Conservative *
MISSISSIPPI'S RESOURCES AND DE
VELOPMENT.
To the Honorable R. B. Fultoii , LL.D. ,
Chancellor of the University of Missis
sippi :
MY DEAU Sm :
It is with sincere and great regret that
I ain forced to forego the honor of ac
cepting your flattering invitation to ad
dress the University of Mississippi ,
pray make my excuses and accept this
letter as being all that , in view of other
engagements which keep me here , I can
do at this time , for "The Development
of the Material Resources of Missis
sippi. "
You will , perhaps , pardon some pre
fatory words of personal explanation
touching my relations to the university
over which you preside , and the state by
which it was endowed.
The first Mississippiaus whom I ever
met , were members of the university ,
and also members of a college
fraternity which still flourishes
in your midst. They had come
to New York , shortly after the
close of the civil war , to make the ac
quaintance of and to show their broth
erly love toward of the North , while
yet the losses and sorrows of war were
fresh in all our minds , and
bore with such peculiar se
verity upon them and their families
in the South. I was but a boy
just out of school , and yet this first offer
to "clasp hands across the bloody
chasm" lias not been , and cannot by me ,
be forgotten.
The published letters of Justice Lamar -
mar show that long before he , in 1874 ,
made the speedy restoration of order at
the South possible , through his mag
nanimous and eloquent eulogy on Sena
tor Suinner , he had thought out and
written out the peace-be-gettiug plea
with which he closed that memorable
address , "My countrymen , know one an
other , and you will love one another. "
Is it not fair to assume that his teach
ings in the university , as professor of
ethics and metaphysics , must have had
somewhat to do with your undergradu
ates bringing to us in New York the divine -
vine message of healing , so many years
earlier ?
Not only did the clergyman who had
married my father and mother the
gifted , eloquent and charming Dr. Fran
cis L. Hawks become one of the
board of trustees named in the act of
1844 to incorporate the university , but
my whole course at Columbia college
was passed under the presidency of one
of your predecessors as chancellor ; I re
fer , of course , to the late Dr. F. A. P.
Barnard , of honored memory.
My first visit to the state was in the
autumn of 1877 , in connection with the
organization of the Chicago , St. Louis
and New Orleans railroad company.
This gave me the privilege of making
the acquaintance of Judge R. A. Hill ,
who then presided over the federal
court , and was for so many years chair
man of the board of trustees of the
university.
It has since been my good fortune to
know many of the alumni , among
whom may be counted so large a num
ber of those who have represented , and
now represent , the state in congress , and
are , or have been , administering justice
on the bench and practicing at the bar.
I also am , and have been for many
years , a freeholder , a taxpayer , and , in
a sense , a farmer in Mississippi ; and
having devoted nearly a quarter of a
century of hard work to the material
development of the state , I may claim
to speak thereon from experience , if not
with authority.
If all that I have to say shall not , in
every particular , coincide with your
views , and those of other citizens of the
state , let us hope that this will be set
down to an honest difference of opinion
on the part of one who is a well-wisher
and a co-worker.
Mississippi and Iowa.
The resources of Mississippi are es
sentially agricultural. Alone of all the
southern states , it lacks mineral re
sources. For , after all , Florida and
South Carolina export phosphate rock ,
Louisiana furnishes both salt and sul
phur , and Texas has of late begun to
produce petroleum.
To contrast Mississippi with the
equally agricultural northern state of
Iowa is natural and may prove instruct
ive.
Mississippi was admitted into the
union in 1817 , as the twentieth state , and
Iowa in 1846 , as the twenty-ninth.
. The next census , that of 1850 , showed
tliat Mississippi had more than three
times the population of Iowa. (606,526 (
against 192,214. )
Although Iowa has long been more
populous than Mississippi , the census of
1900 shows that in density of popula
tion there is no very great difference ,
Iowa having 40.2 and Mississippi 88.5
inhabitants to the square mile.
But , on looking further , we find that
Iowa contains one city of over 60,000 in
habitants , three of from 80,000 to 40-
000 , four of from 20,000 to 80,000 and
one of from 15,000 to 20,000. Those nine
cities have in the aggregate a popula
tion of 282,855. In them dwell more
than one-eighth of all the people of that
state.
In Mississippi , on the contrary , there
is not a single city of 15,000.
Furthermore , the eighty-eight vil
lages , towns and cities in Iowa , having
a population of over 2,000 , contain 612-
208 persons , while the thirty similar
municipalities in Mississippi contain
only 188,086. That is to say , the urban
population of Iowa is more than four
fold that of Mississippi.
"Without claiming any special virtue
for an urban population , it must be ad
mitted that in the mere matter of wealth
urban communities excel the rural.
On the other hand , during the decade
from 1890 to 1900 , the total population
of Mississippi increased in a greater ratio
tie (20.8 ( per cent. ) than did that of
Iowa (16.7) ( ) ; or for that matter than did
that of any one of twenty states , in
cluding Tennessee , Kentucky , Arkansas ,
Missouri , Indiana , Ohio , Pennsylvania ,
Michigan , Nebraska and Kansas.
Like Iowa , Mississippi is without any
great commercial markets , or manu
facturing and distributing centers , with
in her own borders.
The marked differences noted above
must be traceable to the character of
the people , the way in which these
states were settled , and the habits there
by engendered. The development of
the Northern and of the Southern states
has proceeded on radically different
lines. From the beginning all works of
public utility were , in the North , cre
ated through joint action , and , very
generally , by means of joint stock com
panies. From the earliest days the lit
tle saw-mill or grist-mill , the small
manufacturing plant , the turnpike road
and the toll bridge , were , at the North ,
built and operated , if not by corpora
tions , at least by joint effort. In the
South , on the contrary , each plantation
was a thing by itself , with its own store ,
its own mill , its own roads and bridges.
To be entirely candid , it seems to me
that the North has prospered through
combination 'and unity of effort , while
the South has lagged behind by reason
of isolation and the absence of a com
munity of interest. That this should
have been the case so long as slavery en
dured was a necessity ; that it continues
to this day is a misfortune , which wo ,
as educated men , should set ourselves to
correct.
Another marked characteristic of the
state lies in the vast preponderance of
the native-born population. The census
of 1890 showed only 7,952 foreign-born
residents in Mississippi , as against 14- ,
264 in Arkansas , 14,777 in Alabama , 20-
029 in Tennessee , and 49,747 in Louisi
ana.
ana.From
From the beginning the state was
blessed with a seacoast affording natural
harbors , available for small craft , as well
as with a vast system of navigable riv
ers , which not only gave access to her
whole western border , but also extended
far into the interior in many directions.
No state , certainly none west of the . , ; /
Allegheny mountains , earlier appreciated - " ' ,
ted the value of railroads and its need
of them. More than one railroad was , "
in operation in Mississippi before a mile - ' , 'V } jj
of track had been laid in Indiana , Kentucky -
tucky , Tennessee , or any of the states
lying west thereof. j
The First Inter-State Railroad. v
In spite of all its traditions in favor
of state's rights and the strict interpretation -
tation of the constitution , Mississippi , . -