The Iola register., 1891-04-24

festation of your respect and friend
ship; and yet even i'm these few mo-
ments which am able to spend with
you, L hope 1 shall gather and pos
sibly be able to impart some impulses
that may be mutually beneficial.
am glad to see with the eye that OF
which L have been kept informed
the great development which is tax.
ing place in the mineral regions of the
Southern States. / am glad that you
are realizing the benefits of diversified
agriculture, and that the production
upon your farms of the staples which
you once bought elsewhere is largely
increasing. There has been received
i'm the South since the war no less
than $4,000, 100000 for cotton and
while / rejoice in that / am glad to
know that in this general region there
are now 1901 acres devoted to rails
| ing watermelOns. Laughter. No
farmer, certainly 10 planter, i'm that
old time would have consented to sell
watermelons. You are learning that
things which were small and despised
have come to be great elements in
your commerce. You are realizing
benefits of home markets for what
you produce, and I am sure you will
unite with me in those efforts which
we ought to make, not only to fill our
own markets with all that this great
nation of 65, ,000, 900 needs, but to reach
out TO other markets and enter into
competition with the world for them.
| GCheers.l This we shall do and with
all this mechanical and commercial
development we shall realize largely
thaG condition and unification of heart
and interest to which those who have
| [Cheers. / add the wish that those
gentler and kindlier agencies of the
school and church, of a friendly social
life may always pervade and abide
with you as community. lCheers.
At Birmingham, where a tremen-
dous crowd awaited him, he said:
GOVERNOR JONES, MIR. MAYOR
AND FELLOW CITIZENS:-The noise
of your industries will not stay them
selves, / fear, sufficiently to enable
me to make myself heard by many i'm
this vast thrOng which has gathered
to welcome us. judge from what we
have seen as we neared your station
that we have here at Birmingham the
largest and most enthusiastic con-
course of people that has met us since
we left the national capital. [Great
and prolonged applause.l For all
this / am deeply grateful. 1 have
read of the marvellous development
which in the last few years has been
stirring the solitude of these southern
mountains and remember that many
years after the war when / had re-
sumed my law practice at Indianap-
oils, I was visited by a gentleman
known, 1 expect, to all of you, upon
some professional business, but he
seemed to he more interested in talk
ing about Birmingham than anything
else. Laughter. That man was
Colonel Powell, one of the early pro-
moters OF your city. [Cheers.] l
listened to his story of the marvellous
wealth of iron and coal that was
stored in this region; of their nearness
to each other and to the limestone
necessary for smelling; to his calcula-
tions as to the cheapness with which
iron could be produced here and his
glowing story of the great city that
was to be raised, with a good deal of
incredulity. laughter L thought
he was a visionary, but / have re-
gretted since that did not ask him
to pay me my fee in town lots in
Birmingham. Laughter and cheers.
MY countrymen, We thought the
war great calamity, and go it was.
The destruction of life and property
was great and sad beyond expression,
and yet we can see now that God led
US through that red sea to a develop
ment in material prosperity and TO
fraternity that was not otherwise pos
sible. Cheers The industries that
have called to your midst many toll
ing men are always and everywhere
concomitants of freedom.
"Out of all this freedom from the
incubus of slavery the South has
found a new industrial birth. Once al
most wholly agricultural, you are
you have added all this. [Cheers.
cotton and you have added an increase
IN ten years of nearly 800 per cent to
the production of iron. You have
produced three-foruths of the cotton of
the world, and it has brought you
since the war about $1,000. .O00, 900 of
money to enrich your people, but as
yOI yOu dIe splHulnS III tue foOutu only
8 percent of it. Why not, with the
help we will give you in New Eng
land and the North, spin it ali?
[Cheers.l Why not establish here
cotton mills that shall send, not the
crude agricultural products to other
but the manufactured pro-
duct? CCheers. Why not, while |
supplying 65,OOO,OOO of people, reach |
out and take a part we have not had |
in the commerce of the world. |
Cheers. 1 believe we are to see now
a renaissance in American prosperity |
and in the up-building again of our
merchant marine ICheers. |
believe that these Southern ports,
that so favorably look out with invi-
tations to the States of Central and |
South America, shall vet see our fleets
the American flag and the |
products of Alabama to the markets
Of South America Cgreat cheeringl, in
this we are all united. We may diff
fer as to method, but if you will per-
nit me, will give you an illustration
@ show you how we have been deal
ng with the shipping question. IL