The comet. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1877-1882, 1881-06-11
ABIRDEEN'S WELCOME TO TIIF
PRESS.
EIoquent speech Of Col. IT, q.
RcnOlds.

Mr.. President ant Kem5ers ey' tie Press is-
) S0ctdtaoA:
1t has bncn made my pleasant duty to
) welcome you to Aberdeen; to extend to
you, in behalf Of its cititiZens, the hOspi-
, talities of their homes and their laldations
, of the profession you represent.
, We do not welcome You and we do not
praise you as poets, whose lines are lsped in
every Cline, nor MS philosophers, who have
, "dissipated individual cases by spread
ing them upon all mankind" nor us yictO-
: riOus warriors returning from the cannon
SCARED batte-felds, nor rs statesmen, who
have swayed listening Senates, or who have
run tilts with Presidential knights, and
with shattered lance and glittering prizes
lost, have come home not TO 'sulk," but to
be remounted and refreshed for other
jousts. While your Association lightfully
boasts of its poets and its philosophers Of
its warriors and its statesmen, yet we do
not welcome you because of these lordly
claims to public applause.
We welcome you us the Press AssOcia-
ti0n; rs the editors Of the State of Missis-
sippi, upon whose efforts her future wei
fare so much depends-yOu, who weekly,
and tri-weekly and daily, send forth the
seed-thOughts which are :" be planted all
over the land, and from which the "thistlc
or the iig," the evil or the good will spring.
You scatter these germs of truth or of error
everywhere, you send them to the student
=. in the common school and in the college
TO the lawyer in his office; to the preacher
III his pulpit TO the physician in his study
to the mechanic in his shop; to the farmer
in his field and by his dreside; to the
woman as the sweetheart and the sisterand
as the wife and the mothcr-yOu are the
instructors in all the fields oil thought of
the youth and manhood of Mississippi.
a The trust which your profession confides
7 to your keeping is no ordinary one; the
destiny of Mississippi in part is in your
charge. Her material as well Ms her moral
interests; her civilization demands your
watchful care. Her quilted hill-sides, her
unditched valleys, her half titled fields and
| her virgin forests claim restoration and de-
yelopment from your pens. Her tieecy
staple, now spun by Northern spindes and
woven by Northern looms, asks that its
| tribute OF wealth be bestowed upon its
rightiul possessor~-the people over whom
II rules tyrant king. Her railways
through which sluggish commerce now
flows, begs for combinations and extern
si0ns until the swelling tide of prosperity
shall innndatc the State.
| How this development can be best effect
ed, shall not elaborate, but shall content
myself with n suggestion. We have ac-
ceptcd rs conclusions that we must diver
siiy our crops that we must produce what
| we consufne; that we must change our
mode of cultivation; must improve our
| labor, must supplement labor with machin-
| cry; that we must abolish our pcrnicious
credit system Of liens and mortgages; /; that
| we need immigration and money that we
must encourage manufactures, build rail
roads and educate our people. What we
need now is action-aggrcssive execution
of conclusions. We do not want mere
theories we do not want precepts, for we
have had cline upon line aud precept upon
precept;" we do not want resolutions, for
We have been resolved dd naUsedm, for
these without action, to quote the language
OF another. "arc barren stupidities-a body
without life an engine without steam
a channel without water;' procept with
out example, faith without works. Mere
sign-bo2rds which point TO greatness and
glory, but stand still aud never make the
Journey they point out TO others, We want
bold, decisive and energetic action upon
the part OF our people, and OF our men in
public station and that they shall dare to
do something for the prosperity of Missis-
sippl. We must organize an army of in
vasion, carrying banners upon which are
Inscribed our conclusions, composed of
men and women who have not chung their |
harps upon the Willows" nor sat down by
the rivers of Babylon and wept when they |
remembered Zion," who shall burn their |
bridges behind them, and with il overrun |
this land, and make of this Babylon u second |
Jerusalem. We want the iitOrs of Missis- |
sippi organized as corps Of sharp-shoOt- |
ers TO lead the advance and bring ON the |
action. While some of you and some of |
us may fail and fall, let our greatest glory |
be mot in never falling, but in rising every |
time we fall"
There is no occasion for any gloom or
dependency as TO the future of Mississippi. |
The present outlook Is full of encourage
preston on account Of the disastrous year
through which we have passed, this is hut
a Hitting cloud which, when IL has passed /
away will leave the day brighter and
purer than before II came. Our agricul-
tural interests are improving, and while we
still acknowledge the regal power OF cot
ton, we DO not submit TO his undisputcd
sway. Manufactures are springiDg up.
New railroad enterprises are being set on
foot, and old ones that were supposed 10 be
sleeping their last sleep, are being brought
10 life again, and In the near future the
State will be ytalized by these arteries Of
prosperity. Our common school system
brings the blessing OF education 10 every
race. and without making IL GENEROUSLY ex-
pensiye, IL IL now rs nearly perfect rs IL
can be made with our sparse population,
with the demands Of our agricultural sys-
tenn upon our laboring class and with our
present seant supply Of skilled teachers.
In almost every locality, may be found the
migrant who has come to link his fortune
and destiny with us, and while now the
stream Ia small, IL Is but the riyulet which
is to mark the course OF the coming over
Rowing flood. Our people are industrious,
law abiding and moral, the representation
OF sectional political partizans and Of
Others, bidding for the prize which climate
and soil award us, to the contrary, not
withstanding. We assert the fact. and we
are prepared TO sustain IL, that the per-
centage Of crime among the white race in
Mississippi isiess than Il Il In any Northern
state YEA, more, that the percentage
amongst all classes and races in Mississippi,
does not exceed that Of New England T;
and that the crimes charged against and
committed by our people are the result Of
impulse. sudden passions, and not Of de-
liberation and Of degraded natures. The
percentage Of our population, who are in
good Fellowship in the orthodox churches
Of our State, Is not less than in those 10
caiities where they pirate OF their religious
professions and practices, the latter Of
which consists mainly in hate TO the South,
and the defamation OF her people. II l.
our pride, and not a vain boast, that our
pulpits preach revealed religion, and not
political religion, nor religion Of hate; and !
hat the seeds Of socialism, rationalism and I
which have been wafted TO
Dur shores from their European fields, and I
which are now bringing forth fruit In the
and Of our Northern sisterho0d, find the I
oil aud climate Of Mississippi uncongenial ,
4ua - se ~ Etot utIes Inc IbCVtu VI VIZ | {
past attests our devotion TO principle, and I
1ur patriotism. We have shed more blood, ,
expended more treasure and made greater
'aerffces FOR what we then thought 10 be
light, and what we were then and before
aught 10 be right, than any people, Of
hts century. We have pledged ourselves
70 = peoble, we have given the parol Of
'Oldiers 10 maintain the honor Of the Fed 2
raj GOverument, and the integrity Of the 8
constitutional Unien Of these States. The 2
of this pledge has become our !
,olitienl faith, and duty Which our patri- 2
.tism makes obligatory. The record Of 2
he past IL most solemn aftestation that
We will be true 10 our trust, true 70 our 7
aith. true 70 patriotism, and that The '
wrecks Of the past shall be the links TO \
ind together the union of these States. =
We have The fnirest land on this conti- '
Icnt; nature has bestowed upon u gins
Nth libernlly lavish hand; u is land Of
ruInt and of memories" Let ne by
InIted and decisive action make it the
ome Of wenlfh and prosperity; the home
4 religion and q intelligence; the home
NE Of the Northern aud Southern
rofhsr. The home o. free thought and Of