The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-02-14

 of commerce ana manufactnre ana frsl of all ne lent the hand of sympathy and infuence to Hit up the struEKiinr class committed to those groat and fruitful occupation.
 Feudalism was stiil the order of the day when Louis began his long reign. Power, wealth and strength rested with the indspendent nobies who secure in
 their own posftion dared in France as
 they did in England to afrrent the
 But colbsrt saw the death of fsudai- Ism. He saw the time when the Baron
 and the Marqufse would no longer in
 his castle be dispntant with the king.
 but . hanger on at court. suing for kinsIy layer: colbert saw ahead the
 coming of the time when the iowiy trader. the iespised worker who made things with his hand. would be the true support and sustenance of the mon- archy, when the descendants of the feu- dal nobies would have no greater con- cern than the proper manner in which the minuet should be danced
 was to come no lees from the workers and traders than from the soldiers In the field of commerce and manufacture, were Colbert's chief concern and he lifted them to an importance they had never attained in all previous history.
 This beg you not to consider . wandering diversion. The question of this fort of loss and dirt few miles away. and its construction among the Indians runs backward to Versailles and the Court of Louis. Ana in going backward to the source of it's inspfr- ation we have revealed the fnaugura- tion of governmental policy which gave France fts greatest commercial glory, co1orsd it's life ana civIiization k<. s~ Az. ~Yo <sI Germany and America in turn have France In Amerssa.
 France was dreaming then of a mighty colony in America. She was pre-eminsnt in Canada. the civilixa- ton of which abe celors to this day. notwithstanding the many years the and Montreal To the far south. she controlled Mobile and New Orleans. and various colonies Of smaller import ance. A mighty. builder she had there. Bisnyiile. This is neither the time nor the place to lay a tribute to the memory Of that patient, sagacious and indomitabie viceroy. who, through sickness. disappointment and in5us- tice, buiided for the glory of France along the Mississippi and the Gulf coast. Mobile has wen honored him; her square is named for him. and his statute is there. His own monument and the monument he has left of his country's greatness iB fn the character of civilization along the coast, which in New Orleans, in Mobile and in other places bears the cast and color of France.
 Bienviile saw the sagacious needs of outposts among the Indians far senti- nels of Frances power and prestige. In the Creek country, he wrote the court of France there assuredly should be such fort. This was as early as l7o2. For English Influence dominated in the Atlantic coast along what Is now the Carolinas. Virginia and Geor- gia. English traders and English were slipping overland as fas as the Creek country, the Middle Alabama of the present day. At any time the English might establish their fort and checlxmate the French. But the laggard policy at Versailles held the hands of BienviIle.
 The merchants grew stronger in France. One Crozat, a large trader of Paris. and q man of means. leased