The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-01-20

fable az action under that assumption
would be, 1t Is an unfair statement. -Four
cut OF Ave men 30 dealt with were not
guilty Of offenses for which the law takes
life. Wherever any orticial action Of
mine can be effective, the iawless muir
deTers will be pursued to the uttermost.
One Of the most Important SUBJECTS to
which we may address our attention a.
individuals, communities or as u STATE,
Is the one OF the public roads, the great
highways on which our t!tiaens may
meet each other as Joint and equal pro-
pTietors. lii only few localities in
Alabama has there pcen eny improve
ment In their working and mending since
our fathers felled the trees aud laid tho
first trails across through the forests.
We may not expect our farms to be
pleasant places on which to dwell until
we have learned a new lesson OF road
building. An additional and fruitful
source OF the desertion of farm life grows
out of the poverty of our ichool privi-
leges. While for the past two years,
we have paid out of the treasury largely
more than for any other two years of
our life as a State, the sum is far from
Il satisfactory one. With good roads and
good schools, we would have fewer neg
lected farms and moro prosperous and
pleased people.
We are enjoying an era of great pros
perity In this country. few years ago,
the United States was a third rate power.
Now no country dares offend VS. with
impunity. SUCH IS our wealth and our
resources thar we can hold the world at
bay an indefinite period. We are dar-
ing even to dispute the seas with the
late lords Of the waters. In agriculture,
no other country equals ours. We feed
more people and we clothe more people
than any other nation. Our mechanics
arc the trusted and most effective. Cur
shopkeepers are marvcls of the world;
our great captains of industry and finance
aspire to universal domination. From
the bleak cliffs of New England to where
the waters of the Pacific ave the rocks
of the Golden Gate. the wave of pros
perity has covered the land. Here in
Alabama. we have heard the waters and
felt their influence. They have not
brought to this state. however riches
like that OF the Nile poured annually into
the lap of Egypt, We have gathered
something from the tidal wave but not
our share. How much Of this lack Is
due to unequal national legislation, l
leave the political economists TO figure
We are thankful here In Alabama for
the vast forests which Nature set to
growing so lar Dack that the Funlo wars
were not yet begun. Strangers are
pocketing the harvest which these un-
cultivated fields have furnished and some
favored few of our own people have
gathered fortunes out of a crop which
they neither planted nor watered. We
are thankful for the other crops which
have been growing in our hills since the
morning stars united in their first song.
This last has not been adequately des-
cribed- There Is vast wealth here for
some people and their children's CT ildren.
We hope to be digging at It when the
earth's course is run. While these
riches are as yet largely ignorant of
the voice Of pick or shovel. we boast
that we make the price Of pig iron for
the world and expect to make the price
of steel as well. Wonderful as are our
resources in timber and minerals they are
not our richest possessions. We have
fsonffuuad ~, Pes -,