The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-01-21


or against the risk of fire The Invested
| funds of the great insurance coniuanfas
] are. therefore, matter of vital concern
| to the southern people, and in large meas
ure, are their own assets held in trust
| for their benefit. We find that the chief
insurance companies report their holding
of securities Of the Southern Railway sys-
tenn, including terminal bonds on which
the Southern is a joint guarantGr aggre-
eating more than $4,000, 600. In that great
fund, the integrity 'of which depends upon
the continued solvency of the Southern
railway lines, the southern people have a.
vital proprietary interest an interest
WHICH, as they realize it. should be to
thenl a constant spur to protect hem
selves by maintaining, as they can ard
Will. the basis of Southern railway credit.
II assert with confidence that the
facts to which l have called your at
tention are full warrant for the claim
that in a very real sense the Southern
railway belongs to the people of the
south; so much so that its annual re-
ports might more properly be ad-
dressed ITO the People of the South"
tn advise you of the results of the
management of your property. for to-
day it belongs more to you than it does
to the stockholders. More than this
its management is and always has been
devoted to the interests of the south
men. and those who were not born
in the south have been here long
enough to become Identified with our
interests, our peculiarities, our respon-
sibflities, our prejudices, and our aspi-
rations as people; they talk the same
language as the people of the south
look forward to the time when there
may be more southern men sitting on
ouI board of directors. where l know
that they will be welcome,
81 trust you will permit me to take
this occasion to say finally a word of
q personal nature 1 believe in the
south and our southern people with all
my heart and soul. / have given most
| of the years of my manhood to an
earnest. though a subordinate, part in
an effort to realize a high purpose of
promoting the regeneration, through in
dustry of the prosperity of this our
beloved motherland. have not known
in my own experience the horrors
either of the military conflict which
| left our people PROSTATE, or of the
dreary years of political disability and
atrophied ambition which followed that
great war between the states, in one
+. of the chief theatres of which we are
| tonight. but I know the bitterness of
/ these things in the tradition of my
| immediate family. and / have learned
| from my parents that there can be no
| higher aspiration than to be part
in the realization of the ideals of our
southern people. Facing the future.
I have then dedicated my life to that
duty and to identification with the
southern people Many others have
done and are doing this and | am proud
| to be of the company which has ac-
| ccmplished, through cooperation and
sustained effort. so much in the last
| quarter of a century.
| II am humbly grateful for the welcome
hos tn
! portunity for its service 1t has been such
| a welcome as you have given me tonight,
| cordial. and with every evidence of good
will My hope is to justify this to those
| who allow me their confidence. who are
willing to believe that If we sometimes
| fail it will not be through lack of good
! intention or desire to do our duty as
conceive 1t. I have no sense of personal
| elation in the realization today of an
! ambition cherished ever since | entered
| the service of the Southern Railway conf
| pany II years ago. l feel most SOLDERING
| sense of a heavy responsibility, but 7 do
F., not fear the event. Nhave served under
| two great men, Samuel Spencer and Will
liam Wilson Finley both men of action,
| eager to accomplish, conscious always
| of the imperious summons of today, and
| of the warning of Eccesiastes: 'Whatso-
| ever thy hand fndeth to do do it with
! thy might | have known that before
}
! south, and with their example and their
| ideals before me my nope now is so to
| carry on their work as to gain the kind
| OF public esteem they earned and to
| aid in building for the future, as they
| built. not only the Southern railway,
hut the south itself In this high en-
deavor / am one of you. my fellow coun-
| trymen who are similarly engaged. and
| appeal to you as co-workers for aid and
cooperation"
Other speakers We're: ] Howe Peyton.
president of the Nashville. Chattanooga
and St. Louis railway; Mayor T. C.
Thompson and Jesse NJ Littleton. Fully
SEQ persons We're in attendance, including
a distinguished guest list.
| The election of Officers for the new
year resulted as follows: President Paul
| ]. Krues: vice president, u. c. Patten
| Jr.. treasurer. G. c. Nottingham. Many
novel features, including steropticon views
and special musical numbers were in
| troduced.
|