Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1881-12-28
\ LETTER FROM TILDEN.
The sage of GraystOne Oh the Resourc
and Developments OF the South.

The sage Of GraystOnc Oh the Resources
and Developments OF the South.
GRAysTONE, Dec. 17.-TO the Execu-
tive Committee Of the International Cot
ton Exposition at Atlanta-Gentlemen
have had the honor to receive your reso-
tiOnal cotton exposition as your guest, and
John II. lnman and NJ. B. Fielding as
special committee to communicate them
to me. | have also had the honor of
personal presentation of a copy of the res
lutiOns at the hands of those gentlemen,
accompanied by Governor COlquitt, the
president of the exposition, and General
Gordon.
1t is with much regret that | feel
obliged to deny myself the great pleasure
rendered me with such distinguished cOur-
tesy- 1t would delight me to interchange
friendly greetings with the citizens whom
| should expect to meet at Atlanta, and to
avail myself Of so favorable IN Opportu-
uity for observing with my own eyes the
elements Of industrial growth which prom
Use 4 future of marvellous prosperity to the
Southern states. Above all, | desire to
contribute my influence, however incon-
siderable-it may be, towards encouraging
u movement to organize investigation and
intelligence concerning subjects ofvast i'll
terest, not to the South alone, but to our
whole country and the world.
l may venture to hope that the public
spirit which created and has sustained this
exposition is not exhausted, but that the
signal success of this first essay will in
ducc similar efforts, attract increasing
public attention to them, and secure for
them wider corporation and mere perfect
development.
The last time l visited those islands
which were the homes of most of Oar AL
cestors l realized what benefaction it
was that had set in these heavens sun
which is generally radiant, and sometimes
blazing. 1t is what climatologists call the
upward curve in the hourly and daily tides
of heat which makes our $50 million
bushels of wheat !. sure crop, which ripens
our 1,750 million bushels of corn, and
which enables us to grow six million bales
of the best and cheapest cotton.
The invention which separates by ma
chincry the fibre Of the cotton from the
seed gave 4 new comfort to every freside
Better clothing at less cost was a boon to
mankind. The fact that one half of the
present cotton crop is the product of white
labor Las dispelled the illusion that the
Caucasian race had been excluded by
Providence from their natural share in SO
important a culture, and assures in the
future an ample supply of labor from
sources of indefinite extent. This result
derives momcntous importance from the
fact That the actual culture of the cotton
is now applied to less than One-thirtieLh
part Of the lands embraced in the cotton
belts.
The development Of your agricultural
industries will soon be followed by manu-
factures. Amature community, while it
is cnlarging the positive volume of its eX-
tcrnal commerce., increases the proportion
of domestic manufactures which enter
into the local consumption.
The advantages of superior adoption
of climate, soil, and other spontaneous
bounties of nature, and of a geographical
contiguity to the market, are legitimate
protection to the local industries, founded
Oh the greatest productiveness of human
labor in supplying the wants of man, and
| upon the utmost saving in tho cost of
transportation between the producer and
consumer. 1t contrasts with the artificial
devices Of legislation, always unskillful,
and often perverted by selfish greed, which
generally have tue effect of diminishing
the productive power of human labor,
just as if the soil were rendered less fertile
or the climate less genial by act OF Con-
gress, in order to enable the deluded bcne.
ficiary to make some profit out of enter
priscs otherwise unremunerative.
The South is rich in natural capacities
of production, rs yet mainly unappropri-
ated. To utilize these capacities is a
beneficent process. Its results may come,
not so fast or so soon rs some may hope,
but predict that when they do come they
will in their magnitude transcend the
anticipations Of the most sanguine.
Your fellow citizen,
SAMUEL J. TILDEN.