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NOTABEE ADDRESS OX "THE MAX liEHINl) THE PLOW." Tho Prosperity of livery Man de* ^ pendent I*pon the Prosperity of tlu* Averime Man. Mr. Clarence E. Poe, the talented editor of the Progressive Farmer, of Raleigh, N. C., made a notable address before the Commercial Con gross that met in Washington some j time ago. We present an extract! from Mr. Poo's address, which i will be rend with interest. He said: "The captains and the kings depart;" our hankers, our manufacturers, our merchants, our lawyers, our doctors, sill these have brought their j reports, worthy, inspired, notable | and nil of these men I honor; but j hero at the last 1 bring to you your j forgotten man, the man who, of all nven, is re-building and must rebuild the South?the man behind the plow. Thirty years ago and more tha*. great-hearted and far-seeing Southern poet, Sidney Punier, gave us the key-note of Southern development and the burden of my address is in a paragraph that every Southern school boy ought to learn by heart: "A vital revolution in the farming economy of the South, if it is actu-| ally occurring, is necessarily carrying with it all future Southern polities, and Southern relations, and Southern art, and such sin agricultural change is the one substantial fact upon which any really New South can be predicted." It is Lanier's old message thsit I would bring to you today?and yet I bring si new message, too; that sit last we have definitely set about, the] fulKllment of his dream. To tell you what this means to you and to the South and to ask you for your support in carrying it to success, is the object of my coming. As si background of my story and In order that we may see its large iiii-uiiuiK in i in* rigiu perspective, l must first of all call your attention to two statistical facts. First, as to the overwhelming prominence of rural interests in the South, the census showing that more than 80 per cent of our population is rural .and that the South is today the one section of America of which it is true that there are more people engaged in agriculture than in all other occupations combined . Second, as to the efficiency and earning power of these people heretofore, the last census showing the average annual value of products per farm in the North Atlantic States as $9S4, in the South Atlantic at $84, or exactly $500 per year less; in the North Central States as $1,074, in the South Central. $530? or $53 8 per acre loss. And with this as my basis, I am ready to lay down three or four propositions which 1 wish to hammer home to your minds: 1. To bring; up its earning power $500 more a year for each Southern farm is the supreme task and opportunity of our generation. 2. It is not only our supreme task and ambition, but it is a realizable ideal, a workable, practicable program of progress. 3. It is not only our supreme task, and a realizable one, but is one upon whose success depends the prosperity not only of the South as a section and Southerners as a whole, but also (and more important) the prosperity of you yourself as an iu^ dividual, and of every individual Southerner?the farmer no more than the banker, the merchant, the railroad man, the lawyer, the preacher, the teacher, the statesman. The 11 %v vi icvcry iruui\ u n, niH craft in a coirnminity and the pros polity of every individual in tin community, from the hoy on tin street who blacks shoes to the mast er mind who organizes your railway systems or governs your State?tin prosperity of every man, I say, do ponds upon the prosperity of tin "7orage man, this average man ii the South being a farmer?and thi is the greatest truth that I hope t< bring you to see this afternoon. 4. And then the hopeful fact ? the fact that already earnest hipi and women, working here and ther in different lines of endeavor, hav developed almost unconsciously th several component parts of a fair ly comprehensive and well-rounde u/.lw.n.? .1 -1 ' - * - 1 r?vnvmu vji i nidi ill* \ I'lUpilinil , 21 J) I" ] ninry and essential part of which 1 this getting $.100 more a year farm log in the Southern States? scheme of education which embrace young and old, not only the farm ho in the school, but the adult farnie and the farmer's wife as well. And now, as the spokesman of th South's agricultural Interests, I com to you to appeal for your suppor to ask you as citizens and as lead ors to join in a great movement f?i rural development in the South. An T am going to base my argumei not on any plea as to what this dc velopment will mean to the Sout ns a section, or to Southerners as whole, hut upon what it will mea to you as an individual. My hope I to show you that your indlvidm prosperity is dependent upon th prosperity of the average man i the South, this average man (1 rollout) being a farmer. Too long, my fellow Southerners, a large element of our people have cherished a different feeling. Too long, tv> long?ah, tragically too long men have thought or said, "If I am it merchant, lawyer, manufacturer, preacher, railway man, hanker, or teacher, It matters little to me (except, of course, as a matter of altruism or benevolence) whether agriculture prospers or not, whether the mail In the field is Ignorant or educated, is progressing or retrograding, is prospering or suffering." 1 nunc to you today to tell you that this Is the fooling that has cost the South leadership. This is the sentiment that litis kept our manufacturers, our commerce, our literature, our education?that has kept one and all of these chained down to the unproiitahlc level of our unprofitable average man, our man behind the plow. Increase his earning capacity and you increase the earning capacity of every other worker in the South; free him from the chains of unprofitable, because misdirected, labor, and you cut the hindering shackles of every other worthy interest in the Southern Stiites. All, if our statesmen and public men in the South these last, thirty years could only have realized t he fundamental truth in Lanier's utterance?"A vital revolution In the farming economy of the South is necessarily carrying with it till future Southern politics and Southern relations and Southern art, and suen an agricultural change is the one I substantial fact upon which any really New South can be predicted!" Ah, if they could only have realized that the prosperity of every man depends upon the prosperity of th 3 average man! "Wealth Is by nature not aristocratic, hut democratic." The poorer every other man is, the poorer you are. The richer every other man is, the richer you are. IOvery mar. whose earning power is below par, below normal, is a burden 011 the. community; he drags down the whole level of life, and every other man in the community Is poorer by reason of his presence, whether he ho white man, or negro, or what no*. Your untrained, inefficient man is not only a poverty-breeder for himself, but the contagion of Its curne.s every man in the community thai, is guilty of leaving him untrained. The law of changeless Justice decrees that you must rise or fail, decline or prosper, with your neighbor. You will be richer for his wealth, poorer for his poverty. And so today every man who is tilling an acre of land in the South so that it produces only half what, intelligently directed labor would g -t out of it is a burden on the community, is dragging down the level of life for every other man in the community. Suppose you ate his fellow-citizens; then because of ins inefficiency, his poverty, because ?t his failrue to contribute to pu'o'tc funds and public movements, yoj must have poorer roads, poo.i.r schools, a meaner school house and court bouse, a shabbier church, low er priced lands; your teacher will l>2 more poorly paid, your preacher's salary will be smaller, your newmarket, your railroad smaller traffic, tlon, your town will have a poor--' market, your reilroad small.-r traffice your merchant smaller trade, v >uv hnnk Kiimllor rtr>nnsils vnir miitiii. facturer diminished patronage, and 1 so on and so on. The ramifications a reinflr.ite, unending. And the doctrine is true whatever the color of the man. The ignorant negro in the South is one of t lie greatest economic hurdeni ' with which any people has evei had to contend. From travel and 5 observation in ten Southern States I have almost worked it out as r 5 principly of political economy that ' other things being equal, States and - communities are prospering in pro 1 portion to their white population. 3 do not know what wo are going tc do with the negro. I do know thu f we must either frame a scheme o 3 education and training that wil - keep him from dragging down tin o whole master the man or the rac< ? who mlslty-maker and not a poverty s brooder, or else lie will get out o 3 ytbo South and give way to tlv white immigrant. No acre of lam - will long own as its master the mai 1 or the race who mistreats it am o makes it unfruitful. Either we nun e have the negro trained or ve mua e not hnve him at all. Untrained, li - is a burden on us all. Setter d million acres of untitled land tha I- a million acres of mistilled land, s Let us remember then that on i- economic law knows no color llm a White or black, the man whose efr s cieney is above par is a help; whit y or black, the man whose < fheiene r is below par is a hindrance. "The farmer, the common la bo re e | of any sort, needs no training. Edi e onto him and you spoil him. Th t, | time have they been preachet I- Hugging this vampire delusion, th ir Southern plantation owner, has see <1 I vast level of life in the South, tha it j will poorer you keep him, the rlcln >- will be tlie upper class." There hav h been our pet falacies. And a Ion a area abandoned to broonisedge an n gullies, in spite of the fact that ii Is ' telligent handling would have kej il j them productive a thousand years, o' Preaching this fatal doctrine, th n merchant has sold Western meat an I scooters and tobacco, when with prosperous patrons he might have quadrpuled his profits by selling sulky plows and harvesters and carriages and pianos. Deluded by his fallacy the statesman has struggled against fate, on'y to die and be forgotten by people too poorly educated to read his biography, and too poor in property to build a monument to his memory, while smaller and meaner men in sections unshackled by these ancient errors, are famed in song and story. Writing editorials in support of the aristocratic instead of the democratic theory of Industry of the editor has seen his patent-outside weekly fail of support, when a properly I I'n I nrwl O n/1 ml n/.n t/?.l ?a/mvI/v 1 IMIIUVH V \? KV.CUVU JPCUJII'' WWIIIU have brought him wealth as the head of a prosperous daily. Flghtiug public taxation for bolter schools and other methods of training and enriching the nverag man, your manufacturer has struggled along with a small business win 11 a prosperous average men would have given us great iucaistries like those in tlie North and West. Still arguing that education and man, and that "cheap labor" is what we need, your banker has complained that the South offers no opportunities for the great financier, forgetting that cheap, unprosperous labor means small, unprosperous banks. Opposing taxation for better schools the rail rends hnnlinii- cotton in the fall and low grade fertilizers in the spring, have fought passenger rate reduction {is a life and death matter when a well-trained people would supply the various trafPes and the heavy dividends of the other seaLions. Your lawyer, .doctor, preacher, teacher?each falling in line with the ancient heresy, has paid the penalty in disminished fees, diminished salaries, diminished influence. Victims of the vicious teaching 1 am pointing out, your men ot talent ?artist, sculptor, poet, orator, have too often fled to other sections, or else have died with vision unfulfilled among a people untrained to appreciate their genius?when hut for these tilings you might see statues of Southern leaders in every Southern city, tlie work of Southern artists in the world's greatest galleries, the thought of the Southern sleep in neglected graves trampled under foot by war, and waste, and error. Now war and waste, thank God, are behind us. Let us also put error behind us. Of all our errors our greatest has been the failrue to recognize the fact that the prosperity of every man i uepeiius upon me prosperuy or tn^ average man?and in many cases the actual acceptance of the doctrine that the State is benefitted by havI ing cheap, untrained labor. I have seen on the contrary that such labor is a curse. I And our second great error has I been like unto it?the belief that I even if the prosperity of every man I does depend upon the prosperity of I the average man, we are too poor to train him. The truth is, that we are too poor not to do so. The fullI est and freest training of the averago man is the one and only positive guarantee of Southern prosperity, and by this I mean the prosperity not only of our section and of our I institutions and of society as a whole, but the prosperity of every individual?every farmer, every laborer, every merchant, every manufacturer, every professional man, I every inhabitant as 1 have said, from the boy who blacks shoes to poet the common heritage ol man! kind. It is not that we have had | no mighty dreamers; it is that they 4 I the master-mind that builds youi railroad systems or governs your ' State. And having once accepted ' this doctrine concerning the average 1 man?and the average man in tht ' I South being a farmer?we shall not be slow to put into effect Mint large . and comprehensive program of rural development which^earnest men and } women, working in many different . lines have gradually brought in?c I shape?a program which looks t( I the ultimate doubling of the profits I of that occupation which engages the attention of more people in tin J South than all other occupation! combined. e j Then, indeed, will the South bios ^ som as the rose; then, indeed, wil I the long nmbititons of our fathers II come at last into glorious fruitage I Not only will the common farn ,j homes in the South he supplied wit! :l all the conveniences our city broth M ron now enjoy, good roads and tei ephones and fine stock an 1 fa r acres greeting the glad eyes of ai )# awakened people; but every Indus I- try known to our Southland wil o throb with now vigor as it fresl y l)loo(l had been poured into it veins. Great mercantile houses wii ir grow up among us rivaling thos i- of the North and Wiest, and South 0 orn merchants will make the hi 1. profits that come with big sale o instead of the small profits inevita n bio with small sales. (Merchants i it the West are selling automobile >r to farmers; compare, if you wil e tho profits on automobiles t.nd o g carts.) Manufacturers of a tlions d and things for which there is noi i- no profitable Southern market, w >t shall have; and our laboring mei finding room for greater skill an e higher wages, will walk with quieV 1 er step and lighter hearts. Danker 0 0 wijfl no longer own allegiance to' other sections, but our own financial institutions will become the equals of any in America. Our newspapers will grow greater with stronger subscription an 1 advertising patronage, and northern men and women will begin to read Southern magazines and Southern dailies. Our railroads will double-track old lines to supply the new demands, and new lines will be built to quicken dead sections into life. Able lawyers will no longer go north to find l>ig fees, foreign pulpits will no longer be able to take our strong religious leaders from us, our poet souls and artist souls will find here last the atmosphere in which they best can flourish, our statesmen will speak with potent voices in the councils of tlie nation, and the eye of every Southern school hoy will sparkle with a keener pride as lie learns the story of a generation that has wrought as well in peace as the : fathers fought in war. These are I 'he things we have now sot out. to win; these are the tilings which are to come about with that agricultural revolution upon which alone can any really new South he predicted. * smoi li) m; iiAXCiui). A Unite That Attempted to Assault Two Gills. Hainhrtdge, Ga., Feb. 0.?Ike Jones, a negro, attempted to criminally assault tlio 10-year-old daughter of Joe Spooner early this morning. The negro went to the home of the Spooners, and there was no one at the place except the daughter. The negro asked where her father i and brother were, and the girl tool 1 him that they were both in the field working. He then told her that he wanted to buy some sausage. When the girl went out to the smokehouse to get the sausage for him, the negro followed her. As he caught her around the throat she pulled away, and ran past him, screaming, to the field, where her brother was working. A posse was soon organized and succeeded In finding the negro who was brought beforo the girl, who identified him. He was carried to Iron City and placed in tho town jail. There was some talk of a mob taking charge of him, and he was brought to Bainbridge on the noon train. A number of citizens of the western side of the county, where the crime was committed, have followed the negro here, and there is considerable uneasiness among the officials that the negro will bo lynched. Judge Frank Park, of the Albany circuit, is hero in town and has offered to give tho negro just as speedy a trial as necessary, saying that he would remain over until tomorrow, if necessary. The same negro has been identified as the one attempting an assault upon the daughter of another white man in the same section some months ago. THKY PKltFOIlM HEItOlC FEAT. U i - /I ? " * " nuve nit- *. rei\ 01 nciiouiicr i nat iiocs to Pieces. Delaware Dreakwater, Del., Feb 10.?The four-masted schooiu.r Sarah W. Lawrence, from Ne.vport , News, with a cargo of coal for Hos ton, was today blown aground on the Hen and Chicken's Shoals off Cape llenlopen, Del. The crew of nine men and the captain's wCe were rescued by the Cape llenlopen life-savers. The schooner broke m two after the ten persons had been taken off. They were landed at Lewes, Del. The sea was running so high that it was impossible for the life-saversalone to go to the assistance of the stranded vessel, and a tug was called ( upon to tow the life-savers in a launch out to the schooner. The ' Cape llenlopen men risked theii ' lives in putting their boat through the pounding surf, but they reached the schooner safely and just as tin hull of the Lawrence became sub " merged. Those aboard were hud died on the fore house of the sunker " vessel. 1 The sea was running so high tha * the hardy rescuers were unable t( get close to the crew and life pre 1 servers and ropes were brought int< 1 use. The captain's wife was tin - first taken off, and it took severa - hours to effect the rescue of tin t others. it T.VVTIIIXtJ IV A1.ARAMA. 1 !l u Negro Had Mistreated Little Dnugh ' tor of Her Employer. e t. Selma, Ala., Feb. 8.?News ha g just reached hero of the lynching o s Will Parker, a negro, near Mexia, 1 t- Monroe county, last Saturday. Th n negro had mistreated tho three-yeai 8 old daughter of N. O. Bailey, th 1, man for whom he worked on Fridaj n A mob was formed during tho nlghl but the dogs were unable to tak >v the negroe's trail until the followin e morning. He was found In a cor i, crib, and when the sheriff's poss d arrived, about half an ho\y latei from Monrooville, they found th s negro's body hanging to a tree. FLIM FLAM GAME Worked on the Ministers of Atlanta a Few Days Ago BY A SMOOTH ARTIST The Fellow, Who Admitted With (ireut Flow of Tears, That lie Had i Heen All Kinds of a ItasenI?Took I V|? a Neat Collection From the < Ministers. Atlanta, Feb. 10.?The Journal says a shrewd beggar with histrionic ability in general and of of humanity in general anil of preachers in particular, loft Atlanta last week, taking with him contributions from the majority of the local ministry. In all, he secured fifteen or twenty dollars, a pair of trousers, and an overwhelming number of handclasps and assurances of help. He was a weazened little man with a wail in his voice. Rev. II. A. Atkinson found him on the threshold of his study last Wednesday. He pointed one trembling Anger at the minister. "I am a forger," ho said. That was his introduction to the ministers of Atlanta. His story was dramatic. He said his name was lienry Mcls.enz.ie. "For twenty-two years I was In Sing Sing for forgery," he told Dr. Atkinson. "Then I was parolled, and 1 came to South Carolina to try life over again. 1 got a job. I was j living honestly, then they found out | my past and I was tired. Since then it has been the same thing over again. My story follows me everywhere. Once I get work and life begins to promise something, someone hears of it and I am discharged. "I forged one check for $37,000 on J. IMerpont Morgan in my bad days and got it cashed. That was only one of the terrible things I did. My life was black. But I want to put all that behind me now and live a new life, but the world won't let me. I have paid my debt to society and still It demands more." Dr. Atkinson gave him two dollars and the pair of trousers. He also set about getting him work. The following day, the man all atremble, came to Rev. E. D. Ellenwood's study. "I am a forger," he said again. TIlpii his fingers began to work and the tears to roll down his face "And God help me, a morphine fiend, too," he cried. "But I have determined to make a new life of it." He snatched a box from his pocket and threw it into the fire. "I shall never touch morphine again." Dr. Ellenwood gave half a dollar. After the man had left he took the box from the stove. In it were some W It i f r> it* <1 b J 1 > 1? a .1 a ? M Uivv 1'WMVIVIO, u au SIIUW(.JU IU a druggist. The druggist said they were not morphine powders at all. When he asked Dr. Ellenwood for money, the later offered to buy him any food he might wish. Hut you must trust me, doctor," , he said. "Trust is what I need. Trust and confidence." He said the same thing to Dr. Atkinson. Then he paid a visit to Dr. C. B, Wilmer, from whom he secured several dollars; dropped in to see Dr . Pise, called upon Bishop C. K , Nelson, and saw Rev. E. II. Peacock, of the Baptist Tabernacle. By Thursday Dr. Atkinson had , secured him a position driving f . wagon with a gang of convicts. lie , came to the minister with tears ii I his eyes. ; "Don't you see that I can't dc . such work as that," he said. " . couldn't endure to watch those pool j black men in chains, after the hor rible imprisonment I havo gon< I j through myself." , It was an emotion too commend able to be scoffed at. It showed tha > his heart was tender and throbbing > All he needed was a further loan j He made another round of visits am e told his story all over again. 1I< told of the horrible twenty-two yean he had spent at Sing Sing, and lo told of the agony he had since suf fered when his story would follov him from place to place. Ills wail was "I have paid society Why can't my debt be canceled?" He was a very slight, pltable look s ing man, and the sorrow of his voie f was deep. n More contributions came In. The o he went away. It is believed tha V?/% " ?. I - /~?~i '? - u*3 ia nun Ml V^UIUIIIUUS. 11 IS 111! e material to the Atlanta ministr r. where he is. t, Saturday Dr. Ellenwood got e letter from the warden of Sing Sin g In which he said that no such ma n as Henry McKenzio had ever bee o a prisoner there. P( o China uses a jrreat deal of lea( principally for lining tea chests. DEAL IS ON FOOT TO SHIP OUt COTTON DIRECT TO El ROPE. A Gotenburg Wholesaler, With Largo Holdings ia Company Operating Savannah Lino, the Prime Mover. A The Columbia Record says for some time Commissioner E. J. Watson has striven to get thcotton from this state shipped direct to European points, thus avoiding the profits to middlemen. I The scheme lias lately been furthered and to^tlie extent that on the j lath of the month, Mr. Watson and , Mr. It. Harris; of Pendleton, will go to Savannah, where they will meet Mr. Wilhelm Dickson, a director of the Swedish-American steamship company, with headquarters at Gothenburg, Sweden. The object of the conference is to look into the feasibility of opening Southern ports for the exporting of cotton by regular steamship lines. Mr. Dickson is a prominent exporter and iswjp itly interested in the scheme above mentioned. On December 1st of 1 ayear lie wrote the following letter to Commissioner U'alunn rnlntivo in msitfoi" "Dear Sir: Being <he of the direcI tors of Captain Luhdgren's steamship company, 'Reduri Aktiebolaget. Trans-Atlantic,' and (having worked, with him hand in pand since we started proceedings ih buying two small tramp steamers! 1 am naturally informed of and Yully initiated in, as well as greatly jinterested in, your plan of the direca line between Charleston and Swederk I shall be starting on Jojiuary 18th for New York on other business, but I shall before that go fully through everything with my friend Lundgren, and shall have great pleasure in making an appointment with you when over in America to discuss matters, especially so the matter I herewith take the liberty of putting before you. "As you are well aware, there is is a large cotton export, and also a great rosin export, and these twodifferent classes of goods would naturally be greatly favored by the new projected Hue, and merchants on. your side would naturaly t>e anxious of forming good direct connections, on this side. It is thus my purpose * by writing this letter to ask ypifc.^ I kindly to put me h\t^^<innecjion <*?? with people who would be Interested in shipping their goods by the /I I I i tt <> ft n /I ^ I n ?? n M .11^1 1 umxi, line, ?vnvi f^i-LllIlK i* reilillMt? agent over there. I thus propose to take up these agencies. I am prepared to take up any big article you put before ine, but of course, I am only wishing to touJh the wholesale trade and make il largeturnover. I am myself carrnng on a large export business, anlj I am thus open for such proposals as I have named to you. "With regard to my personal standing, beg to refer you to Aktlebolaget Coteborgs Handelsbank and Captain Lundgren, and besides, when you were here, you were sure to have heard about me. "Hoping to hear from you before I leave this country, and that you shall be able to put before me some proposal which I migh take up and arrange when I get to your side. I remain, dear sir, hoping for a speedy and lucky development of mutual plans, "Yours very truly, "WM. DICKSON." What will Mb the outcome of the conference, of* course, is matter of . conjecture, but Messrs. Watson and Harris will leave no stone unturned 1 in the effort to cause the conference t to bear fruit. , XKGKOE3FATALLY HVKXED. 1 One Woman in Field and Two I p Children in House. . . Cades, Feb. 10.?Hester Wingate, a colored woman who lives a few . miles above ho^^;.caught fire while t burning brush jffifl before nnything could be done for her, her entire flnlhinf Vin.'l linnn ~ ce - ,?_v II inn IIVU Oil. ?n.o j I caught and burned in the presence of several men, who failed to render j. any appreciable service. One got , his hands severely burned whilo doing what he could to aid her. v Yesterday came news of the burning of Mellard Wood s house and two-year-old child, while father and mother were some distance away at a neighbor's bouse. This seems ^ (, to he another of those not. unusual cases among colored people, where n they go away and leave their childt ren alone in the house to meet death by their parents' gross carelessness. y ~~ Fell TIhmh' Hundred Feet. a Grand .Tuneti^J Colo., Feb. 1ft.?g While plowing through the heavy n drifts'nt Baxter Pass on the Unitalf n Hall road, a locomotive and snowplow in rounding a sharp curve on tho down grade plunged over a ?.ftft foot 1, precipice, killing Engineer .1. E. Eano nr?/l 11? 1 1 , Mimny injuring a section hand. j