The Asheville citizen. [volume] (Asheville, N.C.) 1885-1889, 1888-03-01
sEC0ND ANNUAL DINNER
Of the Southern Society i'm
| New York.

many Southerners who have made
New FORK city their home, the pro-
motion of acquaintance and social
intercourse among Southern resi-
dents in New York, the extension of
proper courtesles to nonresident
Southerners who may from time to
time visit the city and the profer
of sympathy and a helping hand to
deserving cases of misfortune and
distress among the Southernera in
New York.
0ssS,tstayo 22d the Society held its
second annual dinner at the Hotel
Brunswick in that city. Mr.. John
C. Calhoun presided. A large NUNS
Der OF invited guests were present,
among whom were Mayor Hewitt,
Gen. Porter, Steven B. Elkins, and
our townsman Capt. c. NJ. McLoud.
Some admirable speeches were
made, notably those Of Mr.. Calhoun,
Mayor Hewitt, Mr.. Edward Atkin-
son of Boston, and Gen. Horace
Porter.
Among other excellent things Mr..
| Calhoun said we find the following
which will find an earnest response
for everv true Southerne::
New York'o great statesman, Sew
ard, thirty odd years ago proclaimed
an irrepressible conflict between the
North and the South. and when the
cause Of that confiict-slavery-had
been consumed in the terrible fire of
war, it was thought that the conflict
had ended forever. But not so =;
during the twenty-five years of
peace that we have since then en-
joyed, the South that was defeated,
broken down, exhausted, almost
indeed obliterated, has recuperated
its shattered energies and regained
its strength And we, tonight, of
the South and for the South, in our
turn now proclaim to the North
another irrepressible conflict, an
everlasting strife between the Sec
tons as to which shall contribute
most to the prosperity and the gIo>
ry of our common country; and in
this struggle, by the help of God, we
mean to beat the North if we can.
Already that conflict has begun in
earnest, and we are pushing it at
every point by filling up our waste
places, oy rebuilding our destroyed
cities, by inviting and welcoming
emigration, by developing our min
eral wealth, by encouraging our
manufactures, by extending our
railroads.
And if anything were needed to
obliterate even the memory Of the
issues which once parted us, but
which were settled by the arbitra-
ment of the sword, I rejoice that it
has been furnished in the new issue
now before the people. This new
issue wipes out all party lines and
forever destroys the last trace Of
sectional feeling. From now on, no
longer "the solid South )" we are
ourselves divided-some of us seek
ing alliance with New Englnad in
the demand for high tariff and pros
lection, the rest of us joining with
the great West IN opposition to both.
So that we are nov indeed united
with the North, and yet arrayed in
a generous rivalry against it. We
shall seek to excel in everything
that may add lustre to the stars and
color 10 the stripes of that banner.
And if ever again danger should
threaten that old fag-dear alike to
all of us now-we give fair warming
to the Yankees ofNew England and
the Hoosiers of the West, we of the
South shall try to be first, before
them all, at the front. in its defense.
MIR. Edward Atkinson, among
other very useful things, said:
The habit of thought which dis
eliminates between a cent and a
nickel may also become the STAN
dard by which prudent man will
be- guided in judging whether or
not he can invest capital in one sec
ton of the country or another.
A few davs since two of our mem
bers of Congress, who are identified
with the South rather than with the
North, visited Boston. l called
their attention to certain curious
facts regarding the State of Massa-
chus ztts, viz, that in 1855 more
than on9-fonrth part of the inhabi-
tants, now mum bering about two
million We're foreign born, and in,
cluding the ior. ign born more than
one halt were of foreign parentage,
yet such is the habit, of thought
which almost compels thrift in the
Stale that nearly every other person
man, woman and child is repre-
sented upon the books of a savings
bank with an average deposit of
1926, the sum of all the deposits
being now $325, 100000. Were the
deposits in savings banks and in
other similar institutions of the
whole country equal per capita to
those of my native State of MassaN
chusetts, the aggregate of the whole
wou d be over $9,000,O00,O00.
Yet there are many persona who
are trying to promote national
postal savings bank, the savings to
| be invested in bonds of the United
| United States-another measure oi
proposed Capitalization. But how
could the deposits of postal saw
ings bank be invested ten years
hence, or possibly fifteen, when il
spite of every effort of Congress tc
reduce the revenue, the public deb
| will have been paid to the last dol
lar, and there will be no United
States bonds for the investment o
such savings?
After my two friends had visiteG
: A. r.. GAk