Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1876-05-13
From the Upton Record, April 18th
HON. ]. b. KILLEBREW.

On Wednesday and yesterday, Col.
J. b. Killebrew, State Commissioner
of Agriculture, Statistics and Mines,
was in our county and took quite an
extensive survey OF the country. tie
is well known as the author of the
Resources of Tennessee" and Is a
contributor to the agricultural Journals
of the State. Hon. Holmes Cummins,
DIR. w. II. Hill, Capt. Jas. l. Halland
others accompanied him IN his rambles
through our fields and forests. On
Yesterday he visited that geological
curiosity known as Milestone Noun
tain" on the farm of Col. VIM. San
ford, north of CoviDgtOn. We have
not yet heard how it impressed him.
Wednesday evening a number OF
citizens, accompanied by the Coving-
ton string band, serenaded Col. Kille-
brew at his rooms, and, in compliance
with an urgent request, he went with
them to the court house and delivered
an address to an attentive audience.
Every one of his sentences was preg-
nant with thought and bristled with
facts. He said that the Creator, In
forming our continent, had given Ten
nessee more than her territorial share
of all the elements of wealth. In the
center was her pasture, in the east her
mandatory, in the west her granaTy.
Nothing was needed but skilled labor,
we'll applied, to lift our State from the
financial Slough of DespOnd, and
place her on the rock of enduring sue
cess. For this labor we must not look
wholly abroad, but much of it must be
found at home We should not sit
supinely by and see our heritage pass
into the hands of strangers. True,
they should be encouraged by the open
palm of welcome and bounty to come
and abide among US, but we and our
children must be co workers with them.
All around us are elements of wealth.
We have coal fields which would fur
nish fuel for world. HARDLY are
great cliffs of iron, with bases as broad
aud pinnacles higher than the famous
Iron Mountain of Missouri. In West
Tennessee we have great forests of the
best timber, high ridges, dry and suit
able for pastures, and level bottom
fields that weary the eye by their vast
ness. lie had in his office at Nash
willie $50 specimens of Tennessee mar
bic, including all colOrs, from the jet
black to the purest white. This mar
BILE rivaled the Scotch granite in hard
ness and the Parian in frmness ofgrain
and delicacy of color. Our ore and
coal fields are so vast in extent that If
only one dollar per acre were added to
their value our State would be richer
by over six millions of dollars, and the
only thing needed to make this vast
addition to our wealth was intelligent
aud we'll directed labor. He had seen
in Upton county alone rich woodlands
lying idle, which, if seeded in proper
grasses, would furnish pasturage
for stock to supply the State mark
cts with meat. The Creator had
so opened the veins of our mountains
that they poured forth streams of the
purest water, with sufficient volume
and power to do the work of many
thousands of human muscles. And
yet we sit with hands idly folded over
such lap of wealth In Massachu-
sets each man, woman and child pro-
duced annually four hundred dollars.
In Tennessee, with a more genial
climate, greater variety of products,
richer soil and people the peer of
any in natural ability, each man, wO-
1llu anu Glllu DEOhuNO0 OhAg HtftStI-
SIC dollars. Why is this In MGssa-
chusetts the manufactures give en-
plovment to those classes which, in
Tennessee, are living in ldleness. Here
we use only our muscle IN producing
the raw material there, they use their
brains and skill in giving that material
those shapes in which it is useful to
man. In exchange with them we are
under the necessity of giving the pro-
duets of three laborers for the produce
of one. In other words the form and
direction of their labor makes one man
produce in actual cash as much as the
labor Of our three. Under such sys-
tenn nothing but the fertility of our
fields and the richness of our ore beds
has preserved us from utter ruin. This
system is now making us groan under
only twenty odd millions of debt. With
our energies properly directed we could
carry this debt and not feel IT as more
than feathers weight. Would 1t not
be better to set about devising the
means to pay this debt than to huntup
excuses for Reputation We could
not afford to repudiate. individuals
can do this-they die and they and
their faults are forgOtten-States can
not; they live on and dishonor clings
TO them more closely and fatally than
the shirt of Nessus Let us lift up
our heads, string our energies anew and
work on, work everything our fields
with muscle directed by brain-work
our ores and woods into the thousand
shapes to supply our own and others
wants-bridle and harness the results
that rush down our hill sides and
making them perform our tasks; loose
them to glide through rich meadows
and soon we shall be erect with pride
and strength, laughing at the burdens
that now Cypress us-and our beloved
State cleared of the clouds that now
envelope her orb will shine the bright
est in the galaxy of American amend
We regret that all Of our citizens
cnnid not hear the address. L had
sbont il the ring Of truth, and all who
- .ers, present went away with food for
fhnneht We hope Col. hilleDrew
nav find Il convenient TO visit Us again
&nnAuTwa