Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1897-09-06
COL. FORDyCE's SPEECH
Ny trlend. ana tsIlow eItI.ens Of fine.


 Hun: .,..,
 am glad to meet and greet you on this interesting occasion; especially lntetesV,ns -s and pleasing to me because of the iacp tisae IL was in this city more than si1teeh seaie ago that my first official acts iu conneciioh
 with construction Of this road were per
 formed. As viee-President and treasurer came to you aImosta stranger, but shall never cease to be grateful for tue kindly feceptiou you then accorded ne and tue other oinciats of the company. To tie late W. J' raraiioio o' rhe first President Of the roao you afe nioio indebted for it's building than any one else
 He 1t was who first conceived the laea oi eA tendinR what was then the Texas and St
 Youts pstlroad in Texas, northward through thia state and Missouri to Cairo, Illinois IT was then that was called upon by him to assnme the duties previously outlined; so that since the winter of 1881 my connection wfth the enterprise has been continuous; ga wfee-President and Treasurer and as reeeiyer and President. Twice as re- ceiver and twice as President.
 Ii was fn my official capacity as President ..4;0,,,ai asa main line changed from narrow to standard gauge, and more 1han six hundred miles of new road were buflt and acquired in the States of Missouri, Arkansas, Texas. and Louisiana. Worthy and contemplating citizens of Tyler. Texas, .5 made the beginning, and from that beginning has grown the Cotton Belt System of nearly i,5CO miles of main line, spur tracts and siding.s
 Tn order to give our patrons better facili- lies. and 10 increase the volume of business, we are having constructed a line from one of our northern terminals to Grays Point on the Miss. River in Missouri where the cross Ing of trains will never be interfered with by ice or high or low water, as it has been in the past at Birds Point and Cairo. We shall now overcome that difficulty. In connection with two other associated lines, we are ma king extensions in Missouri, Arkansas and Louisiana. One from the St. Francis near Paragould to the Little River in southeast Missouri, and one from Magnolia. Arkansas 10 Homer. Louisiana. Thus we constant
 ly pressing forward in the construction of new lines. and In the opening of new chan. nels of trade and the development of new territory.
 haveza:r,,f t'is9 rief outline of the early history Of this read, not that it is new to the old citizens of Pine Bluff or the older em- ployes Of the line; they are conyef sant with all that has been done; have seen it grow from a small beginning to great system; have rejoiced with us in success and shared
 
 lations. but in the belief that history of the road may be of interest to the newer and younger employees, and to those from other States and other parts of this State who have become citizens since '6 and '62. Pine Bluff was then small and insignificant as compar- ed with it's present population and wealth. it's manufacturing, banking, mercantile and other industries All this. and more, is the result Of united labor and capital, l men, tion labor first because it is the cornerstone and lies at the very foundation Of our civiliz- ation and prosperity. Labor created be- fore capital, and without labor capital could never have been acquired. Hence the dignl- tY of labor Is superior to and surpasses the dignity Of capital The dlnge of the work shop and the dust of the field are equally as honorable as the gaudy epaulets worn by q off eers of the army, or the jeweled crowns @ of kings and queens
 The interest of labor and capital is essen q tialy he same. They allies and not enemies. z Concentration of capital provides employ S ment for labor, stimulates enterprise. cheap # rns neeessaries of life and thus elevates the & standard of living. Without concentration of # capital great railway systems are not possi- < bie Cheap transportation facilitates an ad- # yantageous division of labor, enables each
  # those Industries for which its natural con # ditiuns best adapt 1t and makes the prices of & staple articles virtually uniform through # out the country by converting the nation as a # WhoIe into one market, eliminating local & conditions as factors in the law of supply # and demand. The profits of those who have # spent their lives and risked their money in # the building up of your railway facilities are |& often assailed by political demagogues as if '# they were the consequences of violence and z:& fraud. Tn the exceptional cases in which Z Substantial profits have been made, a careful "a examination of the m ethod of their accumu- @ lstion will show us that they represent but small part of the labor that they save men ga from doing, and not work that men are yet z# compelled to do. The work of the promoters |# of your transportation facilities has been to # so reduce the cost of transportation that # years subsistence of western bread and meat can now be trsnspor ted thousand miles to v the east for less than the measure of one # days labor by an ordinary 6ay laborer. Your E railways have abolished distance: a service # 50 great that the prof ts of their builders. in the insulated cases in which they exist. are 2 but trivial compared to its benefits.
 # Factory system and labor saving devices # are cheapening the necessaries in life. The S<# ihOVSfu iulll Of thClOfy in Wnlcn nunuFeuS ui "a operatives are given employment is often # likened by chronic agitators and demagogues
 to some great mechanical monster. grinding a# wealth out of the blood and bones of it's op # eratises. Hard as the lot of the modern 5 Worktngman may seem. its hardships sink
 into 1ns1snfcance when compared to those
 or our forefathers hundred years ago. Then E he homesDun fabrics in which our ancestors # were clothed, required the arduous labor of # at least one person in every family of five or k SIX to spend and weave the scanty clothing < Tor the others. Now one person in each @ two hundred and fifty only need work in the |z factory to produce the cotton and wooen 5 iapries that constitute the garments of the 2 most enlightened nation of the world & Concentrated capital has removed much of S# the drudgerv of lifa The great mass of