The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1903-10-14


/ in regard to the president, who by his
talents, disinterestedness and assiduity
has placed it's affairs in an attitude so
safe and prosperous as that the burden
of duty devolving upon his successors
will be comparatively light.
Cheves unconsciosuly pictured him.
self and the source of his power in the
following sentence in his "exposi-
tion:'' "The ability of this bank to
sustain it's credit at no time depends
solely or principally on the specie in
it's own vaults, but on the general
credit of the country, sustained by the
usual legal and moral obligations ;
destroy these practically and all its
power becomes feebleness.
Just as thirty years before. whom the
banking house would send for the boy,
"Lang Cheves," and if he said it was
right the money was loaned, SO Barring
Brothers when this boy, now president
of the United States Bank, said it
would be all right, loaned two and a
half million dollars for two years, and
in day the strain was relaxed. The
panic was thus averted and the bank
in time restored to health and sound
ness and with it the credit and fair
name of the United States of America.
It is worth while to be honest! Says
Lecky in "The Map of Life" p. 36,
zone of the most important lessons
that experience teaches is that on che
whole and in the great majority OF
cases success in life depends more on
character than on either intellect OF
fortune"
Genius, ability and character make
banker, but the greatest Of these is
character. Let that be our motto
Oar esteemed ex-president has come
from his bank in Philadelphia to pre-
sent Us with this gavel, to make this
principle prominent in our Associa-
tion. He has been spurred on to this
not only by family ties and the traoi-
tions of his State, but by the fact that
in the distant city to which ne has
gone he finds still revered the name OF
the great banker: who, while he lived
there, was honored and respected.
The wood of which this gavel is
made, given by the. granddaughter OF
Langdon Cheves, grew where was the
quiet home to which Judge Cheves
withdrew when he came back from
Philadelphia to this State.
The house was on the hill overhang-
ing Portman's Shoals on Seneca River,
near old Pendleton,- in South Carolina.
The deep unceasing murmur Of the
waters of old Father Seneca, then in
such harmony with the calm reaec.
tions of the retired statesman, has
given place and being to the rushing
whirl of the ighty dynamo, which,
bringing into practical life the hidden
power it commands, awakens our en-,
ergies and thrills our being with this
force nigh to infinite in its nature
and almost unlimited in it's results.
Four miles up the river rises Fort
Mill, then the home of John Calhoun,
now the site of the largest education
al institution in the State, where SIX
hundred of our youths are being train
ed for the battle Of life. The two
statesmen and patriots upon these
heights, within view of each other,
each in his own way and to the best ot
his ability, served his country and
fellow man.
May the spirits of these two great
men brood in our being and hover
among our works and spread over all
the lustre Of those principles Of truth
and right which they taught and ex-
emplified by their lives.