The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1906-12-04
MR.. SPENCER AND THE SOUTH.
He Labored Faithfully to Build Up
the Waste Places and to Make
the People Prosperous.

Washington, November 30.-Presi-
dent Samuel Spencer was the personal
! friend of nearly every Southern man
! Of prominence in Washington, and
his tragic death has brought genuine
sorrow to the entire Southern colony
here. For more than ten years past no
| single man has been so closely i1entl-
fled with the interests of the entire
South as was Mr.. Spencer. The great
railroad system, of which he was the
head, brought him into intimate re-
lations with nearly every community
in all the vast region south of the
Ohio and Potomac and between the
| Mississippi and the Atlantic. The
needs and aspirations of this section
were known to him as to no other
man, and no other single man has
done as much as he for The material
advancement of the South.
Mr.. Spencer was guided in his rail
way management by the great princi-
pie expressed by him in his recent
speech at Montgomery, Ala, his last
public utterancc, where he said: "The
interests of the railroad and Of its
patrons are identical. One cannot
prosper without the other. The rail
road must do justice to the people.
The people should do justice to the
railroad. Their cordial cooperation
in the great field of human industry
is essential to the public welfare. !"
This cordial cooperation between the
people and the railroad it was his
constant effort to bring about all
along the line Of the Southern Rail-
way system, and whether there was
Southern industry struggling for ex-
istence or wherever a man or GROUP
of men saw an opportunity TO estab-
lish new industry, Mr.. Spencer and
the Southern Railway stood ready to
assist by all the means in their power.
1t was the pursuance of this policy
that enabled Mr.. Spencer in his an
nual report each year to announce ~
long list Of new industries that had
been established along the lines Of
the Southern.
II was the ambition Of Mr.. Spcn-
GERS life to be the leader in the de-
vclopment of the South through the
means of 4 great railway system and
the amalgamation Of the weak and
dlsjointed roads that now compose
the Southern into one system under
his management gave him his oppor-
tunity. What he had accomplished
before his death is known to all mcr,
old enough to compare present system
with conditions that existed before nc
became the head Of the. Southern.
Restricted by the limitations on the
financial resources of the Southern,
and often confronted by almost in
superablc obstacles, Mr.. Spencer had
accomplished much before his death,
but he has left much to be done by
his successor for the completion OF
his plans and for giving the South
a railway system second to none in
the United States and capable Of rem
dering the most efficient service to the
people of the South.
Born in Georgia and a Confederate
Veteran, Mr. Spencer always had a
warm place i'll his heart for the people
of his section, and especially for the
men who had worn the gray. All over
the South are Confederate Veterans,
who will recall the kind and thought
full sympathy Of their former COM
radc-in-arms to whom many Of them,
when stranded among strangers, have
been indebted for transportation to
their homes. w. S. L.
Prof. Counts farm near Prosperity
was burned with contents. Loss about