The Atlanta constitution., 1895-09-23

ever bomelv wits The powers of the
brain are like the fire in the flint. col
lision with bright steel Of other minds IS
essential to evoke the sacred spark. rms
exposition carefully studied VIII be hp-
.ral education for thousands who attend
It, To be attained, knowledge must be
sought. and what JOY il imparts! What
matters to the ignorant man the clear and
lucent clorics OF the dawn, the zephyrs
which attend il and scatter incense 10
delighted naturci What the mysterious
dome of heaven inlad with patines OF pure
gold, what the rolling billows OF the deep
and dark blue ocean, what the mighty
grandeur of the storm. the life-giving
breeze, the green fields, the placid intelh-
gence of domestic animals.
"A primrose by a rivers brim
A yellow primrose is to him,
And it is nothing more
But TO him whose mind is stored with
knowledge every suggestion of nature
brings its JOY and fills mis- heart with inn
ages of indescribable beauty and ineffable
charm.
But the utility of this exposition to our
state and our section is especially signih-
cant. and especially opportune. The
prophecy Of the generous Bishop Berkeley
the friend and associate of Oglethorpe,
has been completed:
{" Westward the course of empire takes its
way.
The four first acts already past
The nth shall close the drama with the
day
Times noblest offspring is the last
The Vests Civilization.
'"The young and strong civilization Of
the west has reached and appropriated the
golden shores of the Pacific. 1t found
foothold along the Atlantic. from the bleak
and icy rocks of Labrador to where the
tepid waves of the tropics break over the
fantastic coral and the cleaning sands of
the Florida keys. II thronged the noun
tain passes which divide the Atlantic slope
from the great valley of the Mississippi.
1t appropriated the alluvial plains and
mighty forests of that garden of the con
tinenL Across the Father of Waters it
pursued its way, toiled up the tilt of the
continent To serratcd SUBMITS of the noun
tains which the ridge pole of America,
and thence downward To the golden strand
of the occident. II assimilated all the
healthy blood that came. But the old
Anglo-SaNon stock has ever predominated.
The advancing wave was fringed with the
fierce wildness of the frontier. Westward
has been the inspiration of our history,
and since the westward shore Is reached,
the tide of strong and resourceful men,
strong backed, brown-handed, upright as
many channels TO the fruitful and opulent
land which in their westward progress
they had passed with but glance. There
We're grave reasons which iNerted this
army of civilization from the soil os the
southern states Slavery was here and the
toiling masses from other lands could not,
OF would not. compete with the slaves. But
when slavery had bean abolished, the OBJ
stacles to healthful immigration were
scarcely less insurmountable. What was
termed the negro prcblem'-that is the
doubt entertained by mutitudes as 10 the
effect of the presence of the negro upon
the life and advancement CT the southern
people-was ever present. There was never
the slightest danger of continued negro
control in the local affairs of a southern
state. Those who apprehended it had done
wcll 10 consider that of all the American
union, the southern people present the larg-
est percentage of the old Anglo Saxon
stock. OF the white men of Georgia per-
hans 30 per cent are descended from men
who were patriots either actively or in
sympathy with the American revolution.
Even now there is but ia per cent of for
eign blood i'm the population of this state.
They had done well to consider the i'm
perious and commanding nature of the
Anglo-Saxon race. They might have re-
fiected that the twelve provinces OF India,
with one hundred and fifty fcudatory
states, an empire of one and a half million
of square miles. and peopied with two hum
drcd and forty millions of dark-skinned
en- are under the absolute control of men
of our race who inhabit little island on
the other side of the world. And yet the