Lawrence democrat. (Lawrenceburg, Tenn.) 1884-1925, 1905-01-27

pudlS' luey nave Dulll ldClulltb anu
furnaces, until today Tennessee and
Alabama are rivaling Pennsylvania
in the production of iron. They have
started the spindles and the looms,
until we are about to snatch from
New England its hitherto uhchal
lenged supremacy in the manufacture
Of cotton goods. They have built
ton of our common country with
mutual ties of trade and commerce.
They have built cities and churches
and school houses. They have vol.
unfairly taxed themselves and spent
millions of dollars in trying to edu-
cate the negro and fit him for produc-
tive employment and respectable citi-
zepship
The history of the South's revivif-
cation and industrial development
has been the wonder and admiration
of men. 1t Is rapidly becoming the
most prosperous, as 1t is destined to
become, the richest, section Of our
country. The day of the South's in
dustrial supremacy is dawning, for
here Is centered in lavish abundance
all that is necessary for mans highest
development and civilization.
OF the three prime essentials of hu.
man industry and progress, cotton,
iron and wood, the South holds, or is
destined to hold unquestioned mas
terry. In cotton she has monopoly,
to which climatic conditions guaran-
tee to her the perpetuity. In hard
woods her primeval forests are vir-
gin, scarcely touched by the energy of
man, and not yet wasted by his insa-
tiate greed. In iron, so close has ma
ture flung together the COAL the stone
and the ore, under the very shadow OF
the smoke stack of the furnace, that
no section can make iron cheaper than
can we.
In this new, this progressive indus
trial life, Tennessee stands well to
the front, and 1t is our privilege, as it
should be our patriotic duty to see
to it that she is not outstripped in
the race Blessed by nature beyond
her sister States in climate, in soil,
in forest, in minerals, in all things
that bring prosperity and wealth to
Commonwealth, Tennessee should be
the richest, as she is the fairest, State
of the sisterhood. We should make
1t our purpose to aid, by every just
and wise law, in the development and
utilization of the States varied re-
sources and the upbuilding of her ma
terial interests. We should arouse
ourselves and awake to a realization
of our riches and our power.
This is not the State that once lay
bleeding under the stripes of war and
misrule. We are no longer paupers;
wealth and strength are ours. We
are able to do whatsoever needs to be
done to press forward this favored
State in its material growth, and to
uplift and elevate its citizenship. And
| give it to you. as my candid judg-
ment, that our greatest single need as
people is to invest our surplus in
education, that we may declare dlvi-
dends in men; that we may raise up
citizens who have the skill and train
| ing to convert our rich storehouse OF
raw ma,erial into the finished product
that will multiply thousand fold the
States wealth and greatness. AS we
elevate and strengthen the intellectual
grasp and productive energies of our
sons and daughters, they will in turn
broaden and strengthen the Common
wealth.
But notwithstanding the South's in
dustrial resurrection notwithstand-
ing the patience and fortitude with
which it has for forty years staggered
under the weight of burdens laid up
on It; Notwithstanding its progress,
its growth and its unwavering loyalty,
there are those who still persist in
looking on thep South as a section
apart. who still prate of Federal elec-
tion laws applicable to the South;
who still talk of reducing Southern
representation, and who would still
press upon the South the political. IT
not the social. equality of the races.
What is the South's duty upon
these questions so vitally affecting her
domestic life and happiness? First of
all, let us be patient and keep our
heads. Upon the supreme question
which touches our racial integrity
and supremacy, let us give all man
! kind to understand that there Will be
neither compromise nor the shadow
of turning. That the white people OF
the South must and will preserve that
civilization which has made them as
a race and people strong and great.
, This being clearly understood let us
for the time stop talking politics and
30 on broadening and strengthing the
| foundations of our material prosperity,
Let us go forward developing and
building along lines of industrial pros
perity. Let us knit ourselves by ties
of commerce and trade into the busi-
ness life of every section of the coun-
try. Let us with patience bide our
time. and if the issue upon these ques-
| tions come, and | pray God it may not
come. then let us calmly, and with
dignity and firmness, stand upon our
constitutional rights and demand that
whatsoever is meted out to us. shall
be given in like tenor and effect to all
other sections of our country. Let us
| in all kindness and sympathy and JUS
| tice go forward as we have done in
| the past. trying to help and guide
and uplft to a higher and better life,
the black race, whose hope lies in the
keeping of those among whom they
live For if in the providence of God,
this race question is to be solved at
all. it must be solved by the Southern
white man and the Southern black
man. BY the people on whose heart
and conscience this problem must rest
as a perpetual burden. and who are in
honor pledged to its ultimate solution.
1t can never be solved by people
far removed from its fatal touch, and
whose minds are not filled with an
appalling sense of the deep racial diff.
ficulties with which it is hedged about
Let us then press on with courage,
| tennerpd with conservatism to take