The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-06-04
GRADUATION EXERCISES
 AT STATE UNIVERSITY

rr1endS Tn New Engtanu m SeiNng us their slaves at a good price when 1t was found they could not use them profitably reminds me of an occurrence said to have happened in the early history of Talla- dega, my native county.
 Colonel McElderry, who afterwards be- came a large and prosperous planter. was in his early youth, a small merchant, engaged in trading with the Indians. On one occasion, while Mir. McElderry was sitting in front of small house in which his little hand full of goods were stored consisting of bright and gaudy colors. such as would catch and fascinate the renowned warrior of that time. appear ed Upon the scene. The Indian Chief tain, addressing Mir. McElderry in the lofty periods in which a great warrior was accustomed to express himself, said. Pale face, Great Indian Chieftain have a dream" MT. McElderry asked him to tell him his dream. Great Indian Chief tain dream that paleface gave him all | these goods. Knowing we'll the tempera- ment of the Indian. Mir. McElderry. with i, out hesitation, arose and said. Great Indian Chieftain. take the goods." Old Chinnibee was delighted. He gathered the squaws together, distributed the goods among them, and with the aid of a little American liquor. they had a royal good time. About two weeks afterward MT. McElderry again met the Chief.
 Great Indian Chieftain," he said, pale face had a dream. He dreamed that Great Indian Chieftain gave him all this land." pointing down the river valley wa tered by the Cheha and the choccolocco. one of the finest bodies of land in all our section of the country. Old Chinni- bee dropped his head In thought for a moment, then, raising 1t with becoming majesty, said. "Paleface, take the land, but Indian dream no more."
 The people in the Indiana Territory, where slavery was prohibited under the ordinance of 17ST. headed by Wm. H. Harrison, then Governor of the Terri tory. and afterwards President of the United States, and grandfather of Ben jamin Harrison. who also become Pres ident petitioned Congress to repeal the ordinance and permit slave owners to move into the Territory with their slaves. Among other arguments adduced by them, 1t was urged that permitting the slaves to be removed from the States into the Territories. would not increase slav- cry, but tend to scatter the slaves to the betterment of the States as well as the Territories.
 Says writer in the American Ency- clopedia: The feeling in the United States was generally adverse to slavery at the time their national existence be- gan. and in some of the Southern States that feeling was stronger than it was in most of the Northern States. The ordi- nance of 17U excluding it from the Northwestern Territory was supported by Southern men. and some Southern States abolished the slave trade with Africa. while Northern States continued to carry it on. That the Southern States did not initiate the emancipation policy of the northern part of the American Union is to be attributed to a variety of circumstances, the principal of which were the difference of climate. and the difference of, social life. which made slavery far more profitable in the South than 1t could ever be made in the North. where 1t never fiourished, and where, in some instances, the young of slaves were given away"
 Slavery at the South
 The situation was altogether different at the South. The Southern States had, in the early colonial days. struggled against the institution. Virginia and South Carolina, time and again, peti- tioned George III. to project them against the importation of slaves. but without avail. In time. on account of the peculiar fitness of the negro for the cul- tivation of cotton and tobacco. in the OOulucTH anu dltCi hhC ton of the cotton gin in 1795 by Whit ney slave labor being more profitable, the institution was gradually fastened upon us, until in 1860 there were in the Southern States, as estimated by MT. Blaine, 100000 of slaves. with salable value of two thousand millions of dollars. and producing annually a surplus of three hundred millions. Estimated by It's ca pacity to produce wealth, the institution
 IL ALA ulation of the South a sum vastly in ex- cess of two thousand million dollars. Without slave labor, the cotton, rice and sugar lands were, fin the view of South ern men, absolutely valueless. With the labor of the slaves, they could pro- duce three hundred millions a year in excess of the food required for the pop ulation. Three hundred millions a year represented a remunerative interest on a capital of five thousand millions of dollars In the history of the world. says the same author, there has perhaps never been so vast an amount of capital con solidated In one power.
 The presentation of abolition presented itself to the Southern people. therefore, in a different light to what 1t did to the Eastern Statesi
 It will not do to say 1t has been proven that lands in the South can be culti- VateQ WlIn SlaNeS eI1lduClpdteu, DeCduSC that is an experiment which has been tried by the former slave owner with dis astrous results. It is only since the for mer owners of slaves have become prac- ticaIly extinct, and when a new genera ton has been born, that some success in the agricultural districts has been achieved. Mir Blaine argues that free labor has increased the production of cotton He fails to take into account, however that increased production, which is due to the increased population this State, alone, having nearly doubled It's population.
 I doubt not that there Is more grain raised today in the West than was raised in 1880, but this argues nothing. It simp- ly goes to show that there is more de- mand for the products of the Farm, more acres in cultivation. more hands at the blow.
 In closing his discussion on the ques- ton, Mir. Blaine attempts to show, as an inducement to secession, that certain prominent Democrats. whom he men tions, expressed themselves as being fin favor of re-opening the African slave trade. So far as the real sentiment of tho Southern people is concerned, with | out at this time questioning the accur- | acy of the references made by him, think it is a sufficient answer to say | that when the Southern States met to form their government and to frame their they incorporated in 1t l Aant tEnh nf