Wichita eagle., 1888-03-18

ruptcy, followed Dy conululOh VI ah"iShy
will be the ripe and mellow fruit OF uneX-
ampled prosperity when divorced from
honest ambition and unshackled by noble,
generous, industrious, thoughtful prlde.
Prosperity unchecked, untempered is
dangerous Reverses are wholesome. The
furnace shows whether our men are pot
metal or steel
Let me alter Goldsmith's lines:
III fares the city to Fastening ills the prey
Where wealth accumulates and men de-
Liberal, ambitious business men the city's
pride,
Once destroyed can meier be supplied.
Let us welcome our reverses as mercles
sent, bringing to mind that wealth is the
means not the end of life, bringing TO
mind that there is a giving that but IN
creaseth, a withholding that makes us
poorer: that those oasis and green spots IN
our memory's waste which gives us the
greatest pleasure. round which our fondeSt
recollection cling, are the triumphant
fruits of our most :, laboriouS under
takings at the time in our several
lives when freedom from debt, a comfort
able home, good health and employment
were our highest aspirations and 1t seemed
like tempting providence to demand more.
The most of US have been there.
That which we earn, we relish and Is
husbanded. Gifts are lightly esteemed
gotten. God Almighty has implanted III
man a sentiment that makes him relish
the bread he earns, and to become sour
and morose when he occupies the station
of a pauper.
Our board of trade relishes pork. We
earned it. / doubt not that the first DOld
Wichita ham will be to us as delectable as
was Ambrosia to the Grecian gods.
Hard times have business value. EX-
perience proves that depression in prices
is the result of SCATTERING rotten system
of business methods and which re-eStab-
fishes trade and commerce on a firm foun-
dation, has a commercial value and is prov
ocative Of grander results and bears richer
fruit than years of languid ease and uneX-
ampled prosperity.
With our pride and ambition was it any
wonder that our board of trade felt i'm
PEELED to avoid losses and bring prosperity
out OF dependency? So far as great man
ufacturing and industrial enterprises are
concerned, in July last we were insolvent.
Iethargy, dry-rot, dependency were fast
setting in and we were recedlng. Our re-
served power came at the opportune mo-
ment and from thence we have advanced
as no one could have dreamed, notwith-
standing the jeers and taunts of Missouri
towns in Kansas, towns who forget that
we, Wichita, are the pillars of
the Kansas temple and that if
will fall mass of ruins, followed by
a train of calamitieS which years cannot
repair or decades restore.
Our reserve power energy, pluck and en-
durance, harmony of thought and pur-
pose, unitcation of forces and complete
concert of action in the accomplishment of
a work, together with the liberality Of our
people, and almost entire absence of those
ap0ioEieS-those miserable creatures of
whom Shakespeare said, God made them,
therefore let them pass for men," is the
wonder and establishment, surprise and
amaZement of even our own people, and
has challenged the admiration of every
people who have read our short history
and awakened an interest in Us as an orig
inal genius, not for what we We're; or now
are, as III the progressive type of western
energy" which we typIfy, the coming
event which cast the shadow the indis-
Tinct image, shadowy outline, and faint
representation of bold creation whose
near probabilities are now beyond the
reach of that base envy which withers at
another'S JOY, And hates that excellence
it cannot attain" and if our Board of
Trade cheriSheS that enthusiasm that has
lowered over it making duty delight.
unity its guiding star, laborious effort a
pass time and the associations that cluster
around orr Board of Trade rooms an hour
of genuine heartfelt pleasure, our posi-
bilities are beyond the reach of conjecture
1t is not my intention to weary you, but
as the poet says, Let the fair subject of
my discourse bespeak me favor in thine
eye and be my eXtenuation."
The subject matter OF my toast arouses
so many kindred thoughts that it is hard
to find a period. Wichita was young ani'
l was young not long ago. My heart was
IN that plastlc-State when maturity was a
century old, age was as eternity. She
wooed and won me
''O'er my heart stealing -thrilling blood
Fancy the charms her modeSty conceal
ing
Like flower in the bud, half opened
rose its beauty revealing"
She cast her spell and bound me with
silker cord and in me wrought a found de-
sire, a single thought. | played Mare
anthony To her Cleopatra, Romeo to her
Juliet. The web and wool warp and fiber
of my existence is my boundless, iilimita-
bic, unreasonable faith IN this board of
trade. Oft times my mind presents me
with fanciful vision of a gladstone hour.
when the commerce of Kansas. following
the course OF the melting mountain snow
shall rush by our green fields and through
our rich valleys Oh to meet the Sun-warIn-
ed Zephyrs coming northward laden with
the perfume of the Oleander and redolent
with the fragrance Of the magnolia, ever
and anon overlooking the hungry earth
that eagerly receives its bounty on and on.
at last emptying its reSidum in the guilt
below: the ebb and flow of whose salt
tides" on the hand bearing our over pro-
duCtion to the old world and returning to
us laden with such of its commodities as
our sagaCity and wisdom dictates sh Duld
be purchased rather than manufactured
Freeing us from forced communication
with the eastern sea-board, finally
giving us that competition among sellers
that enriches the buyer and yielding to
freight carriers, dividends and not subsi-
dies.
Faith that the day is not far distant
when from Oak street to Kellogg between
Fifth and Mosley, there will be a gridiron
of side-trackS and the commerce of Wich-
ita will equal the balance of Kansas.
Faith in the grandeur of a future Wich-
ita, the beauty and Sublimity of whose
designs in architecture will appeal to the
eye and mind as bouquet in ice, as frozen
music. and arouse those emotions that are
awakened in the heart of the earnest man
rs he stands underneath the dome of St.
PEERS cathedral in Rome
Faith in a future Wichita to be built 10y
this board of trade, thoughts of the throb-
hing of whose great business heart, swift
as electricity through my veins drives my
thrilling blood.
Who that lived in Wichita during that
gloom after the grasshopper devastated
and rlddled our green fields. even as the
vineyards of France Were riddled and torn
by Bismarck's iron dice of Destiny" has
not faith that the west shall vet proudly
wear US as the richest gem in its diadem
set in cluster of Kansas Jewels?
Who of the old boys cannot eXclaim, We
came to Wichita poor; no friend but
health, industry, ambition and confidence
She hath not kept the word of promise to
our ear and broke it TO our hope. for full
filment hath quickly followrd on the heels
of bounteous promise. Hungry she gave
Is rnnIat. nalnl She clnt bod :, lInI,Su