The comet. (Johnson City, Tenn.) 1884-1916, 1898-09-08

Europe and Asia as a power to be
reckoned with. To the extent that the
south appreciates this and takes ad-
vantage of its opportunities will be its
share in the rapidly growing wealth
creating trade,
Coming back, however, said Mr..
Edmonds, "of course, the fact that our
country as q nation will more and more
attract attention, greatly Strengthens
the south's position. 1t has been we'll
said that no other country, no other
age in the worlds history, can show
such progress in the creation of wealth
and such widespread prosperity among
the people as the United states. Our
natural resources, greater than those Of
all Europe combined, have only been
touched on the edge, the Oxtcrops, so
to speak; while in England and some
countries Of continental Europe, the
cost of production in nearly all indus
tries is increasing because Of deoreas-
ing supplies of material and their oonse-
quently increasing cost. With us the
cost of production Ia decreasing day by
day, and we open up our richer regions
to capital and labor. We have more
than half the railway mileage of the
world and water transportation by sea,
rivers and by lakes, and have only to
adjust our varied productions of the
farm, the factory and the mine, 10 right
proportions, IN order to permit unlim-
tied increase in wealth and prosperity.
with an area equal to that of all
Europe and natural resources far
greater with homogeneous population
working under common laws, we must
in time exceed not what combined Eu,
rope has, hut what she might have had
if she had been from the start single
country working in harmony instead Of
divided into score of nations with
artificial and unnatural boundaries and
still worse, divided by language, lava,
prejudices and old grVdges, and vast
ing their energies and resources in
wars and in standing armies.
"And so, taking into consideration
the new impetus that will be given to
southern development, I ana inclined
to think that if Judge Kelley, of. Pen
nsylvania were now alive, instead of
saying, as he did shortly before his
death that the south afforded the most
inviting field for the enormous ener-
gies and surplus accumulation of the
north, he would say with truth that
the south today constitutes the focal
spot of opportunity for the energies
and capial of the world. My own faith
in the early and rapid progress of the
south, based upon the admirable char
acteristics of the controlling popula-
tion, the assurance of the decline of
popuiistic agitation and growing
realization on the part of the whole of
its natural endowments in most of
those things which underlle successful
human endeavor, has been greatly
strengthened by study of the benefits
which it will derive from the recent
world wide advertisement of the United
States and likewise by the contempla-
tion of the mighty tidal wave Of pros
perity whose inflow is even now upon
this nation"
eve have the material, with every
natural condition for making it useful
in the highest degree; we have over
10, 900. 600 people to work it up; we
have the skill, intelligence, industry,
thrift and enterprise to carry on work
on scale never dreamed Of in any
other country or age. The ability of
the American people to adapt them
selves to the work in hand, to catch
on, has long been proven to be super
ior to that of any other people. The
results they have attained in the crea-
tion of wealth, comfort and progress
| are entirely without parallel in the his
tory of the world. What they have
done and are doing is the best guaran-
tee Of what they can do.