The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-01-27
Congressman Dent Talks of
 South at Baltimore
NEWCOMERS WELCOMED
Mir Deut Tells of AIabama's Greatness and of the Development Iu All of the Rich states of the
 south

MT. Chairman-l have deep sense of pleasure in being privileged to at tend here as the guest of such an hon. ored and honorable association on this
 the ocasion of your annual banquet I have to confess this is my first visit to your great city, a city that easily holds rank as the metropolis of the south You will let me say, however that I am not entirely stranger in your midst There have for years been more or less close and cordial con- mercial relations between Baltimore and the section from which l come-a section that has been and properly IS called the lower south. There is, how ever. still another reason. My people on my fathers side are Marylanders. My father himself was born in this state, and within her borders he grew to manhood. I am, therefore, at liberty to say modestly, but still proudly, am partly a Marylander myself,
 With these personal observations, for which l crave pardon, l must go right on to add that my mind remain ed for some time in state of per- plexity whether or not l should ac- cept> your flattering invitation. l was exceedingly anxious, on the one hand' to accept and enjoy the social features of an occasion such as this in Baltl- more, so famed for it's fine, generous, open-handed cheer On the other was confronted with an invitation 10 talk. To make an after-dinner speech is A rare gift, and one entirely beyond 1, fnr TOT me by your courteous secretary, was itself a most troublesome question. That decided. a still more serious prob lem arose as to what I should offer as word from the lower south. l could not solve my problem with the promptness that characterized a cer- tain rural politician in my state dur ing the campaign of 1909 for the adop- tion of prohibition amendment to our constitution. Many of our people were wrought up over the idea that the adoption of the amendment would give legislative authority to invade even the sancity and privacy of the home In a certain county In southern Alabama, the chairman of the anti amenders,' as they were called, wrote to this rural politician to ascertain and report the situation in his precinct The chairman at an early day got this reply: I have canvassed every voter in the beat; there is only one for the amendment. That's me" The boys seem to think that the amendment would stop 'em from keeping jug or a bottle at home So far as I am concerned, that don't bother me, for my old lady has been making me keep my bottle hid In the woods for the last ten years
 Development of the South
 T could not resist, however, and l am here, gladly here. l would speak par ticularly of that section of our common country, the extreme southern limits of which border on the waters of the gulf. The development that has been witnessed in this section in the past few years Is marvellous indeed; and yet that develop ment is now only in its infancy. The city in which I live, the capital of the state, Montgomery, has, according to the fed oral census, about 40,O00 people. It is one of the greater interior cotton points of the south. It is the head of navigation on the Alabama river. It has constructed and now owns a thoroughly modern and up-to-date wharfage. It's merchants, with their own resources, have recently estab- lished a barge line in full operation to Mobile We need only to put in a lock and dam at one point to give us deep wa ter the year round. We have tributary rich and productive agricultural regionS and have a system of good gravelled roads covering practically the entire county. These roads have been pro- ncunced by experts from the agricultural department of the United States to be the best in the country. In the extreme south ern portion of my state is county all most as large in area as the state of Delaware, with a climate as salubrious as any in the world
 Many New Citizens
 Numbers of people from the north- western portion of our country have for years been gradually settling and devei- oping this hitherto undeveloped region. They are more than welcome to our midst. We have been everywhere rapid ly increasing. both in wealth and In pop ulation. There Is one county in this ter ritory with farming, turpentne and lum- Der interests that more than doubled it's people in the past ten years. A general condition of prosperity, wrought by the citizenship itself, pervades in greater or less degree the entire lower south. This people are no longer relying solely on the cotton crop. The idea of improved farm ing and of diversified crops has taken possession of them. Let the fact attest bllS lOl AldDoIHtls OuT Sldlt pIOuuceu ldSL year by far the largest corn crop in it's history-the average yield per acre being increased in one year by five buchels Then, too, all through the lower south new towns and cities are springing up These and their trade stand an invitation to the sagacity and the enterprise of the merchants of this proud city.
 Effects of War and Disease tba af o;,-u still more baleful consequences of recon struction they have. at least industrially, recovered. As soon as we emerge from one difficulty, however. another rises up and would baffle us. Our climate has been supposed by some to be thoroughly charged with malaria, and this proven to be false, new disease denominated the 'hookworm,' is discovered obe indig- enous only with us. If our people are rot dying with malaria, they are sup posed to be sleeping under the shades of | the trees while the hookworm feeds upon | the human body and rank weeds and | worthless grass grow up and cover the
 face of the earth. And just as our prog
 ress disproves whatever may apparently
 be established by isolated or exceptional | cases, the Mexican boil weeyil crosses l our western boundary and begins his
 slow but sure and steady march along | our southern border to the eastward. Il
 must be admitted that this pest has beer
 a source of much trouble and no little | consternation. But our people have met
 and erappled with this situation witt | courage and I believe surely destined success. Sooner or later another enemy
 will have been shown to be powerless tc
 nfiict damage more than temporary 1T
 Kind.
 PeOnage Question
 There is a matter of a graver nature
 about which l am tempted to say few
 words tonight. misconception prevail.
 among some people. many people, l fear in other sections of the country on tn,