The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1909-11-21
Petty Abuse Cannot
Kill This Movement.

4
| Congress, in which the chief officer Of
this particularly aggressive and prac
| teal organization of Southern business
men deplores the vitriolic attacks
which lately have been made upon the
congress by a trade journal published
in Baltimore.
| Mr.. Parker makes his statement, as
he says, reluctantly. He regrets the
necessity for his being called upon to
make any statement at all. But the
Baltimore publication to which he has
alluded has. he points out, devoted 50
much of its editorial space during re-
cent months to a persistent effort to
I ridicuIe and beIittle the plans and
| processes of the congress that he feels
/ called upon, as the president of that
body and likewise as a Southern citi-
| zen with the best interests of his sec
/ ton at heart, to call attention as en-
phatically as possible to the unprece-
| dented and unwarFanted attitude of
the Baltimore publication.
Mr.. Parker and his brother officers
of the congress know, and the majority
/ of Southern business men that have
! taken pains to inform themselves as to
| who are the real friends of the South
and its development likewise know,
that the Southern Commercial Con-
gress carries upon its membership roll
hundreds of the brainiest and most
successful business men, both manu-
facturers and wholesale and retail
tradesmen, in the Is Southern states
These men, many of them the pos
SCISSORS of large means and the di-
| rectors of interests more than ordi-
naTily extensive and profitable, have
| nothing to gain by throwing away
their time and money on an imprac-
teal and visionary campaign for re-
suits that exist only over the plates
and glasses Of an occasional banquet
table. Yet, if one were to shape his
opinions by reference to the editorial
columns of the Baltimore anti-congress
organ alone. he might be led to be-
| lieve that the reverse were true.
The knocker and the GROWER, like
the poor, We always shall have with
US. He is as old as human nature.
The world was not very ancient when
this unnecessary and altogether con
| temptible type of humanity commenced
his peregrinations, and We must frank
| ly confess that his abolition is not one
of the hopes of the immediate future.
But peOple-intelligent people-mind
| hina l~-- toisz tA--- they ever did be-
fore; they have learned to laugh
rather than to worry at the pessimistic
earnings of the fellow who, generally
| with some petty private grudge to ven
tilate and crafty, tries to assure US
that the efforts of ambitious men to
| build up and broaden and enlarge the
| opportunities OF their natural COM
munity must inevitably come to failure
and foolishness. In this specific case,
for instance, We believe the large
amount of unfavorable criticism of the
congress which has emanated from
| that sour-tempered- editorial sanctum
in Baltimore will. in the long run,
prove the most. resuIttuI advertising
which the congress can receive.
The Southern Commercial Congress
is not an experimental organization.
1t is securely established in the 16
states LAT properly constitute the
| South; it is m touch with men in all
| the important Southern cities who
! appreciate the productive value of an
| intelligent cooperation and who are
working, by the interchange of tried
| and practicable ideas, to bring this sec
ton OF the country into the manufac-
turing and commercial prestige which
the South is bound presently to enjoy.
1t has accomplished much for the dis
semination Of profitable information
concerning Southern Industries, and
the men who have attended its de-
alterations confess that they have de-
| rived new ideas and new inspiration
through the opportunity its meetings
have afforded, them to discuss the
South's business problems with men
fully alive to the South's necessities
and the SOuth's resources.
We do not believe this editorial
animus at Baltimore is going to per-
manently handicap the Southern Com
mercial Congress in its commendable
task of developing Southern resources
as highly as they could and should be
developed. The plans for it's man.
moth meeting in Washington, Dec.
5-IO, go on apace- There may be per-
sonal rancor behind the present policy
of that hostile paper toward the con-
gress, although we are unprepared to
lay at the door of the Baltimore pub
LEGATION any charge Of spitefuI edi-
torialiZation. At any rate, the SEN
sible body of men of which Mr.. Par
ker stands at the head is not at all
likely to be ridiculed of the lob by re-