Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1907-06-26
Phi Beta Kama Grafton.

| church the Phi Beta Kappa Grafton
was delivered by Prof. Samuel Chiles
Mitchell of Richmond College. Rich
mnnd, va. Prof. Mitchclrs subject was
| THE Three Tasks of the South" He
spoke in part as follows
an the Atlantic ocean yondcr there
| is one gulf current. But i'll the nine
teenth century there were three gulf
currents. These tendencies in that
century are as traCeable and measure
able as was the Gulf Stream by Com
| modore Maury.
First: The Liberal Tendency. The
French Revolution, which uShercd in
the nineteenth century, was frenzy
for freedom. Before the onruSh of its
emancirating spirit almost every form
Of deSpotiSm was swept away. STEMS
memorable decree of October the 9th,
1897, liberating the serfs of Prussia.
was not SO much an achievement Of
individual genius as an expression Of
the deepest impulses of the times. Eng
land freed her slaves in the colonies
in 1894; and finally the Car, in 1863.
by one stroke of his pen emancipated
%. 0O0,0 600 Russian serfs. The despotic
governments were pushed aside and
Democracy triumphed; labor was I'M
shaCkied, and the press unmuzzled
TT was the high privilege of Col5v
College to furnish one of the most
valiant spirits in this struggle for in
telleCtual as well as political liberty,
in the person of Elijah p. Lovejoy, who
stood true to duty even unto death. il
is pleasing to note that 1t was our
fathers of 1776 that intoned the DOM
inant note of that creative since the
American Revolution was the prelude
of the French.
Second: The national tendency:
Hardly less marked was the national
tendency. Nationality is to a people
what personality is to an individual.
There was manifest Il desire upon the
part of every people to set up house
keeping for itself, to live under its own
vine and fig tree, to fell in its fulneSS
the unifying spirit of kinship. This
passion for nationality transformed
the map of Europe. Heroic Greece led
off in 1929 and achieved its indnpend-
cncc. The next year Belgium followed,
Holland being individualized at the
same time. In the epochal year of
1870. Italy and Germany were nation
allied, and finally. in 1879 ROumania.
Servia. and Montenegro were made to
rejoice in the strength of Il new found
nationality.
Third: The industrial tendency. The
changes wrought during the nineteenth
century in industry were perhaps more
far reaching than the political Jan
uary the Sth when James Watt an
nounced q now method Of lessening the
consumption of fuel in making steam,
may be taken as the birthday of the
industrial era. The old domestic manu-
fracture rapidly passed away and ma
chinery was advantageously applied in
almost all processes. England in con
sequence leaped to tho front in COM
mciCc and wealth, and every country
that embraced the rising induslialism
entered upon the path of progress.
circumstances, cruel circumstances
that bring tears at the thought, had
shut the South out from its rishtful
share in these progressive movements
Slavery acted as a bar. The South be-
came isolated. 1t was an instance of
arrested development. And yet the
sons Of the South in the earlier per
iOd gave promise Of a destiny the re-
verse Of that which followed, -Jeffer-
son drafting the Declaration of indie
pcndence, Washington putting the
stamp Of his strong personality upon
the Federal executive. Madison in his
original draft of the Constitution
writing the word "Nationar' no less
than nineteen tiI1pC Mar-
shall giving a truly national interpre-
tation to our organic law. These mon
and measures We're suggestive Of an
expanding spirit upon the part Of the
South in the national life Such IS the
irony and pathos of our civil tragedy
THE three tasks of the South grow
naturally out of the condition which
these historical forces have created
The first task is economic development
This is beginning with the soil. Mr.
Bruce, in mis- recent book upon the
South, points out that more than five
per cent. Of the area adapted to cot
ton has as yet been brought under
cultivation. The South can yield no
less than 10000 900 bales Of cotton 1t
is, however, in the growth of manu-
fucturerS that the most striking ad-
Vances have been made in the South
today. At the close of the Civil War,
a Virginian wrapt up the whole situa-
tion in the South in single sen
tence: IF cotton is ever king, its
sceptre will be spindle" In passing
from Danville. Virginia, to Atlantic,
one is hardly out of sight Of a cotton
mill. $" rapidly have the multiplied,
The utilization Of the forests and mines
is equally marked. All of this is bring
ing the South to a consciousness of its
material power and of it's prospective
wealth. The people are busy, hopeful,
and eager to promote all forms of
progress. The old issues have fallen
aside and the surging impulses Of the
day engross the energies Of every
toiler.
The second task Of the South is ma
tional integraton. The loyalty of the
South to the Union is in every way
gratifying. The school is the exponent
of Americanism, and our common flag
evokes the deepest response.