The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1900-11-02
Address by DR.. Jchn NJ. Webb, the
President.
!. BARRlNGER's WELCOME.
The Prosperity of the South Is Due to
No New Imported Thing, bat Is
the l:asul, of .l,c Working
Out OF Our Own Prob
lcms in Our
Own Way.

Especial Dispatch To The 1lnies.}
rS5yERs1TY or VIRGINIA. w
Noy THE Association Of Colleges ana
Preparatory Schools OF the sou'i'e'"
sta1cs. is; holding its sixth annual meet
;n., al this institution The opening ses
sion tonight was held in the auditorium.
in the .Acadenlical Building DR. faui Z.
r,rrincer chairman o. the University
facnrtv. welcomed the delegates alter
which the Association listened to the da-
dress of its president. DR. John NJ. "eoo'
of Belle Buckle School, Tennessee
AT The conclusion of these exercises,
the deleaates and invited guests ADJOURN
ed to the roturda, to attend feeepl'''i
given the members OF the Association pS
the University faculty.
DIR. BARELNGER-
In His address of welcome, Dr. Bar
ringer said in part:
The long, long struggle OF the oou.i'
against misfortune and poverty, Wh!ie
Just beyond our borders line the -NVi'h
has been seen prosperous. has in many
quarters developed a dissatisfaction ana
iclpatience with Southern methods. Ihls
feeling is at tines irresistible and every
man must have been more or less iHHtt-
enccd 1t is accentuated by the Almost
universal success OF our Southern friends
who have gone North and to less eN-
tent By the eternal cry OF change from
| those Northern mon who have come
| South. This cry for change Is not limited
! however 10 northern men. There has
| grown up in the South a distinct cultus,
| who's. propaganda is desertiou of every
] thing southern, who advise absolute and
immediate cutting loose from the tradi-
| tions of our fathers and such wholesale
! changes of-our social habits, our economic
methods and our educational ideas as
will give the best possible imitation OF
those of our prosperous friends across the
! line.
That such change would be revolu-
| ttonary all will concede; that it would be
possible | seriously doubt that it is ne
! cessary [ absolutely deny Our section-
| al Emergencies are the growth OF years
and they cannot be changed in day.
EQUAL OF ANY.
| In reply to these appeals. | would9 first
ask, ARE our people deficient as COM
| pared with those of the rorth?' TO this
the answer must be. no. The almost
! universal success, which has attended
professional and business men, who have
| gone North. settles this question. With
what has been declared by these propa-
gandsts as inadequate preparation. they
have gone TO New York. Chicago and
| ether cities. where competition was most
| brisk and, in spite OF all they have sue
| ceedetl They went where there was
money, simply because they knew money
| was there. and they have gotten it. Let
| us look, however. at the other side OF
| the question. Does any man here Know
| OF any great number of northern men,
| who have come South and made success
! of life. I ask this question seriously, be-
cause am interested in the answer My
| experience has been that. as compared
| with the numbers OF southern men, who
| have gone North. the men Of northern
training, who have come South and have
| succeeded. have been few indeed Our
deficiency has been the lack of capital and
| not the lact of method.
/ would remind you here that at the
| close of the war we received as gift
| from this prosperous section. made pros
| ferous by that war, a full set of State con-
! st.tutions. / suppose that any change OF
| IDEAS or methods which the North could
| put upon this section would have been
| n,cst easily impressed during the recon-
| struction period. and Yet where are these
! constitutions to-day? Every State in the
| Sonth except one, has scorned its ilT-
| fitting garment. ard, as a matter of eco
| n0mc necessity. this commonwealth. the
| last To act. is now gathering herself for
| the effort of change. Neither constitution
nos social rule nor educational code. un-
| less 1t be founded upon the inherent needs
! and sentiment Of people. can ever stand.
PROSPERITY IN THE SOUTH.
| When the figures of this last census are
| published you will see evidences of a pros
! perity in the South, the like of which
! has never before been revealed in any
/! section of America Will mention but
! one OF them. Five years ago. when the
| committee Of New England Cotton Spin
ners visited the South, they found two
| and half million spindles as the result
| OF 80 years of effort. To-day. when they
| visit the South they find four and a half
| millions of spindles of higher type in full
! operation within the same territory. and
t nlocs marvellous still. since the first dav
| of January last. contracts have been lei
| for one and a half million spindles more
| When I tell you that mill costs at the
| rate Of twenty dollars a spindle. You will
/ better appreciate what this means I
would ask, moreover. if any man here be-
lieves that the cotton industry can -four
!sil alone. We of the South all know that
this money takes root afrestl and springs
| up in other forms of industry
| LITERARY ACCOMPLISHMENT.
| II may be said that this Improvement is
| only industrial. that educationaliv the
| South has nothing to show for its efforts
| When contemporary literature is examined
| I feel that this charge is answered Never
in her history had the South SO many
writer's of merit. And TO whom, under
God. is this prosperity due? 1t is due
! to the heroic efforts OF the survivors of
| the late war and the youth now grown to
! manhood who were trained under them
What have these our people Henea They.
| have lifted and borne burden which at
first. seemed almost imn,ovable. They took
| war-scarred and blasted section in the
| chaos of sukverted social order and they
anSF and
and they id all this by working out their
own problems in their own way
| Your very presence here Tonight yoe:
owe to them. and to them alone. To ,yon,
the educational representatives of the
South here asseEbled..I trust tha can.