The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1901-04-10
EXPOSITION MEETING.
General Noise Delivers Magnificent Address

The initial meeting looking to get
ting Clarendon interested in the South
Carolina and West-Indian Exposition,
which is to begin in the city of Charles
ton next December and run until June,
was held in the court house last Satur-
day and, although the notice was very
short, there was a fairly good audience
so far as numbers were concerned. but
the attendance was not as good as the
Importance of the meeting deserved.
The gentlemen drawn hither from dis
tsnces came principally through the
efforts of Hon. E. r. Plowden, Jr., who,
in behalf of the Exposition Commission
ers for this county, addressed personal
letters before the published notice had
time to. reach the general public. Then
last Saturday was the day fixed for the
Cotton Growers convention, and some
came on account of it. Hon. Jas. E.
Tindal was expected to deliver an ad-
dress to the Cotton Growers, but he
failed to appear.
When the people gathered in the
court room Capt. D. J. Bradham rap
ped for order and nominated Hon. H.
| 5. Richardson to preside over the
meeting. Mr.. Richardson was chosen
without opposition and in few brief
remarks introduced as the orator for
the occasion Gen. f. W. Noise, who de-
livered an address that was deserving
of an audience composed of every pub
lic-spirited citizen in Clarendon county.
1t was indeed a magnificent word pic
ture of the scope of the Exposition, its
purposes and its possible results, and in
the choicest OF English he eloquently
portrayed our present condition. He
made it practically clear that it is to
our interests that we arouse the people
to grasp the opportunity held cut by
this Exposition for their material bet
terment, and to urge them to go to
work at once on their farms, their
workshops, their forests and in their
swamps to prepare the resources OF
Clarendon county for exhibition.
General Noise, in part, said:
''You are aware that the South Caro-
lima Interstate and West-Indian Expo
sition Company propose to open at
Charleston on December first of the
present year an Exposition, whereat
you will have the opportunity of show
ing the resources of your county.
81 have come here to endeavor to
satisfy you that it will be to your inter-
est to avail yourselves of this opportu-
nifty. Clarendon county needs devel-
opment as much as any part of the State:
There is at present no cotton mill
or factory in your county; you have no
-four mill; your people devote their en-
ergies to raising cotton. They board
at the West: the larger part of the
bread both of corn and wheat which
they consume is raised there and not at
home: they even buy the major part of
the corn and hay which their animals
consume at this season Of the year and
on which their crops Of cotton are
made.
"Your pressing need is now for di-
versity of employment for your people.
If You had factory or cotton mill your
young people of both sexes could earn
their living and acquire skill by work
ing in such mill; your old men could
find some employment 5here also. In
the course of time they would acquire |
skill and their services would become !
more valuable. You also need more
capital. How shall you get it? The
proposed Exposition presents you the
first chance you have had to fully ad- j
vertise your advantages to the world. |
What have you to offer? At present
you do not know yourselves. There
may be wealth around you OF which you
have no idea now. Just before me now
there is flowing artesian well whose
water is as good as can be found any
where.
''Your climate is salubrious and the
health of your county excellent. Your
lands are productive and will yield
rich rewards to intelligent husbandry. |
Along the border of the Santee river
you have rich areas OF land which can
be reclaimed and which, under culture, !
would produce crops equal to those
which are made in the valley Of the
Nile. How are you to bring these ad-
vantages to the knowledge of the out
side world? The proposed Exposition
offers YOU the first chance you have had
to do so. Will you avail yourself OF il?
There is no time to be lost.
''It is said that fortune knocks once
at the door of every man and-lf it be
not opened to her she departs and re
turns no more. She has come to your
door now. Will you welcome her and
benefit by her coming? The whole
country is prospering. There is abun-
dant capital seeking investment. Your
very lands offer inducements OF which
you are yourselves unaware. Lands do
not go backward in value. At cost
Of 500 per acre, with good cultivation,
they would pay an interest OF per
cent. They can be bought now at from
six to ten dollars per acre. They need
advertisement. The Exposition will
afford the best you could desire.
The State has ordered that a build
ing be erected for the purpose of giving
to each county place in which to show
to the world what it can produce and
the advantages it has to offer to the
thrifty. Every county is expected to
compete in this exhibition. That coun-
ty which shows that it can produce
everything necessary for the due main
tenance of its people will stand fair
chance 20 win the prize and induce the
home seeker to come and cast his fort
unes with you. That farmer who pro-
duces everything which his plantation
consumes and makes cotton only as a
surplus crop is the more independent.
IF farmer makes FIVE bales of cotton
at 10 cents per pound he makes more
money than if he makes ten bales of
cotton and sells them at FIVE cents per
pound. He saves the work of planting,
the cultivation and the gathering OF
FIVE acres. II the land is ready for the
seed and he plants only half of it in cot
ton and lets the other half make peas
or hay he will be better off in the fall
than if he planted it all in cotton. You
now spend half the year in cutting up
the grass out of your fields and the
oyher half in buying Western raised
hay to feed your farm stock with. 1t is
time to stop this.
THE Exposition will bring the farm
ers together. It will show what is be-
ing done in all the counties and the re-
suit must be beneficial to all. You need
| m cultivate your minds as well as YOUR