Newspapers / The Progressive Farmer (Raleigh, … / Aug. 25, 1887, edition 1 / Page 2
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fWk-PKHiiiHsifnf fiiitivti. 'Mix: -'J n INT.E R STATES FAkMRSiCN-; MENTION. A f 7 The Cotton apd' the 'fCrfjrn'' Ljfrdr in. Delegates 'from ten . States Presents-Five J . :I Hundrx A, Agriculturist? Discuss- ...... J Z . y ing TJieir Needs, . . . ;. - From the Atlanta. Constitution. -ii Just - as Commissioner- -Henderson! stepped to the front . of the stage at: T)eGrive-srpera house' yesterday morn-; mgTOr ineupurpose oireaaing iae cau -for the interstate r Cocnfention, a good' breeze beganvtsi. blow into the operaj hduse through heopen windows :ati the rear of the stage!The J)it,r ;dress icircle and first. glery ere crowded 'with -ladies' prsent' 'at the 'opening Exercises, "delerates from' ten southern? "states :and: stMtatbrs gerit ; The operaTxiOuse1 was" 'crowded ranm the pleasant bree was at welcome-' at- tendant upon the eroded cnventioaJ the call, an' opportunity was-feiven . for! an examination of the delegations. Ity was impossible to compare one-delega-i tion with another, as the members aid! not sit together but were scattered all? over the house; but the - blue' and id; gold badges floating from the lapels of .the coats marked them everywhere ? , " A finer looking body of men never? asoemoled m the south than the farm era' convention. Strong, brawny? .11. ii. i looking men, mostly oearaea, witn sun tanned faces and necks, with a hardy color of good health, they at-; tracted general comment by their fine -airearance..: The former could be ;seen everywhere. It was not a con-: .vention of theorist dreamers; but the knotty hand and tanned faces betok4 ,ened men who in reality and in sober earnest tilled the soil for the generous products it yielded in return. Such was the impression the convention made upon the interested spectators, .and the exercises that followed showed .the interest that the delegates felt in the proceedings and the solicitude they entered- as to the general result ofheHMieliberations. . GETTING BEADY FOR BUSINESS. In calling the convention to order Commissioner Henderson made'a few appropriate remarks, and then a prayer was offered by the Kev. H. U. Morris son, of Atlanta. Commissioner Henderson, . after making a statement touching the agri cultural interests of the country, in troduced as the temporary chairman Governor John B. Gordon. T lt. . governor Gordon's address. . Upon taking the chair the Governor spoke as follows , , -v Gentlemen op the Convention : I wish: I could also say- ladies of the 5 convention, for this is one body into -which the purest and the best could be incorporated with great propriety. "Laughter and applause. V '; It has been made my duty. to. pre-i side as your temporary chairman. In- .calling you to order, I ask your in auigence ; for .a very few moments. : Your, coming together will be hailed by all thoughtful men as a promise of? good to yourselves and the country.! :'Ta 2 T a. T . .1 f ii i .i I .xh migut DQ.:iruiniuuy said tnat you are here on a mission of universal philanthropy, because in the special interest of the husbandmen are in volved the universal interests of hu manity. Applause. . ; . The basis of agriculture is as broad as this earth; and the science of agri culture is as comprehensive as the all- encircling air around this earth. What ,is it; that is not comprehended 1 in' the 1 science of agriculture ? : 1 1 embraces not only the understanding of the soils and their- mode of treatment,1 but of . neat, of moisture, of the laws xf labor, of supply and demand,- of finance arid taxation. Agriculture v is at me& the foundation, the support arid -the 'guaf-dian'of- all material interests of -society It is the greatest of the sciences, the noblest of arts, the ' -most inde pendent of calling; iu a-word, it is the fruitful nldther from - whose':generous breast all the avocations of men draw their nutriment and their" life.- - Ap plause. -:V,'V:;;i. 'i -J Let hint who ' doubts the accuracy of this statement, or regards it as the language 'of 1 extravagance, imagine some fiendish i power- with deathdeal- mg wand: blighting and blasting at one fell blow ill of the Harvests of the world. - Where then": would life-le found ? You: might ; check all mer chandise, ' stop all commerce,1 destroy all manufactures, but agriculture could still live. i The ; human 'i race ; and -ani mUlifocouldstmBumreSutd stroy agriculturd;fiidiie're "febuld bi y our - merchandise, our- febnimercei fe J! manufactures, our-civilization;1 .uuuuuv exisience r .Your .mer !iaMiseofii$ 's6b.dr sfiII,-crefripiizatiODfwbuld-6Ue,i 5W: humarslence ' erid ltrTimvariiin would jTmmedT' ately7 f6Howlliel agriculture die, arid your great hips would rot' at their wharves. iJt ,acriUiire die afld' vbuf niaimulcntrraUway systems. wbuld bepome a serit mockery; '-and ter iiyrmdW tfrovftd fte6&fm heapsiof idlellumbfc at. the Jdeserted: depots. To 'the biisy hum -.of fjydur rianufacturirig art, ' would -nse the. silence of the igfave ; arid thuAing wastes jof the African dsets would be w"th"e fittest"Tf eprfe intaftvis "6f "the lifeless bruins of your cities andf the world's- desolation. ?- Apfplause. - i i't'iit w DeM true- ana it is irue luaii asrriculture is incomparably the most riiportant avocatiori of man j 'no' words oi mine uaxi suwvMtiuw.j eu-ipiniaic proprietyTCCprypctW -'farm--6rs. If it be': the arfof 'all arts,- the ciericfe of 'all' sciences the life 'of -'all HfehbwTat-are'its avenues 7 or m-j creased ' benefits' to ': rilankind ; how touritiess&re th subjects for. mvesti- g&tion aridthe- possibmties for'im-' orovemerit: ! The value of every ray; -of sunlight thafr-falls, upon; the fields, 1 a r . - -f x"L , i and oi' ' every vine or growin tuab shades-its srirfacef 'the value -of every ton of manure and system of fertiliza ttiori; the value bf 'every improvement in machinery and change in tillage; the tendency of every law or govern mental policy, state and federal, all furnish fields for thought, investiga tion and debate. All demands in the interest of the best efforts of men of science ' and of practical experiment. They summon to the investigation not only all the powers of the cultivators Gf the : soil; but the most sanctified capabilities of the chemist, the philoso pher, the philanthropist, the patriot arid the statesman. Great applause. And now I wish to announce a fact as axiomatic as a proposition in the Euelid and as true as the decalogue. The plow the plow is the fore-runner, the foremost evangel, : the truest prophet of the- world's civilization. Loud applause. - The first law of the Deity, the prime necessity of humanity, the life prin ciple of all progress and development is the tillage of the sou. Applause. 1 If -this has to be remunerative, there is a fundamental mistake, a radical wrong somewhere. Where is it? What is it ? To search for it, and if possible to find it; to understand it, to conquer it, and uproot it, is the high duty the commanding obligation upon every lover of his country or his race.' "' To aid in discovering this" wrong is the great purpose of this convention. It does not become as your temporary chairman to attempt to indicate where that evil lies; and to ' suggest the rem edy. All that I could with propriety do; would be to submit,' in conclusion, ; one or two suggestions of the most genera! character. ' r J ' :'Let'ine then first state wheref the difficulty or wrong will not be found. Iwillnot be found in your southern climate; - seasons or soil. . I will not say that the Almighty could not have made a goodlier land than this, or omniscience - might have . conceived and omnipotence might have, created a better country: I will say, however, that it .did not please him' to do so. Applause. " ' ' The beauties," the blessings and the bounties of nature are found in no zone in richer profusion. . In the free dom from the extremes of heat and cold the uniformity !6f ils seasonsi'3 tfie prd-1 WiWi)Ie,-itrha 'witnout ii nvai. vx-aii jmg countries mat nave been rtesedr;bjr lorig experience,' ' this isectibnVcombines more ; elements ilrat are sought arid fewer'that are sinfnrie4 by intelligerit men in their "search1 for profit in tillage arid cofnf ort in ncfeies. It is a land ' of 'sunshine without' the sunstrokes. y: It 7is, .perhaps, a .little sunburnt but greatly sunbIessed., ' Ap- f -If, therefore," we are1 riot 'growing rich as farmers, let Us not' look for the cause 'of depressibri in a lack of 1 lavis kindriess and endowirients :by ' Mother Nature.0 The fault does riot lie ather dpor. ::'--"; ;Ji;V ' VNpf cari'it be f ourid in the character of your pccupatioi. llready shown, the '5farriieri carries -upon his baclc all I the industries of the : earthandis em titled, therefore to 'earth's' surest- arid richest rewards: 1 Where 'then ' is the I enemy $4 your profits nd' rfr65perity.r y iioio mu iaiiso inenas or orawny - 7 - - . O- if ouiu ;i ' " " iuvw vnuci JJVCIO TiUC p profits i which' should : come to fyours ? ''X'llOtell you-where theare TKav i; - n . . w j cold ; m the mfreduency of cyclones, m stefms Wimsydmmri sire'either int.the f aLrmerS prfefices o the ' government's policiegv oripeJifhaA . t . f -r .1 bbthilf by the prduction-of th staple td be eiit abroad,! ari tli&'uft sumed at home, 'you have lost' your individual financial independence, let that process . be reversed. Je granite foundation, of general " prosperity s home-made, s home-conducte3, .unmori agel, inaiyidual indnoc; plause.1 . ' !:.V... On the other handif legal enact- others arid hurtful to youI. have only to say your power is great enough to, dictate1 the policies arid to change thef laws ' Applause. f'T ; , f J If you need diversified industries and increased home demand (and you do)f the encoUraljementS'' io 'capitalists 'ana- -manuiaciures are - iiumuerress. j '-i ' 1 - : . 1 ki The enfcouraarements are stamped7 on the whole if ace of ' the cduntry;f - They ;' are in the richness ' of !4 your mmerals, the 1 fertility of your J larids and tjie seductiveness of your iclimate. They wmsper in your preeze3,f :- munuer 1x1 your water powers ana nuroo m me great heart of generous1 pefople: t Ap plause. "M ';: ::--!? ; In calling to order this convention: ofhusbandmen 1 know you will unite in the earne&t aspirations that the God of ; husbandmen will guide our delib erations; discover to us the enemies bf our just rewards, arm us for the con flict and vouchsafe to -us the victory. Governor Gordon 'introduced Mr. Henry W. Grady as follows: ' Gentleirien- -of the: Gori vention: When I announce to youthe'' riext; speaker you will thank me that 1 have ceased talking. The next speaker-is. Henry W .Grady. Applauses. I can-; . . . l - .1. . Ox.i. T not turn over to mm ine oiate l wish I could. Applause and laughter. But I have turned over to him the res ponsibility of talking for the state, and . T . ! ' ne can ao it oetter - tnan any man m the state. Applause. I am not going to introeuce him; I have nothing to say about him. I have ordered him, as commander-in- chief of the army of this great com monwealth, to welcome this great con vention and all their friends to the hospitality of this state; Applause. Mr. Cirady appeared, and t was greeted with applause.' His speech had not been prepared, and the rapid ity with which he.tlalks renders it al most impossible to get a stenographic report. The following is a synopsis: 'It was announced in yesterday's cx)NSTITUTioN,,, said Mr.. Grady, " that I was to deliver this address of .wel come, arid as it is my dutjjrtb niaintain the veracity of that highly respected Newspaper, even to my embarrassment ana your aiscomiuure, x am nere. x am astonished that Governor Gordon, at once my governor and my friend, who, in delivering a' welcome himself, wouiu nave auuea .a magisterial au thority I do not possess to . an elo quence I never hope to have, delega ted the duty to me. I am astonished that he, foremost in every charge fpr your promotion and last" from every breach in whicH your rights are threat ened, should, have shirked .this, duty and laidcit on the shoulders; pf '' Jiis Humble but loving constituent;-leaving me to march behind f the blazing path of his eloquence, much as a one-armed wood-chopper would follow1 the track of a south Georgia cyclone; Ijaugh ter. . He has not done so because of my agricultural knowledge. 'He knows that I am the only living man who knows less about agriculture than "They say -that when you wake a; tledrgian from sudden sleep he ex-; tenos hishand and says "howdy; I 'ami glad to see you," as he rub's his eyes. How much more welcoirie then are you ; who come at urgent invitation and in pursuit bf anoble purpose:1- 1 It is good that this welcoirip is sp6ritanepus,! for i my uuues nave peen so t pressing mat I have not ; had tiirie'1 for thinkirig. Straight from my heart to my lips and from ray lips, "to you I bid you'; wel come to .Georgia'. We are glad to see you. Now. I have ' said ' that so cor dially arid so; completely; that- I.we j notnmg else to say. . as mortal nand, cannot gild the sunset nor" refine the lily, ! so is there " no heartier welcdme J inan wnen a ; Georgian says my inneq, Pwelcpme ybri to my iibme: f r Mr. Grady then said tfiat he .had a few thoughts which had come to him j casuauy and nad Deen cnurnea mto coherence by Hhe blessed brass band. After - this 'J mtroduction' tM Kxrady eulPOTiizedthe i farmers tis sk man who ; measures strength, not with piMtlt with1 seasdris, f who dras "his fprturies xx Will uxs illirpiiLUUtJ Ui uaiiuic, c.xxa.u.o- Iess" tpv tlidsewho" tap; it -wisely arid he does. - daughter. : But he knows that he " can't beat ( nie being glad to ' seeyour fAprilafee-f ix,i-' " v ':':' I rock. 4 1 Kbdininio nof iari rulntren veinkk fronlf, hervflowmg trariquil,e)eathe4staningt art t: i ri ' the sweat of his harvest, and spreads tne snowers in ine verumc 1 r.l 'ti xU :iJwrt Q&St COnSClOUS OI LJUo lUbCxibj lloOr athatC eriHche.mari ' while it horibife God;-:" ). ' ; -'"- 1,. . - He then discussed 'the cotton plant anditis ehorxrious revenue to the south. Of cotton he said :; ;;; j'-75' v-V "What a ' royal Aplant it 1 is'.';' The world waits lin i attendance ' on; : its bwh.;4We"'shoer that falls his ' la iknearS ariiri'd. its leaies" is-heard A 'fj ' V AV A T 'y' r "the earth:5 ; The sun that shines on it is tempered by thef prayers" of all4 peo-; tle: mefrostJthat chills-it ;and :dew thittrescends 'from the starsu5s -noted and the; trespass of a little1 worm-"on its fh-eli leaf is:moresto Efeglaild thari the: advance oi xne ussian"army on uer Asian outposts : . It isold from -the instarit ' it puts -fourtlr-its'; tiny shoot.; Its fibre'is ctfrfant mvery bank,, and when loosing its fleeces to the' sun it flpats' its snowy banner that 1 glprifies the field of' the -humble farmer, that 'man J. is 4 ' marshalled ' under a flag that will compel the allegiance of the world aud wring a subsidy from every nation on earth." ' ' ; " He then said that this ihcoriie : was fixed arid peculiar to the south'; Not hers this year and her ; neighbor s the next, out hers every year. " The heritage that God'gave to this people forever as their own wheri' he arched our skies, estabushed our mouniains, girt us about with thei ocean, loosed the breezes, tempered; the sunshine and measured the rain. Oufs and our childrenV forever. As princely talent as ever came from His hand to mortal stewardship. ' Mr. Grady then said : " If this enormous revenue of four hundred milUon dollars per annum could be kept at home, if the supplies that we eau were raised on our farms, and the articles we buy were manufac tured in ' our cities,4 in ten years the cotton states would be the richest sec tiori of the globe." ! He then showed that the cities were doing their part in keeping at home this enormous revenue. Me said " There are 230, 000 artisans at work in the sputh today that were not here in' 1880 arid this does not include the thbitsarids' that : are building new enter prises. -We manufactured ' last' year 213,p00,6b0 worth of articles tnat six y4ars following the cotton exposition 1T3 new, cottpn mille' have been built in the south, starting: 1,000,000 new swindles; ' The south is' witnessing' to day an industrial revplutipn for which history has no preceedent. Figures db not measure it krid' Alriazeinent. is simply limited by comprehensibn: ! If, the Piediriont exposition can fairly epitomize it; 'that show 'will bPjthe miracle of the dsLy. At every turnSve stop the outfloof nioney: Six years iGeoiaYb)uhtW6fe,06b 'tons'-of commercial fertilizers- for which she paid seven million dollars, every dol lar of which went north. Last' year she useblGOjOOO tons, of which 125, 000 tons were made inJ Georgia' ( of Carolina ' phosphates, ' Georgia cotton meal and sulphuric acid reduced from natural iron pyrites. Thus one state in !one item has checked ' the K outflow of six million dollars 1 per annum arid will doubW-the Capacity -of her' facto ries in r4noher year; ---Twenty ye&rs ago we wasted three millibn: ' tbris 1 Bf. cotton seed;iby dumping- irir the river ' qr burning it; Ias year cwe. run eigtx hundred 'ihbusarid; tons 'through onedred1 -and' "forty-six- oil; miffs. extraciirig1 eight mili6n dollars 1 worth bf oil refined into fourteen million dol lars valuV arid turrieo! lack;the; cotton' mea; to tne iarmer, better for food or fertilizer 'tKaH'befpre it was robbed of itsi oil. - Onecoriipany is iiow "building ten oil! ! nulls in' the sbutK that : will tmtiiext; season sand tops' of sied ' iriaking brie million ions of on&tlTd oi ihQ cropi arid pro- ducirigteri mHlion dollars worth of ; crude oiL ; THe f ertiliziris: value of the' coiion seea ,wnicn was ' Durned or drowned jwent yrs ago is one huri dre'd and" fortvmillion dollars! more tnan the te oats arid wlieat cfpp of th1 nortTiwest combined.'- More amaz- ing: thair all, J in 1 i 18801 ; fthe 1 sbuth PrO duced 'fou'r hundred thousand tons of irorirmH$8l:eieht hundred arid fifi v thousand 1tons? ?fThis mcrpas& ot Hotir j uuuuiw "uu , my t UiUUSauu ions m sWepafcstari tHereVare now' iri actual process'of erec- tiori- -txxirtr-orie iron iuriiacei J iri ' the! 7 if advBitf, Kit Jitriking: mewn no llr spffigifclireast ' ana" filling-his ' fountains. StirrPd' not ' by passibri, poisoned not hv 'fin vv.' trotibled not bv ambitiori, but dw -helbcitoshlneri ljcapadty of 3,0oo tons' pc. flay4or 1000,000 tpitsper so that ' Where ' we incrs . ' '000 Jtdns in 'seven Years we will r,L increase 1,000;000; tons in one xvj.1. vjiaujf .gave omer figures at length, showihg the enormous growth of industrial movements in the He then-praised tlie work of srintw farmer,, ho,' oiit of nothing. twentv yctL uui lauus ana desolated fields had prodnced last year a cron nf " "7 1 r, ' "iUdeed," hejsaid: I thinV farmer, deserves niore credirthari his friends' in the' ' city. ' ' I. shall alwavs maintam" that there is ho record of he roism' tcTfedf bass5 tKe'rebuildirie-r(Sf thl south'by her sons 'returning from war easier in me ciby ijuuu m ine country There amid the clamor' of 'the inulti' tude,rqickened1lllaer sense of com radfeship he'arihghe1 heart "bea't" of a friendori eveiy-siae'; led by example and'stfing byrL criticism the work was easy 'forispiratibri was Constant. But have'you' thought of the : farmer that had 'rdturned to the solitude of his dis jpoiled hdriie ? 'Have you thought of him'-s he wandered through his empty barrisV his desolated fields" his stock labor and implements gone, his neigh bors slain- and even the son 'who was to be the staff of age, or the father who was to be the guide of youth and the brother at once comrade and kins man resting beneath the same far off sky, happier in his tranquil grave than he who was left in this sad perplexity. Think bf him as he gathers together the fragments of his wreck and goes afield, urging with kindly hand his borrowed mule, planting cotton at twenty-five cents and marketing it at fifteen, paying sixty per cent usury on all he buys, and buying everything on credit, his crop mortgaged before it is planted his children in want, his neigh borhood in. chaos, without church or school, - working under new conditions without guidance, retrieving each er ror by a wasted year, and struggling to every truth through costly exper ience, working all day long adown the furrow, and at night almost hopeless, going back to his. dismantled house broken and cheerless, where his wife thank God cheerful even in her sor row, leads him to forget his troubles as she brings him to listen to the chirp ing of the cricket beneath their hearth stone, while she ministers with infinite grace to his loving' heart. I love to think of him, for he is my countryman, as he walked those terrible days, day after day, behind his plow, hearing no voice save the approval of his con science, and having no friend near him save 'Nature that ' smiles back at his earnest touch and God that sends him the message of good cheer though the passing breeze and whispering leaves." Closing he said ': 11 1 tiiank God , over and again for the time and place of my birth that I came into manhood when the south, merging from r unspeakable sorrow, prostrated and irripoverished, called her sons to her. side, and that I was lxrn of her bosom and sworn to her service. I Had I been an alien her sor rows would have touched me, and I should - have sought her banner, but born of her soil and holding heirship to her sorrow I have never had an aspiration that would not hallow hers. Have you thought, my countrymen, of the glorious work at our hands, and the glorious casis in which we were born? "WVstanbl for the integrity cf a splendid'civilization, from the spirit of which, we cannot in honor or rever ence depart but which we must carry unstained into new , conditions. It is ours'to , show. that,a land that pros pered . with slaves' shall prosper yet more wi; freedom, that a people de feated in war 'shall triumph in peace and -Iftat ,set apart: for a century they shatf renter' the'lists in poverty and emerge, in .prosperity holding sacred every honorable traditipu yet turning their faces steadfast, and,' dauntlessto the future. 'How are we keeping this trust ?, f :There re those .Who say that our farmers are losing ground and be ing driven backward from their farms as our fathers" were driven backward from Appomattox; and Chattanooga. TMs convention may ' decide that the farmers in the south are in worse con dition than they ere .ten years ago. Is this true; and if so, why is it? ve have a ' land unsurpassed in nchness arid fertility, climate in hi winter is but a ; passing breath, ana spririjg arid autumu xneet in , the nea of suramW. : Corn; cotton, clover, to bacco, wheat and the grasses gT. one inclosure. The ; peach 'and ap ripen riHKe 'same brchardd w'every fruit frm the VfX tb.tKSirMcrab.V exhaustTes'our nunes ncnuj. ries tbuchedj--ouriafids pert ecfc
The Progressive Farmer (Raleigh, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Aug. 25, 1887, edition 1
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