The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1891-09-03
CITY BUILDERS.
THE TOAST RESPONDED TOBYJO-
SEPHUS DANIELS,

THE TOAST RESPONDED TOBYJc
SEPHUS DANIELS,
, At the Press Banquet in Winston
Salem.
N T H E l. S.
49, IN 119 oftoasts respond
IL, :" GhN I'M ed to at the ban
3 - 8 quet given tn
{ e Nll 7: Pres; H z::ss;s::s !;
| +I~9A ~ lem, was the fol
- HSNLLSH lowing: "Th'
II 81 y EAgk Manufa turers
II ~ the Merchants
~ the Builders o
Cities and Promoters Of General Pros
perity.' Responded to by Josephu:
Daniels, Esq, of the Raleigh Stat.
Chronicle. He said:
len years ago, for the first time
my feet sank into mud that made the
streets of Winston the precursor to the
real estate boom that has astonished
the State. l carried away on my
shoes enough of your dirt to give me
the title in fee to Winston-Salem real
estate, and from that day to this no
man has had more confidence in the
sticking qualities Of your dirt. When
ever man dabbles in it he wants
more of it, and cannot be satisfied
until he has invested his surplus here.
only regret that my foresight had
not been as good as my hindsight for
if l had seen what prosperous place
your merchants and manufacturers
would build here, l could, with the
dirt that impeded my progress then,
have established Winston Salem real
estate boom that would have laid the
Zinzendorf in the shade.
Since that time the most striking
progress has been seen in your streets.
1 do not believe that your excellent
system of street improvements has been
altogether inaugurated SO much to add
| beauty to your city as to prevent dep
relations Of your dirt which is getting
as valuable as gold dust and passes as
readily as silver.
The education of to-day has evolved
itself away from the painful pro-
cesses of the days of Solomon. We
teach now in kindergarten schools,
and information is impaired by object
lessons. Fifty years ago men theorized
about city building and read descrip-
tions of how ancient cities were builded
into great uses and magni6cence.
Called upon tonight to speak of the
men who build cities, do not need
to refer to theories or histories. l cast
my eyes on the wonders which have
been wrought here and say: "Circum-
spicere. I give you in the 14,ooo,-
900 pounds of leaf tobacco sold here
within nine months; in the 500 per
head paid for tobacco for every man,
woman and child of the 10000 in
Forsyth county; in the So plug tobacco
and IS other factories, extensive wagon
works, wooden mills, cotton factories,
etc., that pay out over one million
dollars year in wages, an average of
Is cents for every man, woman and
child in the city; in the 100000
worth of new buildings put UP here
last year; and the s1,5oo,ooo worth
to be erected this year; in the street
car lines, electric lights, telephone SER
vice, belgian block and macada mized
streets; famous schools that are known
throughout the continent, an object
lesson. 1 turn to these enterprising
and progressive merchants and manu-
facturers and proclaim: "These are
the men who have built this splendid
city, and these are the city builders OF
the age.'
What has been already wrought
here is but an evidence of what the
decade closing in 1900 will witness.
Since this association met last in your
then aspiring village, $4,000 addi-
tional souls have been added to your
population, and l hazard nothing in
predicting that the increase as own
by the next census will at least double
that OF ten years that has just closed
and you shall have added to your
number many thousands more.
Not many days ago l heard friend,
prominent speaker, deliver an ad-
dress to gathering of farmers. He
described the burdens which the legis-
lation of quarter of century had
brought upon the farmers (and if it
were not forbidden to touch upon the
domain of politics l would say that he
could not draw that picture too darkly)
and after a detailed statement of the
effects of that legislation, he turned
and with fine effect said: "Where are
now the palatial residences in which
the farmers Of this county resided
twenty-five years ago9 Where are the
luxuries and comforts p
l did not interrupt him but l want
ed to say: "The farmers of this county
never lived in palaces or enjoyed luxu-
rious living, and they reside in better
houses to-day and have more comforts
than ever before in their lives"
I<Of all the hctions invented and
Transmitted, the most tiresome and
absurd is that the Southern planters in
an,e-bellum days lived in palaces,
dressed in purple and fine linen, Jared
sumptuausly every day. They did no
such thing. A very few had large,
roomy houses, but there is not in Old
North Carolina five hundred palatial
residences, and very few were the fam
lilies that lived in luxury. This is true
of the South as whole. Go through
it and count the fine residences of the
olden time, and the fiction is discov-
cred. A mere handful of people com
paratively were able to live without
labor hut for the great mass of white