The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1903-04-28

Were skeptica! as 10 is value or favored
il Ike Bishop Pierce aid men must con-
slider foreign uissious-I say when vo8
reflect that such men have spent. out G.
their poverty produced ny a disastrous
war, more than Slo0. o.eOo in thirty years.
l say that it IS. all thines considered.
the most remarkable and astounding IN
vcstmcnt OF money that any Y~orlo ever
made.
The second obstacle 70 educational
progress in the South mas been Pow
crty. For almost a century most 81 ,he
savings OF the Southern people. most 81
the South's surplus wealth. had been in
vested IN slaves. In 1860 the reported
value OF slaves was 500. o0o .0oo.oo. II.
value of slaves was four thousand million
dollars. If. without any devastation OF
war. any loss or earning capacity by the
men killed or wounded IN battle or
diseased by exposure incident to
I camp life, this immense sum OF money
had been taken from the South.
it would have been wretchedly poor. Add
70 the loss OF the accommodations and say
ing Of many years. the losses
in other property, which the
vanqu;shed must always bear in
War. the even greater calamity III
the death and manning Of ITS strongest and
best bread-Wlnners, and some faint .dea OF
the poverty which the South faced in
1865 may be grasped. The utter. abjcCt
poverty. involving the DENIAL OF the COM
mon necessities. can never bc known or
appreciated. Better still. in order 10 get
at the losses sustained by tho south. as
a result Of Mar, let us suppos that to-
morrow in New England and the Middle
States every dollar invested IN factories
and in banks, and deposited in savings
banks and trust companies, was com
pletely swept away. And. IN addition to
losing ell that represented the savings Of
past generations, the present and future
generations shoul be forced 10 pay the
interest upon bonds issued when the
banks and factories were prosperouS-if
You could suppose such a calamity to
those prosperous cOmmonwcalths-you
would thcn have some conception of the
dire distress and almost hopeless poverty
that confronted the South when
Lees soldiers returned from APP
pomattoX. Talk of the heroes of
war. Those brave men who wore
the gray as We'll as the brave men
who wore the blue nave added imperish-
able glory to American Valor,-they are
among the immortals. In song, in story,
in marble, in bronze they live and Will
forever live, enshrined in the affections OF
their countrymen. But-men and broth
ren,-the race Of heroes in the
South who bore the heat and burden OF
the day from the surrender until the
black tide of reconstruction recedcd-
those men sleep in u~nforgotten graves
and their deeds of daring have too often
tbeen regarded as the rash actions of i'm
pulsive and reckless men. Some of them
belonged to the Ku-Klux Tlan in its
first days, when that or some like or
ganization was as necessary for Law anc
order as CrOmWell's dismissal of tho
Rump Parliament was essential to Eng
lands peace and safety. These men, many
Of them reared in affiuence, living theI
in self-denying poverty, opened th'
Ipublic schools of the South, gathered to.
|Gcther the children, and laid in tears anC
faith tho foundation Of the edifice yol
are laborfng to bring to turrctted porfec-
ton. Instead Of dwelling upon statistic:
of illitcracy and the likc-painful facts
that have the highest import and which
stimulate to greater efforts-I challenge
the whole world to parallel what tht
South has done for public education on
Of empty public treasures and depleted
private purses. You say it could have
done more? Yes, and it would today
have been richer if it had m~ortgaged the
future to do more, but it has done more
under adverse conditions han any peo-
pie in all the history OF mankind, and it
motto is the command of Moses
Go Forward All honor to every man
North and South, whatever his p%olitica
or religious creed, who holds up tht
hands of the men and women whose worl
is bringing about that glad day whom {
good teacher, a good school and a Ions
term will be within the reach of every
child south OF Mason and DiXon's line.
But the South is still poor. l know
that this will be denied by those whc
take a superficial view or think all thu
lSouth is as rich las the Carolina truck
lgardens, the Virginia cities, the Texas Of
wells, or the Alabama coal fields. ThC
South is growing richer every day. 1t is
developing it's its young mel
have gone to- work in the factory, the
mine, the field; on every hand you
see evidences of prosperity. The future
Of the South industrially IS assured. GU
OF the poverty OF war, out u the tISdS'
ter of reconstruction, by twenty
years Of well directed industry it ha'
built large cities and established great III
Idustries. But, while it has done won
dcrs in these short years anc
laid the foundation for greater prosperity
the South is relatively still poor. TIL
Southern Educator says that 1000. coo PEG.
pie live in log houses n Georgia. In ever!
state there are thousands whose incomes
are so small as to make thing beyon'
the common necessities or life impossible
There are fewer of these every year
thanks to the building Of railroads which
open new markets and avenues Of wealth
and the varied industrial devel
Opment which is blessing tn
South. But it VIII be gen
arations before the South catches up Wit
other sections of the Republic, and recov
Iers from the losses of war and reconstruc
ton. But she will do it. Her sons ar
strong, robust, Industrious, confident
l lself-reliaHt, ready and willing 10 Worl
with head and hand. In the face OF al
- 49, r - 49, a :