The Aberdeen weekly. [volume] (Aberdeen, Miss.) 1878-1933, 1903-06-12

largest cotton crop of any Southern
State. Nor did it stop at cotton;
nor confine itself to any single pro-
duct. In the decade before the
civil war it led the South i'm the
the variety of it's crops, and in the
fifties il led the Union as the most
productive agricultural State, its
farm and plantation output ex-
ceeding that of any Commonwealth
North, South or West. 1t raised
its own food and did not have to
buy of the West its grain, its pork
or its beef: in fine, it fed and
clothed its own people and mil
lions in Europe. The agricultural
prosperity of today is thus but the
new birth of an older prosperity
when Mississippi was the boast of
every a merican farmer.
But not in material prosperity
alone was il great in those days of
old No State played greater
part in the affairs of the South and
Of the nation in the stormy period
preceding the civil war, and when
the South broke its bonds of union
and proclaimed itself new repub-
lie. it was from among the states
men of Mississippi that it chose
the head of its new government.
Then came the black years OF
war and reconstruction. Over the
horrors of that disgraceful epoch
Mississippi has triumphed, and
the new Capitol may be regarded
as symbol of that triumph, a
proof that Mississippi can over
come and has overcome all the
difficulties placed in its way, all
the evils that threatened to over
whelm it.
In the new South, as in the old
South. il has been always leader
Ii was the first of the States with
negro maJorities TO sweep from
power "A government based on ig-
norance and savagery. Ii was the
first of the Southern States to find
"A solution of the problem that Con.
gress had so badly failed over
negro suffrage and il laid before
the world plan for muzzling the
/ Infamous war amendments, which
/ Louisiana, South Carolina, Nortl
Carolina. Ala bama and Virgins
have since adopted, and which tn,
North Is finally but reluctantly &C
cepting. 1t has set an example t
the whole nation in establishing
the purest of democracies. in de.
stroying the possibilities of bosses
rings and political jobbery, in re
placing all power and nomination;
in the hands of the people and thus
restoring To them the government
which comes from and belongs t.
them but which has been wresteC
from the people of New York by
Boss" Platt, from the people o
Pennsylvania by Boss" Quay. anC
from the people of half the othe
States by similar political trick
sters. The Mississippi doctrine o
primaries, declaring for true dem
ocracy and an appeal directly t
the people has spread to Texas. t
Louisiana. TO Alabama, and nov
prevails in nearly every State o
the South; and even Minnesot
aud Michigan have fallen int,
line behind it,
Its educational system, extend
ing from primary and gramma
schools to the State colleges an,
university, is one of the best il
America; and Mississippi ha
reason To boast of the fact that
has given more to education il
proportion to its means than an
State in the Union.
OF It's present prosperity We nee,
say little here. 1t is the natura
fruit of the spirit and energy o
its people; it il but a revival O
the prosperity of the past. Mis-
sissippi was of old one Of tn
wealthiest and most productiv
States. 1t has taken nearly a gen
Grafton to heal the wounds of civi
war and misgovernment, to settl
correctly the difficult problem
which the State was left to face
but it has settled them thoroughly
satisfactorily, permanently. 1t ha
recovered all the ground it lost;
has rebuilt its waste places, and it
future is now bright with prom
Use.