The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1899-10-31

q man wants employment az COCA
wages IN West Virginia he can get II
for the asking; and the opportunities
1 for capitalists TO invest money with
the early prospect Of big returns never
was 50 good as now. And want 70
tell you, my friends. they are coming,
not IN drOves. so TO speak, but they are
coming, and are taking hand IN dig
4 ging the dusky diamonds from our hlll-
sides. and are pumping out the pools OF
oil which Pluto has been distllllng since
Adam left the garden OF Eden with his
shovel and his hoe; ard still there 10
room for more. Our doors and arms
are open 10 receive all comers. and our
Ilatch-strlngs, us they say out west, are
always on the outside. We don't care
n continental red" where man comes
from Il he Gas get-up-and-get Y nus
make-up. We draw no political nor
sectional lines on any case. We have
got away beyond that. my countrymen,
yes. away beyond that! We have long
since forgotten where the north ends
and where the south begins. We quit
calling northern people Yankees"
years ago, because we learned the Ina.
poFtant fact that the northern fellows
had sense, sand and sheckels, and those
are the sort Of fellows that win, and
they are the sort Of fellows that we
want for citizens Of our state. What
we need In West Virginia Is more YAM
kee nerve md money. and we are Wills
ing to burn rcd lights and Kill the fat
ted calf when they come. Long ago we
guilt foollng about where man comes
from when he locates among US. All
we want to know Is he somebody, and
we at once proceed to take him IN the
same as II he were one Of our native
born countrymens
The trouble with you folks. my coun-
trymen, down here in the extreme
south. Is that you have been too ex-
elusive and too hide-bound IN your
ideas for a full hundred years. What
care you where man comes from IL
he is a man? What you have needed
above everything else down here In
Gods own country for a hundred years
or more. is lot of enterpTlslnB, go-
ahead class OF men; men With money,
men Of nerve, men Of enterprise, men
OF sense and men who know how to do
something and how to do 1t right. These
are the sort of people you need to help
you on In life. They are the kind OF
people who open coal mines and build
mills and factories and furnaces and
forEes, What care you whence they
come? am glnd to know that the
most OF you have quit foollng about
those most important matters to your
growth, development and prosperity.
God Almighty intended the southland
to be the center OF practically all man
ifacturlng for our great country say
this with emphasis. because he placed
In this southland the great bulk Of the
raw materials from which all finished
products must evolve. What sense Is
there for you to ship your cotton, iron.
coal and other products to the north or
to England, and pay your good money
to their skilled laborers to work them
into the finished products, and then
buy back again those finished products,
always paying the manufacturers
prices? 1t seems to me that people
educated people-would not do anything
OF this sort And yet you, and may
say, our southern people generally, have
been doing this sort of foolish business
for over a hundred years, Our West
Virginia people, thank God Mr.. Chair
man, have quit this sort Of nonsense.
and we have gone into business In dead
earnest for ourselves, and we are be-
ginning to reap. in q large degree, the
benefits OF our energy and our enter
prise.
Mr.. Chairman. cannot express my
self more clearly on this point at issue
than by using a letter 1 wrote to your
very efficient secretary, Mr.. N. f.
Thompson, which letter bears date Of
July ., 1899. With your permission,
sir, will read that letter:
"CHARLESTON, W. Va. July 0.
IN. F. Thompson. Esq, Secretary
Chamber of Commerce, Huntsville,
'Dear sir:-1 have before me your let
ter of July 3. calling my attention to
the fact OF an industrial convention to
be held at Huntsville Alabama, Mon
day, September 4, next, and inviting me
to be present. Being q southern man
myself both by birth and education. II
Is. needless for me to say that am IN
deep sympathy with any movement that
viii advance the industrial progress of
the entire south have always held
that the south should be, and will be,
the main manufacturing center OF our
great republic. / have held to this ideA
because OF the fact that the raw ma
terlals are found in the south, and Il
wise Providence certainly intended that
manufacturing should be conducted
where the raw material exists. II the
south, years ago, had taken up this
question in Its proper light, and had
undertaken to manufacture Its raw ma
terlnl on It's own soil. employing its
own labor and thus keeping Its own
money for distribution In Its own ter
rItory, 1t would have been far in adj
vance OF what 1t now Is.
II am glad to know, however, that
within the last few yenrs 1t has abau-
doned its former custom OF shipping Its
raw material to northern sections where
It was manufactured, and then PuF-
chasing the finished products. paying
the manufacturers price for the same,
md has at last gone to work doing Its
own manufacturing The south has
the advantage OF the northern states In
coal, soil and climate, as well as In
other natural resources; therefore, II
proper enterprise be shown by our
southern people, they VIII transfer dur
Ing the next generation practically MI
Of the manufacturing establishments
from the northern and central portions
o: the republic to the southland, where
they ought to have been for hundred
yeaTs.
~ have spoken my views briefly upon
this subject, md In plain Language, be-
cause I am Interested In the develop
mint md advancement OF the south,
and have done my utmost for more
thnn a quarter Of n century to help my
own people along in life. trust that
this industrial gathering of our south
err people nj Huntsville VIII give II
fresh Impetus to southern development
and that II Will be largely attended by
our representative people"
The wealth OF our country, my fell
low citizens, is becoming colossal; but
as Il has, in most cases, only been the
reward Of industry and enterprise, It
can neither demorali&e its possessors
nor the people at large. The field of