Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-10-07
BY the Associated Press.

/ am proud to have been invited al
your guest in this celebration OF YOU
progress and this review Of your par
in national history
When Soutllerners go North o.
Northerners 20 South to deliver public
addresses they seem to feel 1t neceSsar!
to first launch into an explanation tina
all lines OF sectionalisrn have disappear
ed in the United States. I am from
the West where our people are prout
to be the melted product of both thu
North and the South. Our accent diff
fers from that of the people of Alabama
and Vermont, but we have the sans
hearts, the same kind of homes, thu
same ideals and aspirations. Ever!
morning and evening we read the same
news; every night we listen by radio K
the same voices Our mental and phySi'
cal frontiers are gone. It happens thai
we need geographical divisions. fol
statistical and descriptive use, bat other
wise We could leave this question Il
orators and hurnorists
Your celebration today raises many
, memories Of our national beginnings
Patriotism is of many inspirations. Il
receives refreshmcnt from many springs
| None are more powerful than our ira
! ditiors of service, Of suffering, OF ac'
! con1plishmcnt and Of heroisrn. The
rivuletS of these traditions from every
! part of our country in the course OF
/ history merge into that great stream ci
national memories which is the constant
refreshment of national ideals. These
! memories are indeed the imponderable
! force which builds and cementS oul
! national life.
Double Significance.
To the westerner; appreciative OF
| history and tradition, this occasion pre-
ssnts a double significance. AS you
shave shown today, this locality was
I once the cations frontier. Here were
/ enacted some OF the most stirring scenes
in the brilliant drama Of our pioneer
era. Seven years before the Declaration
| OF Independence there came to the
banks of the Watauga-which was then
| the Far West--the first permanent set
tiers. They we're soon followed by
others from the back country Of North
Carolina. In these settlements, from
tiersnlen remote from the centers OF
civilization, freed by diflcu1t distance
from the sway of all governmental
authority, voluntarily created their own
frame of popular government. They
erected what was to all practical pur-
poses free and independent state,
under their own constitution. In the
Nrticles of the Watauga Association
were implanted some of the great prin-
ciples which later found permanent
Judgement in our fundamental law.
Similar associations sprar1g into being
in other parts of these mountains. His
torians of our frontier agree that no
more striking proof of the native capac-
ity Of our early Americans for local self
rxiHt Ia
these associations. They not only
created a government. The Watauga
men, determined in their independence,
rallied to the improvised army during
the Revolution which at Kings Noun
tain struck a decisive blow for the
Colonial cause. They, with their COM
patriots from Virginia and the Carolinas,
attacked and disastrously defeated a
formidable army under competent lead
ership, faded again into the forests rs
soon as their task was accomplished.
No battle more dramatic or marked by
courage and skill of a higher order has
been fought on this continent It was
e turning point in the Revolutionary
War. 1t compelled the retirement of
Gen. CORVALLIS toward the coast, re-
vived the tagging spirit of the dis
couraged colonists, and opened the way
for the final victory at Yorktown.
wish to compliment you upon your pag-
cant concentrating these achievements.
These States. in common with those
to the North, began the greatest drama
of all history-the spread of Americans
from a feeble foothold on the Atlantic
seaboard to the most powerful nation
in the world in scarce two centuries
The great West was won not by the
action of the Government, but by indi-
vidual effort Of intrepid and courageous
men from all these Atlantic States
They builded their own Self-govern-
ment. Tennessee, Kentucky and Texas
were gained by pioneers under Sewer,
Robertson Clark, Boone. Houston and
others. They won not only homes for
themselves, but for long time deter
mined the course of history westward.
The Mississippi River ceased to be a
boundary, and year after year the pow
erful pulsatien of westward expansion
throbbed with heroism and sacrifice.
They we're ready to fight for the simple
right of government. Gen. FIRE.
mont, the pathfinder to the Pacific
Coast, came from Georgia and, true to
tradition. he fought for and erected the
first self government of my own State
OF California.
Ancestor was S0ULnerueIs
To me it is an inspiration to be stand
ing on this spot, for, in a sense, I have
common heritage with you. The
earliest ancestor of whom 1 have record,
Andrew Hoover, a settler in Maryland
about two centuries ago, migrated to
North Carolina and built his home a
hundred miles from this spot. In Ran
dolph County of that State he did his
part in building the community, and
his grave lies in the little burying
ground on what was then the Uharrie
River farm. His son, my great-great-
grandfather, was part of that movement
which started West from your frontier.
AS Secretary of Commerce / have
been profoundly interested in the ama7-
ing progress of the South In this past
seven and one-half years lii order
that the department might assist to the
fullest extent in that progress, we in
creased our branch Offices in the South
from In 1920 to 90 in 1928. As a
result of the contact thus established
we were able to observe your increasing
prosperity.
The record is impressive There are
in the South about 100000 families
and in this period they have shown Ill
crease in numbers by perhaps 10 per
OCIlGl Nlbll Oillo tllc Ill1ilu-
| featuring output has increased by over
so per cent; the number of employees
has increased by over 80 per cent; the
value of crops has increased by over As
per cent; the shipments from Southern
ports have increased by so per cent;
| the net income of your railways has
grown by over 40 per cent; electrical
power in use has been increased by l2s
| per cent: the postal receipts have grown
! by as per cent That this enormous in
crease In wealth and production has
had wide distribution can be seen or
every hand. 1t is indicated by increased
wages and decreased cost of living, ir
| 90 per cent of new homes, in a gain Of
| $50 per cent of automobiles and 30 pei
cent in telephones. Life insurance II
force has increased by 10 per cent anc
bank clearings have increased by so pei
cent. Depositors in savings banks have
! >lo,,l,iod 0eii orI IHay