The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1907-03-13
MODERN COMMERCIALISM


BY Gen. C. Irvine Walker, Major General
Commanding Army w. Va. Department
u. C. ". and Special Representative of
the Committee on Woman's Memorial.
The modern spirit of ''commerclalism"
seems to reach many in our fair South
land today. To such only arguments of
material advancement or perhaps of per-
sonal duty, will be of no avail To such
this Is addressed to prove that the pres
ent prosperity of the south is most large
ly due to these Confederate mothers
whom 1t is proposed to honor by the
memorial of the women of the Confed-
eracy, that this is an honest debt, which
man, chary of his credit should be
willing. If not anxious, to pay Apart
from and beyond her sublime devotion
to her glorious cause 1t is proposed to
prove that to her influence upon the ma
terial welfare of her southland is directly
due that very prosperity
AS the south suffered more during the
years of her new birth, Immediately fol-
lowing the war, so was womans part in
that great struggle for recuperation and
a new life, far grander than her sublime
devotion during the years of actual con-
fict. Her work cannot be weighed and
, measured In the balance. 1t Will not be
attempted TO demonstrate how she di-
rectly added one or a hundred millions to
the dollar values of the south Her true
influence was a moral one, which a ledger
balance sheet cannot be cast to prove
This moral. personal, intangible influence
had it's full effect. but it can only be
measured and judged by the grand re-
suits achieved and not in detail by the
various steps by which such results were
reached
What was the condition of the south at
the close of the war? Ruin and devasta-
ton from one end Of the land to the
other The accumulated wealth of a
century of prosperity expended in de-
Tense of her soil or ruthlessly destroyed
by the invader. Her entire labor system
had been overthrown, her fields desolate
her business bankrupt. her homes de-
stroyed. Her soldiers returning from the
battlefield found such a condition and
started to rebuild their prosperity
backed, supported and sustained by those
ole women who, then, as during the
war, were IAN inspiration to the brave
a spur to the laggard. whip of scorn
to the faint-hearted and the unfaithful."
We hear of New South
There Is no "New South"
There is only the old south. whose
genius builded whose wisdom directed
and whose bravery maintained the United
States of our forefathers, which old south
was awakened to again create the pros
perity of her people and the happiness of
her homes. To the generation which
fought the war. is justly entitled the
vast credit for the renewed HE ana pros
perity of the south. This generation was
composed of the men who had battled
and the women who had suffered. To
each credit IL, at least, equally due. In
the grand struggle for recuperation the
women bore the necessary poverty and
privation without a murmur, ana with
heroic devotion urged on the men to those
sublime efforts which eventually won
success IL required all the manhood of
the men and the loving help of the wo-
men. without such aid Loyalty given by
these grand women, the men, brave as
they we're. would have shrunk from the
struggle and gone down In defeat under
the oppression and prosecutions which a
vengeful and triumphant enemy then
vented upon the south.
To These Women All Hail!
These noble women bore not only their
share of the common burden OF those
perllous and distressing years, but they
added to this by cheering. comforting.
supporting their struggling husbands and
brothers To them these true southern
women, the mothers of the Confederacy.
is fairly due more of credit and should
be given more of praise than to the men.
without these women Of the south the
men never could have so quickly re-
gained their prosperity. We clearly and
undoubtedly owe them debt, which the