Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1910-12-30
rREE rRADH AND DEMOCRACY.

1 am an old-timer have lived a long
time. 1 can remember very clearly the
Polk and Clay campaign. 1 remember
mot so distinctly "Tippecanoe and Ty-
Ter, too" in 1910.
NY father was a Wing, a strenuous
one, and / was Wing likewise. as much
as a little girl could be anything In
political way. Therefore Whigism was
ingrained into the warp and wool OF my
life in the days when ones heart Is
unworn and tender, and ones faith Is
loyal, sincere and lasting on every line
of thought or action. Therefore L nave
always had a mental reservation In my
political creeds and while l have been
a loyal southern woman, l have always
had an idea that Americans were the
people that / loved best and was most
solicitous, concerning as to progress and
prosperity.
/ have seen the eastern states grow
rich in years gone by, when southern
planters hallooed for free trade and
sailors rights" and expected to roll
along to the Notwithstanding morecot-
ton, to buy more negroes and more
land and more mules and then turn
around to make more cotton, to buy more
negroes, etc etc. An endless chain OF
more cotton, more mules and more ne
groes, without remembering that THIS
cotton went to New England at low
selling price and then came back to US
at a high rate for manufacturing
Although the cotton gin started In
Georgia there was but little doing to-
ward spinning or weaving the staple
until the exigencies of war woke us
up to the dismal fact that both mules
and negroes were gone, and IT TOOK
high-priced labor to cultivate that same
old cotton plant once more.
If we had foreseen what. was inevitable
we would have built a cotton factory in
every county in the state, maybe two
or more of them, while we had the labor
and plenty of good dirt, out of which to
manufacture brick.
But we didn't do it, nor did we build
sawmills to put ourselves in touch with
lumber profits of the best kind as to
quality.
We burned up the trees that got in the
way and with a few exceptions built
houses and barns in the rudest and ugli-
est manner.
In the northern sections they built
good barns and good houses out of the
enormous profit made from our cotton
and timber, a profit that might have
come TO us easier than to them, as
transportation would have been saved to
ns II our sagacity had warranted it.
And so the wartime caught us and
the close of hostilities found us the
poorest people in the United States, be-
cause we had nothing left but the land
to fall back upon, and crippled to ex-
haustion by the results of the war.
Little Rhode Island, a very scrap in The
great quilt of the United States. nearly
went up head I'm the class, because Rho
dys statesmen knew how to look ahead
and catch on to money making ideas.
Great big old Georgia was like a great
broken-down elephant, brought to its
knees by the loss Of mules and negroes,
and little Rhode Island, like an Industrial
weasel, was mot only growing rich but
exceedingly aff1uent, with nothing but the
south's cotton to grow rich upon, and 1
contend that one lacked foresight In
craftsmanship and the other conserved
It. Rhode Island put Mr. Aldrich in the
senate and no matter how many folks may
criticise Mr.. Aldrich the fact is indisput-
able he made Rhode Island one of the
most powerful states in America by his
devotion TO the commercial interests of
Rhode Island
I know there are lot of people who
will disagree with me, but l believe in
standing by our own folks rather than
giving to outsiders the commercial profit
tnat SOmeDouy is going TO get from our
cotton, our iron, our lumber and special
ties in desirable articles of commerce.
I am not going to bear down on the
men in congress who were not willing to
see such industries f1attened out by open
ing the gates to every country on the
globe that might flood this country with
cheaper manufactures and thus rob the
south of it's reasonable profits.
may be pleased to see shoes on other
childrens feet, but / want to make sure
that my individual gang are shod decent
ly and in good order.
1 remember when we sold raw cotton