The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1901-12-29


| South, the best of foreign settlers ana
the negro. Practically free, as you are,
| from the problems which SO seriously
| burden other Southern states, especial
| ly those where the negro equals III
numbers the whites, you likewise nave
| none of the problems when CONFRONT
| some of the other states, Where the
most illiterate, and even in cases the
| lowest class of the foreign element,
| sometimes holds the balance OF power.
| Into Texas before and after the war
| came many of the foremost men or the
| South. 1t was to them the land Oh
| promise. Your foreign element Is, on
| the whole, the best which has settled
in any state in the Union, and with the
whites so largely in the majority the
! negro becomes a useful factor in your
upbuilding, rather than a load holding
| back. its advancement, as in many 9TH
| err places. The transplanted man, so
! it has been said, is the best man
| for the upbuilding Of a country; he is
the man who had the energy, the &C
| tivity and the imagination which could
not be content with the old things
| but which looked forward to better
| land. In Texas you have the trans
! planted man; he has come from Vir-
| ginia, from the Carolinas, from Geor-
| gia, from Tennessee, from Kentucky,
| from the West, from the North, and
from Europe, and in the attrition or
races and of people from different sec
tions you have the opportunity to be-
come the very foremost leader in de-
veloping the highest type of American
| citizenship With such conditions for
educational work, and with such a cit
! izenship, the duty rests upon Texas
! to be the leader, to be the Lone
Star" lighting the way for all other
Southern states, if not for all other
states of the Union, to follow.
The story is told that at some con-
vention there was a roll-call Of states,
and delegate from each one was re-
quired to tell of the chief productions
| and advantages of his state The del
egate from the Dakotas painted a
| glowing picture of the waving wheat
fields stretching for mile after mile,
and with an abundant harvest, making
glad the heart of the happy farmer.
| The Californian told how small were
the riches of the gold mines of his
state as compared with the riches Of
| its soil; he told of vineyards and Of
orange groves and of roses blossom
ing beneath the summer sun of win
ter days. Colorado came, with its
story of rugged mountains bursting
with mineral wealth. In the long list
of states each claimed rare combi-
nation of natural resources and ad-
vantages until Massachusetts was
| reached. The speaker from that state
said: with great delight / have
heard of the wheat fields Of the West,
of the fair Pacific coast land that flows
with milk and honey, of the iron and
coal of Pennsylvania, and Of the South
| with every advantage which nature
| could heap upon that favored section,
but come to tell you that in my state
we have none of these advantages.
| With us the chief product Is brains.
| And he was right. For on that rock
| bound soil the people of that state have
developed a civilization which we may
we'll study. With limited agricultural
advantages, buying from the South
| their cotton, from Pennsylvania their
iron, from Maryland and Virginia their
coal, from Georgia and Texas their
| pine, and from the West their food
stuffs, importing from Canada and
Europe their mill operatives, they
have built on this artificial founda-
ton an industrial structure which de-
mands our admiration. Surely they
have put their brains to good use, for
with a population of only 2,250,0G0 in
1890, and with this artificial founda-
ton of imported raw materials and
| foodstuffs, Massachusetts had an in
dustrial business which employed a
capital of $500, 100000, with a product
of SS7S, 900 900. In other words, the
2,250 900 people in Massachusetts took
our cotton, our lumber, our iron and
the foodstuffs Of the West and pro-
duced $4,000 900 more of manufactured
goods than we produced in the whole
| South. Shall 1t be said that in the Gre
alton of buslness-the foundation of
| civilization, upon which must rest our
| schools, our churches and everything
else that combine to make life worth
! living Massachusetts, has greater
| fY,e &c hra ina 70 50
than the South? The answer must be
with us. If we fritter away our time
with trifles or with cross-road politics,
we shall lose the substance while grab
| bling for the shadow. If we esteem the
| lawyer, the doctor or the teacher more
| highly tfan we esteem the engineer
who can open up the riches of our iron
and coal and gold mines, more highly
| than the superintendent who can direct
the whirring machinery Of a cotton
| mill. with its thousand operatives, we
shall fail to realize the value Of brains
or understand that education does not
| consist altogether in book learning.
Last summer one of the leading tech
meal schools of the East, with a grad
muster u on commencement day be-
cause the others had already secured
positions where their services were in
1 such immediate need that they could
not wait for their diploma. About the
same time for three professorships in a
| Virginia college 500 learned men ap-
| piled. Had their been an equal num-
Der Of vacancies requiring trained skill
in the management of some important
| industry in the South, would there
have been even 10 applicants from thor
| oughly competent men? No, for the
| Industries are everywhere seeking
trained men, with the demand greater
I
| expert, who in the mine or in the fac
| tory is able to do the work which the
world requires, is doing as much for
| his own benefit and his own happi-
ness, the broadening of his own life
and the uplifting of the people as the
man who is teaching Greek and Latin.
| To some extene we of the South have
failed to appreciate these truths. The
attention of the South must be focused
| upon the fact that in the coming years
| the men who are to dominate this sec
ton in the church and in the school,
in finance, in politics and in business
are the boys who, today, are being fit
ted in technical schools for managing
! its industrial affairs. Our material ad-
vancement and the part which the
| people Of the South must play in the
| upbuilding of their own section will
| be in proportion as we bend our en-
| ergies upon the broadest technical edu-
cation of the rising generation.
In area, in diversity and extent Of
! profitable agricultural products, COM
bined with mineral resources, Texas
| leads the Union. In the character of
! well-balanced population Texas also
| stands alone. The wisdom of its foun-
! ders has given to you and to future
! generations a heritage whose value
| cannot be stated in dollars and cents.
! Leaving to you, as they have done, a
| school fund which will eventually ex-