The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-03-01

the Piedmont Hotel, on ldOnudy, 1T
great banquet delivered IA response to
the toast. Virginia"
| think Virginians of the present gen
Grafton will do well enough, If only they
apply themselves to the new conditions
with the same courage ard intelligence
that their ancestors applied to the condi-
lions of their time And this | believe
they are doing.
We do not need in our business now
any George Washington. If we did, /
have no doubt Virginia could produce
him. We have no war to make With
England. We do nos need Thomas JET
feTson any longer considered with refer
ence to the particula~ achievements
which he wrought. If George Washing
ton We're to reappear upon the scene, no
doubt he would be General Of the army
and would be called up three or four
times a week by Mr.. Roosevelt for a
morning lecture on military affairs. and
would probably at this time be doing
odd chores in the Philippines. We have
no declarations of independence 10 write,
though it viii occur to many of us that
Mr.. jefferson taken separately from his
specialties as a writer of Declarations of
INDEPENDENCE and Constitutions, would
fill long-felt want in the Democratic
party. The forces represented by Madi
son and Monroe and Hamilton and jay
in the formative pages of the Federalist
are not needed now. We have passed
through the eras of the formation of this
Government and the peculiar genius that
is necessary at this time is that which
will alH tn 10 nrnhlpDlE which
are the result of over one hundred years
OF growth. have said that if Virginians
will meet these problems as efficiently
as our forefathers met the problems of
their day, they will be doing well enough
And / have said that | think they were
doing so because the industrial history
OF this State demonstrates this. There
is no reason why they should not. They
are the same people they were during
the Revolution. There are about ten mil
lions and one-half of foreign born popu-
lation in the seventy-fye million of peo-
pie in this country. Of this number the
foreign born of the Southern States num-
Der four hundred and twenty-five thou
sand two hundred and eighty four (425,
2S4), including Virginia, West Virginia,
North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia
Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas
OF this number Virginia contains 49,
O6S foreign born population; North Caro-
lima and South Carolina have maintained
their identity to a greater extent than
any of the other Southern States, one
having only 1900 and the other only s.
600 foreign born population-Georgia hav-
Ing about 12,0 / do not desire to be
mixed blessing, because we shall pres
emily need the foreign born population
more and more. The problem is to get
them here and the negro is not one of
the least obstacles to their coming. But
the figures given above point to the fact
that the situs of the pure article of the
American citizen is in the Southern
States and when people tell me it was
not the courage and foresight and pa
thence of Washington and jefferson and
Lee and Jackson taken as types felt in
common by those who came after them,
that reklndled the industrial fires of 1900
from the embers of 1863. l reply that out
of population of 1850 900 Virginia has
had within her borders only $4,000 for
eign born citizens to Help her and that
the blood of 1900 is still as red with pa
thetic, but splendid endeavor under new
conditions as was that of their forbears
at Philadelphia or Yorktown.
In 1870 the total wage earners of Viz
gInia were $1,000; in 1900, $4,000. The
capital employed in 1870 was sis, 600 900;
in 1900, $103, OOO, 900. The value Of pro-
ducts in 1870 in Virginia was SO O00-
0OO in 1890 $SS,O00.000 10000, 1929,
100000 In these things Virginia has
been but the type of her sister Southern
States-Georgia showing 1900 wage
earners in 1870 and $4,000 in 1900: the
capital increasing from $l4OG0.O00 in
1870 to $50. 900, 900 in 1900. The value of
products in 1870 was 81 900 900; in 1890,
$69. 900. OO0 in 1900, 100000, 600.
The value of products for the Southern
States in 1870 was $500 000, 000 in 1890.
500 900 600; in 1900 81, 1874 000, 900. These
figures tell somewhat of-the men who
have taken the place of the statesmen
and soldiers of 1916 and 1865 and what
they have been doing. They have had no
battles to fight or constitutions to form.
but they have filled the air with the
smoke of another battle in which, as of
old Richmond and Atlanta are the storm
centers.
1t is interesting to note, by the way,
that the Southern States by no means
deserve the backward place that is gem
orally assigned to them among the manu-
featuring States of ante-bellIm days.
The ratio of the product of the Southern
States in 1850 to the products of the
United States was about thet same as
it is in 1900. What shall we think OF
this? We who were taughtI that our
fathers and grand-fathers were idle slave
holders and dreamers and orators ana
statesmen. In 1850 the ratio of the pro-
ducts in the Southern States to the pFo-
ducts OF the United States was SO per
cent; in 1860 10 per cent account
of the increase demand for manufactured
articles from the war; in 1870 per
cent; in 1880 6.3 per cent. You Will note
III \pathetic story in these sudden de-
CT les Of her struggle to rally again 20
hs Vet; in 1SS0-see the brave people
with Resurgan still upon their lips, 10
per cent; in 1900 81 per cent Now for
the New England States; In 1850 27.S
per cent; 1860 24.S per cent; 1870, 2S.3
per cent; 1880 206 per cent 1880 16 per
cent; 1900, IA per cent
viii you note carefully these figures
that seem to me almost miraculous that
4.