The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-06-11

I closing day, was the greatest day of the entire commencement week at the Alaba- ma Polytechnic Institute. Old Langdon Hall was taxed to the fullest. accommo- dating the largest crowd ever present at Auburn.
 The first thing on the program was the senior class orations. The speakers were Messrs. T. J. Dowdell, G. F. Forman and w. w. Davis.
 The commencement address was made by Hon. Richard H. Edmonds of Balti- more, editor of The Manufacturers Rec ord.
 Speech of MT. Edmonds.
 4, Broadly speaking, 1t may be said that the progress of civilization is measured by the steam engine. The engine typi- fies material progress; it typifies the rail road the steamship, the telegraph. the home and in the factory and all that represents the business development of this age compared with former times, and may be gauged. Throushost ali history national material progress has been the fore;runner if not the direct cause, of that history gives us no record of any nation great in science, in art or litera- ture which has not prior to such period perity. In olden times commerce and trade were the dominant factors in the worlds progress, but when the steam en- augurated Commerce was no longer the master spirit. for the engine had sup planted the ship as the ruling force of all the coming change. It saw that the steam engine was to be the greatest pow CT in human advancement. Seventy years first locomotive ever constructed in this country for an American railroad. It was named The Best Friend" The far see ing men of that day thus showed their realization of the fact that a new power had been born-a power destined from the material standpoint to prove to be the able employment for the people and At first advancemenf was necessarily of the engine is scarcely much more than ted fesats Gn ony haa oe5 os5S mes afS f Ta which this best. friend, the engine. has been made to lessen the drudgery of mans labor. while doubling and quad hs has aecumulated S edue more wealth wealth @ and made more progress in science than in all the eighteen centuries which had passed since 1hf W anges so Fhe steam engne in as has been the means of opening up the world to the advancement of religion, it. been created during this half century is more uniformly distributed than ever be- fore, despite the pessimism of those who SnuL LEtlr 6y eS tO lHe lIulH Anu SO tAC South, grasping the meaning of, the steam engine as 1t appeared in railroad work named it's first locomotive The The fireman of this engine was negro. Disturbed by the noise of escaping steam he sat, as the story goes, on the safety Best Friend alike ceased to exist. Along about 1860 the negro again sat on the safety valve-more properly. he was tarfprpDca-and again wreck and rum followed the explosion. For some years it was hard to tell whether t would be ana tp sathhsr tha 5 G zine. We patched 1t up, but for fifteen years it was undergoing reconstruction, a Ut troublesome hour Now. however. in- stead of the old patched-up engine We have new one which draws the train or even than the Northern and Western trains are moving. We have not caught up with them-in fact. they are miles start, since we did not get our new en- zine on the track until about lSS0-but In the last twenty years they have not In. as their engines are doing. we hold our own and sometimes by an extra squirt make a decided gain Then how great such a splendid engine manned by the well-trained experts of our technical schools? This engine Is now running on K. the rocks of debt, disorganized labor system and all the unsolved problems. political and business, against which the old engine sc often bumped.
 Honor to Daniel Pratt.
 The old South proved in many ways It's appreciation of what the engine meant in human advancement. Alabama prooa- bly, stands as a pioneer in the world Tn having conferred upon an industrial lead CT the honorary degree of master in the mechanic and useful arts. This was given to Daniel Pratt In 1s46 as a recognition of his work in the industrial upoulldlng of the State. No higher testimony need be asked as to what Alabama thought of the power and value of manufactures was not in his work for the utilization of the engine In turning Alabamas re- sources Into tangible wealth Many oth- CTS were engaged in the upbuilding or m dustrial interests. The wealth of coal and iron was vigorously proclaimed Shelby and other iron-making points had shown something of the quality of Alabama ore Abraham s. Hewitt, the far-seeing iron master well as patriot and statesman, turned his attention to this State, ana Tn 1857 had a full report made on the whole told me, was the best ever made on that region. Based on it he made his plans to purchase very large part or the ron lands in the Birmingham region. on which he had already secured options, but the darkening war cloud caused him to aban- don the Enterprise. MT. Hewitt's faith in a Ia DaHnd as d lildlAllS Oil anu CNOSA- making region constantly grew stronger, and a few months before his death he said to me:
 The growth of the basic steel indus try. now that IL has been fairly started In the South, ought to be very rapid. That section, with its abundant stores of ore and coal and limestone in such close proximity as is found in Alabama, bids fair within the next quarter of a century to dominate the basic-steel Industry of the world
 IL Is no new thing, no new South, in the sense of being a land of different ideas and aspirations from ante-bellum days, which we now see. The old South is born again, In her present develop ment we witness the commingling of the old and the new, the fSkher and the son. the mother and the da 8hter. The heto- than the heroism which has won indus trial victory from the overwhelming de feat of grim-visag aged war. The match less courage and the angelic virtues Of the women who made possible the long struggle of 1S60-65 were not greater than the work of these same women and their daughters after 1S66 The men in gray, ragged and tattereG. footsore and weary, with many a meal represented only by an extra reef in the belt that at least the aching void might be compressed into a smaller space. went to victory or tO de- feat with a smile on their lips because they had caught a glorious inspiration from the women of the south Great was the heroISm of the women who gave to the Confederate soldier the power 10 stand four years of Une lual contest. but equally as great was the he-osm of VHrt. 4AN