woods of MISS
sippi are as free from disease as the
mountains of Virginia, while the rest of
our State bears favorably comparison
with the other States of the Union.
A glance at the map will show the
Territory of Mississippi was deformed in
taking from it the great cities Of Mobile,
Memphis and New Orleans. Those
cities which should be additions to her
commercial wealth, are three leeches
sucking the life-blood from our State.
But enough remains for all commercial
purposes. Do you ask for a harbor?
Along her whole Western border flows
the Father Of Waters, deep, broad, capa-
cious enough to float the navies of the
world.
If the rock of the natural resources of
Mississippi wero struck by the wand
of enterprise, what waters of prosperity
would gush forth.
There was the Netherlands, a misera
bic marsh, the prey of the ocean, covered
with continual togs, swept by perpetual
winds. and wrapt in the SHOWS and ice of
semi-aYctic winters. Had we owned such
a country we would have used it to ride
over in batteaus and shoot reed birds.
Bat the Hollanders have rolled back the
ocean and fenced it out with their vast
dykes They have chained the winds,
and building windmills along the dykes,
have taught the storms to drain their
country and work their factories. They
have erected magnificent canals, through
which, in summer ships of the greatest
burthen are sailing, and in winter time, the
Hollanders travel over them on skates
and in sIeighs Every acre of land
which can be rescued from the ocean is
subjected to most beautiful cultivation.
There is country built up in the teeth
of adverse nature, Yet under the man
aoement of such Statesmen as Egmont,
De Witt and the Princes of the House OF
Orange, that little nation, one-fourth the
size Of Mississippi, became the richest
State in Europe She defeated Spain,
warred successfully with the great Louis
Of France. contested with England, the
sovpreipntv Of tbe seas, and her fleets
sailing up the Thames, their gyms were
heard in the streets OF London Iheh
Holland became the head of the Protes-
tant c6alitior, SaTe Der Stakeholder as a
King to Britain, and assuming the bal
snce of power, dictated the fates of Eu'
rope. c
The natural resources Of country are
the sole foundation on which can De
erected the superstrueture of It's wealth
Az far as the natural resources 81 ilssls
sinni exceed those of the Netherlands,
orr natural wealth may surpass that OF
the Netherlanders.
The source of national wealth in Mis-
sissippi is vast, uudeveloped. Most OF
II lies below the surface. 1t is like an
iceburg. V h2se island-like top floats on
the ocean, glitteriHg AZ the morning sum-
while its base is buried in the uEtathom-
ed depths of the sea.
But natural resources alone cannot
make a nation rich. Countries to whom
nature has been most l<yfsh in her gifts
are insignificant and poor, while those to
whom she has dealt with sparing hand
are rich and powerful. Poland, with her
mineral wealth, fertile plains and deep
shadowy words, sleeps al tbc foot OF the
Alps in comparative Indulgence ana want
While on their snow-eapPed s1mmIS
with nothing but her heritage of rocks
rests Switzerland in attiuenee and ease.
Mexico, rich in the products of every
zone. with mines Astounding in minerals,