The age-herald., 1899-04-21
WALSH'S SPEECH AT
 SOUTHERN PINES PINES
Delivered an Interesting and h.
 Structive Address.
RESOURCES OF THE SOUTH
A Field Offered to Emigrants Which Is Rapidly Being Taken Advantage Of-Land of Glorious Plenty
 and Promise.

Southern Pines. N. C., April 2C-The meeting of southern business men here has so far proved most interesting and enter taining. One of the most brilliant ad- dresses yet delivered was that of NJ. P Walsh. of the Augusta Chronicle, who said:
 Others may tell of the undeveloped re- sources of the south, but come to tell you of a thriving, prosperous city that sub stantiates every claim made by the most ardent advocate of southern development.
 could recount to you the hundred vare- ties of trees in the forests tributary to Au- gusta that could be converted into every useful article of wood from a toothpick to the magnificent structure of d pine palace. But l prefer to tell you of the busy mills that are building homes and factories, and shipping doors and sash and blinds to the great cities of our own country and to the lands beyond the sea. 1 could tell you of the hundreds of thousands of horse power in the Savannah river and it's tributaries, almost immediately available to Augusta. But l prefer to speak of her great canal and of the living fhrob of her hundreds of thousands of spindles. There they manu- facture yearly over 100000 bales of cotton into millions of yards of cloth that years ago found a market in the far Orient, where the flag of our country has been unfurled in magnificent splendor to a benighted peo- pie and where, God grant, the stars and stripes may stand for liberty and enlighten- ment, and yet be hailed as the standard of peace and good will.
 I could tell you of the fertile valleys that but wait the touch of industry to blossom forth and ripen into the golden grain of harvest time or the f1eecy staple of the cotton field. But I paint the pretter picture of prosperous farmer, his land being now prepared for seed, his smoke
 
 dence of Gods bounty, as an example to his less provident neighbor.
 Stories of Golden Promise
 I could tell you of the sun-kssed hillsides that stand ready to yield the luscious sweetness to the peach, and the glorious sunset that will make it vie with the south ern girl in the beauty of her coloring.. But I better tell you of a million or more trees within radious of fifty miles of Au- gusta that bent to the earth beneath the burden of their fruit, and that flooded the markets of the east with the unrivalled Georgia peach.
 And I can tell you also of the Fruitland nurseries that under the fostering care of that greatest of horticulturists, P J. Derckmans, have added bloom and fruit and shade to almost every country in the civilized world.
 For more than a century Augusta has been in the forefront in industrial and com- mercial prosperity. The superiority of her position was recognized when the pioneers of the new world first located the trading post that has developed into the thriving city. In 1763 Governor Dobbs, of North Carolina, visited Augusta to attend the memorable congress of the four southern governors and the five nations, the occa- sion being the establishment of friendly relations between the Indians and the Eng fish government after the treaty of Paris in 1763, which resulted in extensive acqu- Si h America.
 Augusta a Hive fo Industry
 Augusta was the market place for North and South Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee in the days before railroads, and there may be those within the sound of my voice who remember when the North State farmer crossed the mountains with the products of his farm or the giistening dew-drops of his still to trade them in the busy marts of Augusta. Then the tobacco plant had not yielded to the cotton crop in Georgia and South Carolina, and the great ware houses of the city was stored the fragrant leaf.
 It was at Augusta that Whitney invented the cotton gin, and 1t does seem fitting that Augusta should reap the benefit of his ge- nius in the 100000 or more bales of cotton that she annually receives And now Au- gusta Is the first to appreciate the advant- 1 ages of the Lowry round bale that will | revolutionize the marketing of the cotton |  being sent out hundreds of round-bale | presses to the farmers of North Carolina, | South Carolina and Georgia.
 It was in Augusta in 1S47 that the first | southern cotton factory was built and as l a result, in the Savannah valley 1t is the greatest development of cotton maufactur- ing in the south. It was on the Savannah river at Augusta that Longstreet naviga- ted the first seamboat. There, too, he first applied steam to the cotton gin and the saw mill, and it is not strange that the first steam railroad in the United States should have been built and operated be- tween Augusta and Charleston.
 First to Manufacture Ice
 Always in touch with the progress of the world Augusta was the first southern city to manufacture artificial ice, and one of the first cities in the world to apply electricity to her street railway system She stands today the most magnificent example of southern possibilities. Ever regarding her credit she never repudated debt and even redeemed an issue of war currency. As a result she was one of the first cities to float municipal 3h per cent bonds at par, and investors are impatiently waiting to bid on another refunding issue about to be put upon the market.
 Augusta enjoys every natural advantage. Lying in a valley, her suburbs are bnjlt upon range of sand hills that are noted for their healthfulness and salubrity and it is here that the Hotel Bon-Air, that is recognized as one of the most noted winter resorts of the nation, is situated. Here, too, is established Camp MacKenze with out an equal among the government camps. where, out of total of about 1000 sol diers, not one death can be attributed to local causes conditions.
 Situated at the head of navigation on tKe Savannah river the eighth river in sizc In the United States, the Hudson being ninth, above her Is the power to operate hundreds of industrial enterprises; and below the navigable stream to the sea assures her of cheapest railroad rates, besides which she enjoys direct rail connection with every im- portant port the Atlantic coast, She is nearer to the center of population of the United States than any other point reached by river navigation east of it, having an advantage of 1855 miles pver New York and