The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1891-04-24
go SOUTH, YOUNG MANI"
Gen. John ellis Notable Speech
at Martinsville.

WINsToNSALEM, N. c., April 90
Especial Through the kindness of
Colonel L. IL. Fries your CORE
spondent was able to day to Sc
cure a copy of the able speech
entitled go South, Young Man." made
by General John Gill, of Baltimore, at
the Martinsville banquet upon the
opening of the Roanoke and Southern
road to that point. General Gill said:
Mr.. Chairman and Gentlemen Of Vir-
ginia and North Carolina: 1t was not
many years ago when Horace Gre, ly
gave utterance to those memorable
words, "Go West, young man." They
were uttered at time when our ewn
South had been devastated by war and
the West was the Promised Land. The
Government OF tho United States was
lending its credit for the construction
OF Western railroads, and substituting
them with public lands. The hidden
treasure Of gold and silver had already
made fortunes for many, and others,
allured with the same hopes, pressed on
tn, con Iue,t for wealth.
But those once virgin lands no longer
produce the abundant crops OF former
days, and each year brings tidings Of
distress and ruin TO the once thrifty
settler. The West is no longer the Ell
Dorado Of America.
Who're then shall we look for new
home, may we ask :? Is there any foun-
datiOn or Justification for rearing this
new empire of the South? Is it to be
lasting? Shall VIC encourage capital,
labor, home and foreign money to seek
investment within her border? an
swer the question by saying: 600 South,
ytung mani"
has &c l., -.
try on the face of the globe. Show me
any country which has equalled her in
development during the past ten years.
Here Cotton is king" 1t has the
monopoly of the world to-day. Rice
and sugar cane-these productions are
on the incle use. Inexhaustivc timber
and mineral resources keep pace with
the Appalachian range. Along its great
water powers the thrifty spinner builds
his mills.
The North must now come to the
- 'uth If she wishes to continue to COM
pete in the manufacture OF cotton
fabrics. Likewise the competition of
Southern iron in Northern markets has
further directed the attention of North
crn capitalists to the advantages offered
by the South
Then the greatest of all her a.trac
tions Is her climate. Nature, indeed,
seems TO have done her best for this
favored land. The orange groves and
the ash and the weeping willow mingle
their sigbs with the surge of the Allan
tic and the Gulf of Mexico. To-day we
assemble to inaugurate the opening of
the Roanoke and Southern railroad
from Winston to Martinsville. / see
around me the men who by their in
fiuence. capital and energy have brought
this work thus far. The enterprise is
unqucstionably u much needed one 1t
opens to the North and to the South
country richly lowered with untold
mineral deposits. Here you have the
finest soil for the cultivation of the
finest grades of tobacco, wheat and corn
and the largest manufacturing interest,
OF the kind are centering within the
borders of your own State
AT Roanoke the infant Chicago of the
South, you meet your natural ally, the
Norfolk and Western railroad, which
has already done so much for the de-
velopment of the country through
which it passes.
1t is believed that in short time the
Baltimore and Ohio railroad will also
extend 1t valley connection South to
Roanoke. The business of the road and
the movement OF ores and manufactured
goods should be enormous. Coal from
the Pocahontas fields will pass directly
over this route, and become accessible
to every Southern railroad, every South
ern furnace and every Southern hamlet,
at much reduced rates from present
values.
Your road has been honestly and we'll
constructed. 1t is worth far moro than
IL cost. Your confidence in it, and your
support Of it Will be abLndantly re-
wardrd in the near future.
The further extension of I'll e road
south from Winston promises results
equally as good. The Richmond and
Danville, Cape Fear and Yadkin Valley,
the Seaboard system and the South
bound railroad, now moving north from
Savannah, offer new connections. Your
road will thus be united with the great
southern systems, and share in the new
and heavy traffic. enriching all these
lines. Nor will this prosperity be CON-
find to the road alone, but your towns
AMI cities will feel an augmented i'm
petus in wealth and growth. New popu-
lation will flow in and found now cities
and kindred Birminghams.
This Is the conclusion to be rcacht
by sue ;css, and in so much as you have
we'll accomplished this part of your
undertaking, you give the strongest as
surance that the whole viii be as we'll
and speedily completed. You deserve
success and will command it.