The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1883-03-31
MILAN EXCHANGE
sATrRDAY, NARcH al, lssa.
OUR NEGLECTED. RESOURCES.

'AANtA ttAtNA WDAANA WIZ AlNN0 bNC-A ny
friends and acquaintances from my
earliest youth. [ wish to say in the
very outset that | am Tennesseean
TO the manor born--that | love her
people as | love no other people on
earth-that the very name, the air,
the trees, the flowers, the song birds
Of that state have a meaning and
name to me that no other spot on
earth has ever had, and l have been
wanderer. What shall say shall
not therefore be written in malice or
set down in anger | only intend to
tell my neighbors and friends of
some OF their faults aud the true
remedy for them. shall state facts
exceedingly plain, for would be false
to myself, false to you, were | to say
that which is false when | tell you If
your mistakes. A long residence
among and familiar acquaintance
with people who are foreigners to
you prepares me for looking at the
shortcomings of my home people
when l view them from a foreign
point.
In the great problems OF life you
are far behind the age Two chains
bind you to the past which are curses
to you. Slavery taught you to trust
your work to other hands and taught
YOUR young men idleness Slavery
brought you the cotton crop for
money staple, and both are an unmit-
igated evil and a nuisance To-day
every rejecting man among you is
asking hims If the question, "Why
can't we make money? Why are We
not progressing in our industries?'
The answer is simply, you are
trusting your labor to idle hands and
are content if you can get negro to
raise your crop at thirty or forty cents
per day during the working season.
The negro does your work without Il
purpose and wears the life out of
your lands, and from my observation,
/ am led to believe that, taking the ne
groes who are of working age, they do
not get an average of twenty cents
per day the year around for their
work. No people on earth can sup
port such pauperism and sustain
themselves Such labor tends to
drive your young men who would
make intelligent laborers from the
farm to lawyers offices, to doctor
shops, to dry goods and grocery stores
and out of the country altogether.
The result is plainly to he seen
Your lawyers can make no money,
because the profession is overdone,
your doctors are starving, your clerks
get no wages and your girls, having
nothing to do Of consequence, sit al
home in idleness and grow up in ig
norance and poverty. If this is
kept up for a generation or two, youl
country will I've filled with a class OF
people fit to be classed with the Laza,
roni Of Italy, the Carbonari of Spain
AID the peasantry of Germany.
God forbid thisl Your climate i.
the most healthful and your indus,
tries can be made the most varied OF
any people under the sun. Stop and
/ ok around you.
The first thing you need is first
class school system, properly enforced
one that will not make your sons law
yers, preachers and doctors, but one
that will teach them to read and
think for themselves, One that will
teach them that all labor is rerpeect
able when honestly followed; one that
will teach your daughters how to
make attractive, thriving homes, and
that it is one of the very first duties
If true womanhood TO assume and
bear their share of the burdens OF
this life No people can ever be Il
progressive, thinking people who dc
not read good books, good magazines
aud good newspapers. They are all
cheap and are very essential in this
age Of reason and reflection. Begin
your work of reform right here No
community can have skillful farmers,
skillhh mechanics. or skillful house.
keepers unless It's members are taught