The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1909-04-09
GENERAL LEE GAVE GENERAL
GRANT HIS SWORD JUST a.
YEARS AGO TODAY.
"New South" as Developed Since the
Memorable End of the Great
Civil Strife.

eral Lee assured them that the could
go to their homes with the conscious
ness of duty we'll and faithfully per-
formed. He exhOrted them to accept
the results of their resort to the arbi-
trament of arms in good faith and to
devote their energies thenceforth to
restoring the waste places in the South
and to developing it's resources Gen.
eral Lee was not "a man of any
words. But what he said came from
his heart and was strengthened by a
calm judgment and exalted purpose
His counsel sank deep into the hearts
of the Southern people. He was. after
Appomatox, as we'll as in the days of
his greatest triumphs in the field, the
most powerful influence for peace and
rehabilitation in the South. Charles
Francis Adams. of Boston, an officer
in the Northern army, a student of his
tory, deep and broad minded thinker
has in several addresses declared that
the nation owes an almost incalcula-
BILE debt of gratitude to General Lee
for his refusal to encourage guerilla
warfare after the South was no longer
able to maintain organized armies.
The force which General Lee sur
rendered at Appomatox was only a
tattered remnant of the once powerful
army of northern Virginia-that army
of which Swinton. the historian of the
federal army of the Potomac wrote in
terms of discriminating praise and adj
miration 1t is said that Stonewall
Jackson declared on one occasion that
General Lee was ''the only man he had
ever met whom he would follow blind
folded" That spirit appears to have
animated every soldier in the army Of
northern Virginia. The last charge
Lees soldiers made, when surrender
stared them in the face, was as bril-
liant and valorOus as the charges
which made the army of northern Vir-
ginia famous when victory seemed to
be assured. After having followed
Lee to the last extreme of loyalty and
courage to the climax at Appomatox,
they followed his counsels faithfully
in the years succeeding the war. The
survivors of a four years war proved
to the admiration of the world and to
their everlasting honor, that the SOL
der who has done his duty faithfully
in war will not shirk his duties and
responsibilities in the trying times fol-
lowing defeat. But it should be said
that the personnel of the army of
northern Virginia and of the other
Southern armies was probably super
ior to that of any other army of mod
ern times.
Having demonstrated it's prowess in
fny
pride in the inflexible determination
with which it labored to repair the
havoc wrought by war. Much has
been written of late years about the
New South" The men who laid the
foundations of the South's rehabilita-
ton after the civil conflict were the
men who fought under its flag and sur
rendered with Lee and Johnston. liz
a certain sense we have New South.
but the energy, the grit and resource
fuIness which contributed so largely to
it's tlpbuflding were the attributes OF
the Confederate veterans OF tn, Olc
South. Practically every man ia the
South swho was able to shoulder a
musket was a soldier in the Co1feGer-
ate service. AS has been grimly said,
"the cradle and the grave were
robbed" to fill the depleted armies OF
the South. 1t is estimated that more
than 100000 were killed in battle, died
of wounds or in prison from disease
Those who survived set to work, after
the war. in the face of frightful odds
and disheartening conditions to build
up the South. They are entitled 10
lust and appreciative recognition for
their labors in establishing the ma
terial prosperity of the South on SOHO
foundations.
There is a "new South since Apo
matox. but it is only in the sense
that amazing progress has been made
in the development of it's resources
The southern states have now a wnlte
population nearly twice as great DIS
they had in 1865. They nave deVei-
oped extraordinary industrial ACTIVITY
and efficiency. Agriculture is nourlsn-
ing as never before because it has been
diversified The cotton mills or the
South have increased wonderfully IT
number and production in the last NJ
teen wears. The iron and steel INDUS
trv and coal mining have reached graf
flying proportions, and there IS prom
Use of immense expansion In the ~
ture. Throughout the South small IN
dustries are multiplying rapidly The
South is. indeed. the land OF oppor-
tunity." Already one of the most
prosperous sections of the country, lts
possibilities of industrial development
assure it a future of tremendous actlv-
ity and constantly increasing wealth
and influence
This is the South forty-four years
after Appomatox. The men or the
Old South went to their homes aIterJ
the surrender and set to work in grim
earnest. They laid the foundations OF
restoration. firmly and deeply. Their
sons and grandsons have carried on
the work with intelligence, energy and !
efficiency. Today the South is the
most American part of this Union OF
forty-six states. There are no out
ward evidences of the havoc and ruin
wrought by four years of civil conflict.
The economic regeneration of the South
is one of the most amazing achieve |