The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-09-08
DAVE GAN AROUSE GENUINE THRILLS - No One So Full of SOuth's
 Future
  TALKS OF HIS WORK The Agonies of Fifty Years Ago Should Strengthen the National Feeling Rather Than Strain It
Nv WALTER HARPER

Washington, September 7.-(Special.)- When the southerner in Washington gets 1 A little cold on southern enthusiasm ne only has to go up to the southern build i inc. sit under the drip of G. Grosvenor Dawes fluent voice for a lew minutes l and it all comes back to him increased an hundred fold.
 The man who would not enthuse over the south and it's possibilities in the sound
 of Dawes voice is hard customer. He
 is utterly impossible.
 | Dave is general director of the Sonth- 1 ern Commercial congress, an organization less than 3 years old. that has had
 most wonderful growth. Its object is to
 hoost the south. It's work is educational
 Dave believes in advertising. He can
 talk we'll write well and his gestures
 are as eloquent as his words.
 l He is at home when he is talking about
 the south and it's wonderful possibili- l ties.
 | The headauarters of the Southern Com mercia congress Is in one of the hand soonest new buildings in the city. It was built on property belonging to the con- gress, and 4he structure was erected un-
 der the direction and by men who are in | terested in the congress.
 MT. Dave was just packing his grip for
 A hurried trip through the south and
 southwest in the interest of the work
 when l called to see him yesterday. ..When I get back will talk your arm
 off if you get in my reach" he said. "In
 the meantime, here is review of the
 work already accomplished by the con-
 sress and our plans fof the future" The following statement is worth read
 ing if you are interested in the south.
 and of course you are:
 "Two-thirds of the United States and the
 world, as whole, misunderstand that one-third part of the United States which
 was separated by mental barrier set up | through the fierce struggles and agonies 1 of 30 years ago. It is unavoidable yet at the same time unfortunate that so much detail of the civil war should now | he printed; for the hard words of those l days are used again without any modi- | fication, and as if the mind of the world | had not progressed 1 ..Just at this time when the agonies | of the civil war are being brought to mind again by daily reprints, the South | ern Commercial congress is taking all the | sting out of the civil war and using that
 unhappy period as pointing forward to ! something happier and greater.
 "The Southern Commercial congress is | the name given to the most tremendous l psychological problem in the history or | the United States. and Is planned solely | for the purpose of producing two changes
 of mind. The first change or mind IS Tn l the south itself to bring it to understand | it's great resources. their national sig
 nificance and the affirmative part that l the south must. therefore. come to play l in national development In other words, | if is A summons to the south to- come away from aloofness and into participation l of all the future problems of the nation. l The second part of this hugh psycholog- l ical problem is to change the mind of the l world so that 1t shall not estimate the I south by telegraphed and exaggerated l messages of disorder, but shall come to ! q realization that the south Is an essen
 tal part of our national greatness, and | that 1t must be expected to come out l again into national affairs.
 This organization, which in three years 1 has sprung from nothing to national in- i fluence by uniting all the constructive purposes of the south. and giving them I national significance. has arranged a ma tional scenario that will produce revo- luton in the nations mind. The stage setting is this Taking the years 19l1-12-
 1S-14 and 15. the congress. in its annual