The weekly Union times. [volume] (Union C.H., South Carolina) 1871-1894, 1877-06-01
PRESIDENT nuNcAs,s SPEECH IN CHARLES.


PRESIDENT nuScAsE'SS ESs. SPEECH IN CHARLES
We copy the remarks of Hon. ID. r
Duncan, President of the Spartanburg anG
Asheville Railroad, made in Charleston or
last Thursday, on the occasion of rccep
tion given by the Chamber Of Commerce tc
the company of Western merchants who
are on u tour through the South Major
Duncan was called out at the meeting by
the Yicc-President of the Chamber OF
Commerce as the representative of one OF
the great routes from Cincinnati to Charles
ton" anG spoke as follows:
!M. President and Gentlemen
Having just arrived in Charleston on bus
mess connected with the work which have
the honor to represent, an invitation was cx.
tended to me to be present at the welcome
given to the solid men of the West aud
Northwest who honor us with their presence
IN day Il. isS pleaure as unexpected as il
is gratifying. TO look into the faces of so
many Of those who largely represent the
commercial and manufacturing interests of
those great sections, the States of Ohio,
Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois, is an op-
portunity we heartily enjoy and the value
OF. which we all, am sure, fully appreciate.
While looking over the register at the
Charleston Hotel this morning one of your
party cnquircd of the clerk if anybody was
in the city from Spartanburg, Stain that he
and his brother left there in 1919, nearly
twenty years before your humble speaker
was born. Both of these gentlemen desire to
visit the old land. What changes. sir, have
been wrought since 1919! Not foot of
railway iron was then laid in the United
States, nor for years after that period
Among the earliest started was in that day
known rs the old Charleston, Cincinnati and
Louisville Railroad, link in which line we
are now struggling to build. This was over
forty years ago. Since then, sir, thousands
of miles of railway have been constructed,
and your great West aud Northwest has
become net work of iron roads, Your
cities have been rising up like giants, and
many Of them quadruplc in population and
wealth any of those on our Atlahtic coast
For these forty years we have been travel
ing over the two sides of triangle to our
smoke houses and corn cribs in the West
and Northwest. Other lines from other
sections have been built and in operation for
years at enormous outlays Of money and eff:
fort. Words are good enough and, we'll
spoken, arc cheering; but you business men
well know the greater value of pocketbooks
in accomplishing great works. There is no
substitution for them. We thank you for
your congratulations that we arc free once
more, even though our freedom has come
through an ordeal that has made us too poor
to enjoy it. ,.tEet we have life; Yes, a life
asd asfslf s36f che good 81 ~ Es6s Vars q
come. Poor as we are, we are nearly ever the
mountains which have separated us like an
insuperable barrier, and although We
have climbed slowly and fccbly yet what
We have done has been well done, and the
most gratifying thought is that thus far our
work is about paid for. We have not pdi.
ted for help from your great States. In our
weakness we have shown strength enough
to scale the Blue Ridge and offer you line
that passes that mountain range without IL
single tunnel and at cost per mile not
equallcd, the topography of the country COZ
sidered, on this Continent Nothing, gen.
tlemen, would give me greater pleasure than
to have the qualification of returning you
home through the centre of our State, via
Ashevile, direct to the City of Cincinnati.
We cannot do SO today, but we confidently
pledge you, if you devote sixteenth Of the
cost of your great and creditable "Cincin-
na.i, Southern" line to our project through
the Cumberland Gap. or via Knoxville, we
will invite you to repeat this visit, before
the close of 1878, to the City of Charles
ton, not by the way of the Chesapeake and
Ohio, but by the cheapest, most direct and
practicable route from your great and grow
ing section to the South Atlantic Coast, that
can or ever will be constructed. Great
applause.]
YOUTHFUL FoLLIEs.-Times like these