The Greenville times., 1882-12-16
The Mississippi River and Valley.

At eAS D"h'lNNp W ouptdih t<duo,
in New Orleans, on the 9th, the
Rev. DR.. Thompson rallied to roll
call as follows:
My friend Mr.. Burke has con-
fessed to an attack of the "Valley
Fever.n With me it is chronic
case. have had the Valley fever
for thirty years.
The tone of the speaking here
tonight is very familiar. 1t is the
genuine valley brag. Bat it has
the reality behind it. 1t is the
brag that has settled the North
west, laid 10000 miles of railroad,
and built Chicago.
The rest of the world stands
sometimes aghast at it, and some
times amused at it. But we who
know, are coolly aware that no
words Of ours can express our
conception of the possible might
and grandeur that awaits this cen
tor of a continent which yonder
great river drains.
Thomas Carlyle was not an ex.
citable man, except when he had a
more than usually severe attack of
dyspepsia, aud then he wasn't en-
thusiastic save in Homeric denun-
citation, but Thomas Carlyle, apro-
pos of the Malthusian fear Of the
worlds over-pOpulation, made a
mathematical calculation that the
Mississippi Valley could raise corn
enough at the moderate estimate
Of 30 bushels to the acre, to feed
ten times, | believe, the present
population of the world.
! said and put in print, years ago,
that unless by an accident like that
which occurred lately, there would
never again be President elected
from East Of the Alleghanies.
Since 1860 the chief magistrate
has been river man. Only an
accident now makes it otherwise.
] dare stand by the prophesy, be-
cause here politics are national, in
the east they are sectional. The
heart of the laid must lead the
land. The typical American has
his roof.drip drain into the Missis-
sippi, and moro and moro the
power and the numbers and the
genuine Americanisms grow where
the cotton and the corn grow.
That the inland sea, 2000 miles
in length of navigation and drain
ing the richest territory on the
globe, is national, and to be cared
for and considered nationally
seems self-evident to those of us
who have lived on its watershed
from st. Paul to the Passes. What
ever be the sectional politics o.
the politicians, that is the dumt
conviction of the people.
Well do ! remember, in the fal
Northwest, the emotion felt ant
acted on when that great gaunt
American of tho Valley,
Whose words were rife
With rugged maxims hewn from life,n
staggering with a staggering loat
under the awful burden of an aw
ful war, gave voice to the people't
dumb conviction in those memo
rable words which to him and tC
them expressed the justification o.
their cause: "The great river mus
run unvexed to the sea-"
The Northwest gave its bloot
like water to keep the river oper
from Itasca to the Gulf. 1t wal
the national cause they felt, fol
the river was national. And now
for the same end, shall a bit o
money be begrudged when the
harvest of the rivers waves, al
we all work and pray for, is fooC
and clothing, plenty and peace
the worlds bread and covering
and no longer the terrible harves
that is plowed for by the cannon
shot and moved by the rifles
) leaden sleet9
We here honor IS our guest
man who has grasped the centra
conviction that the zone that binds
r the lands heart must be unbroken
, and who, in deeds down yondel
at the South Pass. has written ou
2 Abraham Lincoln's words in (;
happier hour and with happier in
c struments-"T The great river mus
run unvexed to The sea-
-D-e-a-
Government expenditures las