The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1888-03-08
/ BRIGHT PICTURE FOR
THE SOUTHERN STATES.

I
| in magnificent. resources and grand
possibilities of future wealth and pros
perity than the Southern States What
we need is aeuelepmeat-the improve
nlent Of our opportnnities-the proper
utilization Of our varied and extensive
natural resources. Under the above
caption the Norfolk Public Leager
has the following:
twenty-five years constitute bat a
brief period in the life of nation,
yet what marvellous changes are fire.
guently witnessed in Tess than half
dat time When France exiled her
most intelligent and skilful workmen
the statesmen CT that country little
thought that the foundation was being
laid for England becoming the great
est manufacturing nation in the world,
but such WAS the case. So when the
power Of the Northern States had been
exerted to its utmost against the South,
but few thought, when they saw the
desolation and ruin which extended
from the Potomac almost to the Rio
Grande, of the possibilities in store for
the PROSTATE section. Yet, at ban
quet given by the Southern Associa-
ton in the city Of New York on the
night Of 22nd Of the present month,
Hon. Abram S. Hewitt, Mayor of that
great city, and whose manufacturing
industries cause him to be the largest
employer of labor in the United States,
made use of the following language in
referring to The struggle which closed
in 1865, and the results which have
attended it:
81 have heard your fight spoken Of as
the Lost Cause. 1t has paid you bet
ter than any other cause. The South
never knew what it was to live and
prosper until it lost its cause. When
everything the South held most dear
was swept away, and you were weeping
IN the valley Of the shadow of death,
you come to the resurrection with
wealth won by the labor OF freemen
and not of slaves. [Creat applause.
You never knew what you had until
you had lost the frail crop upon which
you had planted your fortunes. God
had filled your land with every ele-
ment of wealth, but it remained I'M
developed in the presence of the blight
Which you neither understood, nor rec
ognized. Now you have turned your
attention to the resources which God
has given you. and the irrepressible
conflict is taking a new shape. 1t is
conflict between the manufacturing
States of the North and of the South,
and the victory is already perching
upon your banners. [Great applause. ]
In the future production of this coun-
try, it will be registered in successive
censuses, in fact before the lapse of the
century, that the Southern States of
the Union will far outstrip Pennsylva-
mia and the other manufacturing
States of the North. 1t was the North
that lost by the outcome Of the rebel
ion; not you. The victory of the
North was, in reality, Its defeat, and
in future the greatest friend and sup
porter Of Constitutional Union will be
j the South"
No man in the country is better
qualified than Mr.. Hewitt to speak on
the subject. He feels what he says.
The employees of his factories in New
Jersey, numbering in the nelghborhood
of a thousand, desired an increase Of
wages about year ago, when he made
them the liberal offer of letting them
have the establishment if they would
pay him FIVE per cent. on the capital
invested. The offer was declined, and
the establishment will probably be
closed because it is improbable.
Mr.. Edward Atkinson, of Massa-
Chusetts, also testified to the possibili-
ties of this section in strong language,
the following being an extract from
his remarks:
Do not think that l underrate the
factory, the furnace, or the great work
shop. The imperial deposit of iron of
the world, as it was rightly called by
the late Sir Isaac Lothian Bell, lies
down among the fields Of Alabama,
hanked With limestone on the other.
In no other place in the world, l be-
lieve, brought to the furnace at SO
small cost Of labor measure in time
or hours of work. You cannot help
making iron if you would and you
could.
We welcome every success in the
construction Of a cotton factory in the
south. The world is not yet half
clothed, and there is enough work for all
I ofus in providing the cloth. The wonder
full supplies of your oak bark will draw
to you the hides for tanning, whether
you will OF no, until through the di
versity even of liberty, your home sup
ply Of hides will make you exporters
of finished leather, besides supplying
your own wants. Of what should we
build our factories except we had the
abundant supply of Southern pine Z
Your wealth OF hardw God timber COM
pels you to develop all the arts Of the
Toodworker, sending the partly finish
ed material for the present to- the
North to be completed. And you