The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1899-02-02
THE SEABOA2D AIR LINE
And Its Progressive Management-A
Wise 1ove r1ade When the Services
of ilr. E. st. John Were Secured
Al AppTeciativc Article From a
New England Newspaper.


| New England Newspaper.
| Perhaps at no period in its history
! has the South attracted more atten.
ton from Northern editors and
writers Of prominence, from capital
lists and home-seekers, and others in
terested in its resources and devel-
opmcnt and the betterment of their
own condition than at present. New
forces have been set in motion and
work is developing along new lines.
An important factor in this new
growth and development of the coun-
try traversed by and tributary to it
is the Seaboard Air Line under its
present wise, liberal and progressive
management. The work it has done
within the past few years is inestima-
ble-the benefits it has brought this
portion of the South incalculable.
And to MI. +. st. John, Vice-Presi-
dent and General Manager of the Sea-
board Air Line, too much credit can
not be given. Approaching this fact
as we do it is with pleasure that the
following editorial article from the
Cambridge (Mass.) Daily Press is here
reproduced. Writing of the fortunate
stroke of the owners of the Seaboard
Air Line in securing the services of
Mr.. ST. John, whom they elected
Vice-Prcsident and General Manager
about four years ago, our New Eng
land contemporary takes occasion to
say some very kind and appreciative
things about the South as well as
timely and complimentary ones of
Nj. st. John and the great railway
system with which he is connected.
Mr.. St. John has certainly done a
great deal for the people located
along the Seaboard Air Line, not only
in helping to build up and develop the
country by bringing large number
Of his acquan North, but in
inducing great many of his personal
friends to make investments along
the line of road. Nor has he stopped
at this. 1t is not putting it too
broadly perhaps to say that in four
years Mr.. ST. John has done more to
encourage the farmers to improve
their condition than has been done bv
any other agency within the past ten
years. He has devised and put into
operation many plans, all of them
successful, the methods and manner
of which need not be here referred to.
The people of the South welcome
all such men, from whatever section,
as Mr.. St. John, and they feel in
| debted to the owners OF the Seaboard
Air Line for securing the assistance
of so able, sagacious and energetic
| a business man to aid in the develop.
ment of Southern interests to which
he has so industriously and success
| fully addressed himself. 1t is to be
hoped that nothing will cause him
| to leave our Southern section.
The article from the Cambridge
Press, above alluded to, is as follows
For several years it has been known
| that the Southern section of the
Union was being rapidly pushed to
the front, but few people Of the
North really know how much enter
| prise, pluck and determination those
| people have. Before the Civil war
| between the States their surround.
ings and customs were different tc
ours. They were as much differ.
ent people as though they lived in a
foreign country. They were sur
rounded by slaves who cid all the
work and it was not necessary for
them to exert themselves. The
young men grew up as large lane
owners with hundreds of slaves.
Each had as it were little kingdom
of his own over which he prvailed
They thought of nothing but cotton
and rice culture. They made cotton
to be shipped to the Northern mark
cts to be made into cloth and re-
shipped back to the South and else
where. They were farmers, we uI
here the manufacturers. But the
freeing of the negroes has changed
things. Every man was dependent
upon his own exertions. They were
| left without money and without
means and for thirty odd years ii
was hard struggle for those people
with nothing but the soil as theil
capital, but this hard life has shown
that the Southern people are made
out of the same material, with the
same energy of the Northern men
and all they needed to develop into
tirst-class business men was the op
| portunity.
The climate is not as many sup
pose. the cause why the white PEG
pie did not work. The fact is the,
did not have to work while they haC
slaves and even now it is so easy fol-
any one to make money down there
that they do not have to work as
hard as we do up here.
The Southern people are not slow
to catch on. They are not opposed
to Yankee ways as some say, and this
is proven by the fact that they are
getting Northern men and women tt
go down and teach them how to dc
things in the Northern way and thi:
shows they are up to the times and
ready to learn all they can.
Among the foremost people in the
work of development are those along
the great Seaboard Air Line Railway
which traverses what is known a:
the Piedmont section from Ports
mouth and Norfolk, Va, through
| VIRGINIA and the two carol;paS int,