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The Citizen of To-Day; 
 
 ;^N ;4ddress, Delivered Before 
 
 HE 
 
 HIRD TiNNUALTAIR 
 
 f- 
 
 -OF THE- 
 
 ;= 
 
 TATE OF 
 
 Arka 
 
 NSAS, 
 
 -AT- 
 
 LiTTLE Rock, October i2th, i 
 
 -BY- 
 
 ;,\ UBRARY ^ 
 
 Fay MEyviPSTEAD, Esq\^^^^^.-^*^ 
 
 Of Little Rock, Ark, 
 
 LITTLB ROCK : 
 
 GAZETTE PUBLISHING COMPANY. 
 
 1871. 
 
rt'^'T 
 
 P 
 
 FFICERS OF THE ASSOCIATION. 
 
 President. 
 D. E. JOJVES, ofPidaski. 
 
 Vice-Presidents. 
 
 A. Mcdonald, of Pnlaski. .tames S. WOLFE. of Pulaski. 
 
 S. L. GHIFHTII, of Pulaski. L. H. ROOTS, of Prairie. 
 
 H. A. MILLEN. of Ouaehita, J>k. U. W. LAWRPLNCK, of HotSp'gr. 
 
 H, ANDKRSON of Hot Sprinp, Dr. H. B. B1>ACKBURN. of Desha. 
 
 Dr. T. M. JAC KS. of Phillips. T. R. TENNYSuN. of Clark. 
 
 SOLOMON BXON, of Crawford. S. R. CLOUD, of Clark. 
 
 Directors. 
 
 D. E. JONES. WILLIAM IIFNTER, R. C. BERTRAND, 
 
 JAMES A. HENRY. H. L. FLKTCHER. E. P. BISHOP, 
 
 W. D. BLOCHER, (4E(»RGE R. WEEKS. R. A. EDGERTON. 
 
 
 /^ .■•-^,^-,. ^-^.^^ Superintendent of Pair Grounds. 
 
 WILLIAM HUNTER. 
 
 '^ 
 
 0- 
 
 % 
 
 
 jy.f Secretary. 
 
 .^..:-i'-^ EDWARD. C. MORTON, of Pulaski. 
 
 Adilress: Little Rook. 
 
 Treasurer. 
 
 HENRY PAGE, of Pulaski. 
 
ADDRESS. 
 
 Ladies and Gektlemex : 
 
 This pleasing scene which greets us here to-day, can not fail 
 to make an agreeable impression upon every one wh© has our 
 public welfare at heart. It is not that we behold here a col- 
 lection of people assembled for the festivities of some unmean- 
 ing gala-day occasion. It is not for this that we behold the 
 comers who have flocked hither to this point of attraction, but 
 the occasion which calls us together is one of deeper import 
 than that. We have come to witness what display our State 
 can make iri spreading to the gaze of the public the emblems 
 of her prowess ; the accumulations of her industry ; the speci- 
 mens of her productiveness ; and to convince the world of the 
 exalted excellence that lies crouched within her borders. 
 
 It is for this that we have come together from all parts of our 
 extended land, — that we have declared a truce with the cares 
 and engagements of life; that we have shaken off the dust of 
 trade and profession ; that we have put away from us the re- 
 quirements of business, and here in the scope of these beauti- 
 ful grounds, we are to weave anew the scattered threads of 
 friendship, to intertwine with them golden threads from the 
 skein of Hope, and to cluster around this altar in a joint liba- 
 tion to the Patron Saint of Agriculture, " whose ways are ways 
 of pleasantness, and all whose paths are peace." 
 
 It is well then for such an occasion, that the countenances of 
 those who are assembled here should wear the serene smile of 
 contentment, that the old among us should have come hither to 
 
[4] • 
 
 gather a new leaf for the chaplct of memory ; that our young men 
 should have come in the pride of their strength and in the fresh- 
 ness of their young life ; that you should have gathered floral 
 offerings, the dark evergreen and the field's sweetest blossom to 
 decorate yon fair temjile ; that the air should be filled with the 
 dulcet strains from our band, and lovelier either than the spirit 
 of music or the beauty of flowers, that the fair form and bright 
 face of lovely woman should be here to sanction with her pre- 
 sence, to illumine with her smiles and to "shed selected influ- 
 ences upon the hour." 
 
 But while we dwell upon the beauty of the scene before us 
 let us not forget why it is that we are here. While we enter 
 with such zest into the contemplation of the effect, let us not 
 lose sight of the cause of our coming. It is not on account of 
 some grand proclamation which has required our attendance. 
 We are not here from the operation of any arbitrary law or 
 statute, the punishment for whose infraction we dreaded. Each 
 one of you is sensible of the fact that he is entirely free to do 
 otherwise. But each one thinking for himself, is here because 
 it is in his heart to do so. It chimes in with his nature — it is 
 a manifestation of his sentiments. And this, methinks, is the 
 grand key-note from which springs the organized action of all 
 bodies of men — the conjoint action of its component elements. 
 That power that can move multitudes to its bidding is one of 
 might, surely ; but it dwindles into the merest insignificance 
 beside that power which springs up in the breasts ot the indi- 
 vidual members of that multitude. Thus it is that we behold 
 a multitude gathered here to-day, because it was their will, 
 when not a tenth part of whom could have been dragged hither 
 had their minds been contrary to their coming. 
 
 Thus it will be seen that the individual is something more 
 than merely a portion of an assembly ; that power is not the 
 result of a few, but that it springs from the organized action of 
 the many; that the individual carries with him a great portion 
 of the public, so to speak. As the oak is not the tree of itself, 
 nor the cataract the rushing stream of itself, but is absolutely 
 
[5] 
 
 nothing, unless the thousand separate portions that compose it 
 are joined together in the one body, so is it with the State. And 
 it is to the power and the importance of these individual ele- 
 ments, my friends, that I shall to-day endeavor to direct your 
 attention. I shall not enter into any inquiry whether the power 
 of one portion of our community should be more enlarged — 
 another more restricted — but I shall look at the power of the 
 individual as it is. 1 will consider the workings of that 
 power in our midst that makes up the moulding of all issues 
 and gives them cast and color — that great artist of the social 
 world that forms and fashions the influences of society into 
 events, even as the rude clay is shaped in the hands of the pot- 
 ter. It seems to me peculiarly appropriate that to-day we 
 should turn our minds homeward, and I shall, accordingly, do 
 so. I will speak of ourselves. My theme shall be the CITIZEN 
 TO-DAY. 
 
 Cicero has declared that the beginning of all discussions 
 should consist of a definition, in order that it may be set forth 
 clearly wliat is the subject in controversy, and acknowledging 
 the excellence of the precept, I shall lay down two propositions 
 that I shall endeavor to follow in the course of these observa- 
 tions. It shall be my effort to show — 
 
 I. "What is the relation of the citizen to the state in our pe- 
 culiar form of government ; and 
 
 II. The duties which rest upon the citizens of the present 
 time by reason of this relation. 
 
 The formation of our American Republic, as you all know 
 was long regarded as a hazardous experiment. Inasmuch as 
 our forefathers saw fit to dissent from the doctrines of the older 
 schools of social architecture, and upon the lessons which their 
 experience afforded, to erect a scheme new in every particular 
 the combined old world looked with considerable scrutiny to the 
 success of this new undertaking. It has been with not a little 
 degree of surprise, then, that they h^ve beheld this young 
 country growing in greatness, adding power to power, taking 
 in vast sweeps of territory, scattering towns and cities over its 
 
[6] 
 
 broad domain — even as the Parent hand scatters the flowers of 
 Spring over the face of the meadow ; the whole land thriving 
 with a degree of rapidity hitherto unseen — the whole nation 
 " rejoicing, like a giant, to run its course." But then it is not 
 difficult to understand. It all came from this fact: that mon- 
 archs and sovereigns in the old world held to that narrow view 
 of political ethics that one kind of government could be made 
 to suit the wants of aiiy kind of people, and the people, unable 
 to obtain any other, were compelled to accept that which was 
 administered to them. But the founders of our government, 
 with greater wisdom, recognized the fact that one form of gov- 
 ernment is suited to one kind of people, and another to another, 
 just as one medicine is suited to one condition of the system, 
 and another to a different one. They deemed that one system 
 of laws could be no more made to suit the wants of different 
 kinds of people than that one garment can be found to fit many 
 different shaped bodies. Therefore, when they would erect a 
 political fabric to suit the genius and spirit of freedom of the 
 American people, they exactly reversed the plans of those 
 bigoted rulers. Their theory was that the King and the noble- 
 men were the head and front of the state, while the people were 
 the mere limbs that should obey ther bidding. Our theory 
 made a revolution of this. We trampled down every vestige 
 of such an idea. We repudiated the '' divine right of Kings." 
 \Ve made the citizens to be the head, the heart, and the soul of 
 our state, and thus it was that the will of our citizens w'as 
 solemnly inaugurated our King. 
 
 It is a monarch, indeed — a mightier than which the world 
 has never seen. It is not in our peculiar form of government 
 alone that it displays its power, but in others. It is not any 
 particular race that are its vassals. It is not the dwellers in 
 any particular clime that render it homage. It requires no 
 armies or navies to enforce its regulations. It has none of the 
 local paraphernalia of government in which to hold its courts 
 and proclaim its will ; but it is of itself everything in itself. 
 It is the fickle God whose smile must be courted in order to 
 
crown til e adventurer with success, and without whose sanction 
 the sce}>tred sovereign is, so to speak, but the veriest compound 
 of gildid nothingness in an empty throne/ Society has not, nor 
 ever can, constitute a sovereign in the true meaning of that 
 word, for the ruling power has not been placed in the hands of 
 one, nor of a thousand, but in that of the opinions of the peo- 
 ple, and when its voice in sullen mutterings comes up from an 
 united people, it is the utterance of a voice whose mandate 
 must be obeyed. It is potent of itself, and is above the need of 
 assistance to help execute its mandates. It makes its own 
 laws, it construes them and it executes them. Laws may be 
 carefully framed in halls of legislation, they may be consumma- 
 ted with all the ceremonies that attend their creation, they may 
 be emblazoned on every page of the statute book, they may be 
 scattered into every household, and find a place at every fire- 
 side, but I tell you if it be not likewise written upon the hearts 
 of the citizens that are to be governed by that law, it becomes 
 but a dry husk — a nerveless skeleton — a meaningless phrase. 
 
 Look at the laws of England in this respect. Slavery has 
 never been abolished there by statute, and yet it is the Briton's 
 boast that there all men draw in freedom with the air they 
 breathe. 
 
 Formerly he who demanded land held by another chose him 
 a champion, and another was chosen for the occupant of the 
 land, and these two fell upon each other in terrific combat. 
 Now, if the demandant's champion cried not out until the go- 
 ing down of the sun, he was adjudged to have prevailed, and 
 the title became his ; otherwise, his adversary's. This barbar- 
 ous practice, called the " wager of battle on a writ of right," still 
 subsists on the English statute books, but the will of the citi- 
 zens setting against it, it has so far been repealed by that self- 
 sufficient power that he who attempted, recently, in his own 
 case to revive it, was looked upon as a madman. 
 
 So, too, of our own law. One section of our State statute 
 book says that whosoever shall profanely curse and swear shall 
 be fined. Yet the very air reeks with wildest blasphemy, and 
 
L8] 
 
 the people, tolerating tLe practice, the law is perfectly inopera- 
 tive to prevent it. 
 
 We have upon our Federal statute book a law that 
 whosoever engaged iu disloyal practices against the General 
 Government should be disqualified from filling the jury-box to 
 preside as a juror in the trial of any case that might arise in 
 her courts, and when that law was passed there was a necessity 
 for it. It arose out of the hot fiery breath of civil commotion. 
 But the opinions of the public have so far changed and cooled 
 down since the enactment of that law that we behold that 
 sacred safeguard to the rights of American freemen filled alike 
 with him who wore the blue and him who wore the gray — 
 side by side — brothers in interest, as they are in blood, and 
 each one exercising his utmost wisdom to secure a fair and an 
 impartial administration of justice. 
 
 It has well been said that *' Law is but an expression of the 
 progress of a race," that it " photographs the features of each 
 successive century." It is an index to the sentiment of an 
 age. It had its life from no one particular enactment. It did 
 not spring into existence, the creation of some great mind, but, 
 taking its rise in an expression of the citizens' will, it has grown 
 and increased with the ages, living by the same power that 
 gave it birth. It is not the work of days, nor of weeks, but, 
 in the language of a celebrated English statesman, " With all 
 its faults and imperfections, it holds within itself the col- 
 lected wisdom of centuries." It has lived in that time, 
 nourished by the will of the citizen, which underlay it all. 
 Wherever you may look in the system of jurisprudence you will 
 find that the sentiment of the law-giver has always been in ac- 
 cordance with the tones of the popular voice. King John 
 signed the Magna Charta at Ilunymede ; Edward I. publicly 
 ratified it ; Charles I. granted the Petition of Eight ; Charles 
 11. established the Habeas Corpus act ; William and Mary as- 
 sented to the Bill of Rights, not so much from any decisive 
 step that was taken by the heads who performed the act, but 
 because there was a power behind the throne demanding it. 
 
mightici- lliaii him wlio wielded t lie sceptre, :ukI no power eoiild 
 avail to withliold it. 
 
 Tlius has it been that the confluent will of the citizens of the 
 state has gradually dislodged from their fastenings one after 
 another of the craggy points in jurisprudence and rendered the 
 rough places smooth even as they wished. 
 
 It has been the law-makers dream for ages to find a law^ that 
 will suit the varied requirements of different peoj)lc, but they 
 have failed. Laws cannot ba made, like the fabled sandals of 
 old, that fit all feet, for this will of the citizen varies like the 
 vane. The same power that gave life to the law is the very 
 ])8wer that unmakes it in an hour. 
 
 Hardly half a year has passed away since one of the Royal 
 house of (what was then) the French Empire, was put upon 
 his trial, at Tours, for the killing of a French citi- 
 zen, under circumstances that w'ould ordinarily make men 
 tremble for their safety. The majesty of the people was 
 outraged by the act, and their voice cried for vengeance, 
 even though it should fall in high places. But when 
 Grossuet, one of those leaders who were hot in their hostility 
 to the Royal dynasty, appeared at the bar, he heaped upon 
 that defenceless captive such bitter insults that they who had 
 gone thither with thirsty hope of seeing the mangled body of 
 the slayer torn by the mob, now turned in their sentiments, 
 and shouted for his release. Grossuet overreached himself. 
 He turned the tide of the po])ular will by his extreme acrimony, 
 and from that time, the Prince was safe. This is but saying 
 that the voice of the citizens swept away, in an hour, that law 
 that had lived in their system so long, and under which so 
 many thousands had suffered. The prisoner was acquitted. 
 
 Thus it will be seen that the citizen is something or t! 
 legislator who enacts, the judge who pronounces and the oflicet 
 who executes the laws of the land. He is not the entire 
 enactor any more than a single loaf is a whole forest, or a rain- 
 drop a river, but he is a mighty element in the production of 
 that power. Laws take their rise because the citizens so desire 
 
[10] 
 
 it, are ])i'omulgatcd througli their co-operation ami die when 
 they ])ronounce the dictum. 
 
 But it is not in the formation and preservation of laws alone 
 that this will of the citizen is powerful. It extends to all 
 manner of observances. It confines itself not to an}v particular 
 class. It fears not the powerful, shields not the rich, spares not 
 the proud. It speaks in tones whose reverberations shake the 
 solid pillars of kingly palaces themselves, and all the pomp 
 and glitter and parade of royalty must quail before the indig- 
 nant flashes from its kindling eye when it rages against tyranny 
 and oppression. Then it is the outburst of a power that has 
 gradually collected, like some mighty swelling river, which, 
 breaking down its banks, rushes through the crevasse with im- 
 petuous fury, spreading destruction with the sweep of its waters. 
 And woe to the man who ventures, single handed, to encounter 
 it! 
 
 Caligula, we are told in Roman history, wrote his laws in 
 small characters, and placed them high upon a pillar where 
 none could read, so that he might have the more frequent op- 
 portunity of punishing the people for breaking them. But the 
 indignant voice of the people cried out against the act, and in 
 the gleam of the dagger that smote him to the earth and let out 
 his base spirit from this tenement of clay, he reckoned the error 
 that had cost him his life — the wall of the citizen is the su- 
 preme law of the world. 
 
 And do you remember, my friends, the story of Bonaparte 
 and the Iron Crown ? It w^as an established custom in France, 
 you know, that decorations of honor should be given to those 
 persons who had distinguished themselves Ijy eminent literary, 
 military or political achievements, but to no others. Napoleon, 
 desiring to honor a celebrated musician, undertook to overthrow- 
 all this, and presented that genius with the Iron Crown — for- 
 merly the crown of Charlemange. But the voice of the people 
 broke out into resistance in an instant, and so loud was their 
 clamor, and so bitter their denunciations, that he yielded assent 
 and took it back. 
 
[11] 
 
 Behold, now, what a spectacle! He, the great king-maker 
 of the modern world, who could distribute crowns and thrones 
 among his favorites like playthings — who could sweep from the 
 map of the world vast countries) — who could hurl millions to 
 combat and shake the foundations of empires to their very 
 centres, but yet who couldn't give away a little trinket of iron 
 contrary to the citizens' will — that majestic power alone su- 
 perior to his own. 
 
 And as it is futile for a single member of the state to oppose 
 the current of the popular will, so is it, on the other hand true, 
 that he is more than thrice armed who moves onward, sustained 
 by this power. On« of the most pleasant of our poets has 
 pictured his hero with hands armed with a pair of magic mit- 
 tens, before whose stroke all things gave way. He smote the 
 rough rocks, and they gaped open wide asunder. He siezed 
 upon the sturdy oak, and rent it into fragments. 
 
 It seems to me that this entertaining fiction of Hiawatha's mit- 
 tens most admirably prefigures the effect of public sentiment. He 
 who places himself at the head of the swift rolling current of the 
 citizens' will is indeed armed with a magic power. He deals 
 irresistable blows, that are not the product of his own force, 
 but which are the force of that power that lies in restless 
 strength behind him. Peter, the Hermit, in the Crusades — 
 Martin Luther, in the German Reformation — Oliver Cromwell, 
 in the English Parliament — President Lincoln, penning the 
 Emancipation Proclamation, are examples of what giants in 
 action men may become when upborne by the people's will. 
 Men may be feeble and weak of themselves, but let them bo 
 sustained by this power and they accomplish acts whose results 
 will vibrate through the world for centuries ! 
 
 I have thus far spoken of the very great influence which the 
 citizen exerts in countries generally, and I have, for the most 
 part, selected my illustrations from countries where the citizen 
 does not enjoy a great degree of freedom. Indeed I have fre- 
 quently considered cases Avhere the citizen occupies decidedly a 
 secondary position with respect to the state. Let us reflect 
 
[12] 
 
 now that if in coumries of this nature the importance of the 
 citizen is so great, liow much greater docs it become in a gov- 
 ernment like our own ! The fabric of our government, was 
 built after a peculiar fashion, but it was built to suit the 
 wants of a peculiar kind of people, just as some ships are built 
 to sail in particular waters. It was made a government in which 
 the citizen should be more of a motive power than any other. 
 The heads of departments, the executors of the laws, the 
 managers of the machinery of government were not put there 
 !'V the fiat of some mightier Monarch, but they were put there 
 • l!ic citizens themselves. In Monarchies and Aristocracies 
 \\\o man h merged into the subject. Here with us the man is 
 elevated to the sovereign. Every freeman wears around him 
 a zone of inviolability — an odor or aroma of sovereignty. 
 With them, the king is the fountain of honor, and possesses, 
 exclusively, the attributes of sovereignty. Here icith us, the 
 people are the fountain of honor, and arc the sole sovereigns. 
 There, i\\eve is a graduated scries of subserviency in the organic 
 structure of the government — from the king, down through the 
 titled nobility, to the lowest vassal. Here, there is no dis- 
 parity between men. There, the subject may be debased with- 
 out dimming the lustre of the diadem. But liere, the citizen 
 can not be debased, without sullying the sovereignty of the 
 whole nation. It is one of the peculiar ])rivileges we enjoy as 
 members of this Republic that we should maintain the position 
 of dignity and importance which our membership gives us. It 
 is one of the boasted blessings of American freedom that 
 wherever our lot be cast, whether it be cast among the good 
 things of this life, and we be daily "clothed in ])urple and fine 
 linen," or whether it be in the thatched cot and under the 
 rough exterior of humble life ; whether we be skilled in all the 
 arts of social culture, or have yet to learn the alphabet of re- 
 finement, we are, after all, as men, gifted with an equal degree 
 of importance as members of one body. We are all members 
 of one grand brotherhood, having one commen Mother — the 
 State — whose destinies we frame, whose power we constitute 
 
1.13] 
 
 and whose vitality we are. And, when some thirty odd years 
 ago, our young state took its ]>lace among this vast array of 
 states, and became invested with all the privileges of the gen- 
 eral body, wc fully rec9gnized this fact. We acknowledged 
 the power and the importance of the citizen. We inscribed it 
 on our banners and emblazoned it on our arms that "all powe^ 
 is inlierent in the people," for there on our seal of state is pic- 
 tured even-handed Justice, with her balances, to judge the 
 right — with the emblems of Art at her feet — with the l)adge of 
 Industry on her right hand and on her left, while from her 
 iiand floats the scroll bearing that inspiring motto, " llegnmil 
 Populi " — it is the people who rule. 
 
 It follows, then, from what has been said, that since the citi- 
 zen is of so much importance in his relation to the state, that 
 he ought not to be degraded. The social compact under which 
 he enjoys his citizenship should elevate rather than depress his 
 rights. If he is to be a citizen at all, he ought to be one fully 
 and in every particular. You can not make a country great, 
 or powerful, or happy, when one citizen is made to occupy a 
 subservient position to another citizen, who occupies an equal 
 standing with himself. You can not degrade one citizen, or 
 one community, or one State, without thereby lowering the en- 
 tire National standard. It is true that each particular gem of 
 a jewel sparkles with its own peculiar brilliance, but it is only 
 when they are linked and bound together by golden cords, and 
 look forth from a chaste and ])olished setting that the full efful- 
 gence is obtained ! Look if this be not the case with the most 
 powerful of Governments that you can call to mind ! Look if 
 the inviolability of the citizen has not been looked upon as the 
 true bulwark of National stability ! It is related of (^ueen 
 Victoria that she was approached by a certain nobleman to se- 
 cure the arrest of one of the humblest of her subjects. " AVhy," 
 replied she, " it were worth the whole of my crown if I 
 ventured to lay a finger's weight uj>on him, without clearly ex- 
 j)ressed authority !" Find me a land where the rights of the 
 citizen are so sacredly preserved ami 1 will show you one strong 
 
[14] 
 
 in its inherent^streugth and invariably redolent with the sweet 
 perfumes of prosperity. 
 
 It is not my purpose to make comment upon the i)olitical 
 rulers of our Nation who have wielded the hand of power for 
 the last five years. I would not lug a topic of that nature into 
 a discourse of this kind if I could, but I will merely remark, 
 in passing, that when the restoration of Peace called them to 
 the solemn duty of shaping the future destiny of the State, that 
 no lesson that the Past contained could have afforded them 
 sounder instruction than is to be gained from the case of Ctesar, 
 in llonian history. 
 
 When he had overthrown the adherents of Pompey, he re- 
 turned to Rome " the foremost living man in all the world !" 
 He immediately set up the statue of his illustrious rival in the 
 Forum. He confiscated no property ; he filled no dungeons; 
 he interfered with no rights ; he appointed to office alike those 
 who had fought under and those who had fought against his 
 banner, and when the Roman eagles came soaring back oer the 
 assuaging waters of the red deluge and folded their wings in 
 peaceful triumph under the eaves of the capitol, they looked 
 down upon the Imperial city, not holding two factious mobs, 
 the one boasting " I have followed Ctesar," and the other, " T 
 have followed Pompey," but upon a single hearted people — 
 bound together like the fasces of their lictors, and each one re- 
 joicing in that grand old boast, since then made illustrious by 
 land as well as by sea, " I am a Roman citizen !" 
 
 Now, his acts were undoubtedly correct in principle, and 
 what was the result? Why, we read that in less than ten 
 months he had completed reforms by which the whole Republic 
 was rejuvenated. Arts began to flourish, science was resumed, 
 public libraries were established^ liberal enactments were 
 passed, a grand harbor was projected and a code of laws begun 
 which afterwards became the law for civilized Europe. And 
 [ fondly indulge the hope, that the time is near us when the 
 liberal enactments pronuilgated })y that great ruler will be imi- 
 tated by those in our own midst; when this Nation will become, 
 
[15 J 
 
 as it certainly will, not the rival of Home in greatness and in 
 power, but unrivalled by any nation on whom the bright sun 
 has ever shed its rays, as it travels its diurnal track through the 
 deep blue of the Heavens. 
 
 Now, my friends, since the citizen is of so much importance 
 in his relation with the State, it follows further that, there^ are 
 certain things which he must do by reason of this relation. It 
 would be unbecoming in him in the highest degree if he failed 
 to sustain the position of dignity and importance which his 
 membership gives him. It would be a reproach to him indeed 
 if with all the privileges he enjoys he should fail to make him- 
 self worthy of them. But how is he to discharge this impor- 
 tant duty fully, unless he be aware what is his duty toward 
 the State on the one hand and what are his rights, privileges 
 and immunities on the other ? Tiierefore it becomes peculiarly 
 appropriate that every citizen should make himself acquainted 
 with the fundamental principles of our Government. It is 
 not a matter "of necessity that he be a politician or a publicist, 
 but he ought by all means always to have definitely fixedjn 
 his mind a knowledge of the organic law of our structure, to 
 inform himself of its various branches and departments and^to 
 make himself thorouffhlv conversant with the constitutution of 
 our political fabric. He ought also to make himself acquainted 
 with the laws of his country so far as it may be convenient for 
 him to do — for surely the pilot floats in jeopardy every hour 
 if he be unacquainted with the rocks and breakers that infest 
 the coast. Let him inform himself of them if he would for- 
 bear to violate them. And by all means it becomes him as a 
 good citizen to yield implicit obedience to them. Let him 
 scrupulously avoid what they forbid and do what they com- 
 mand, and let him give to the last tittle the reverence due to 
 the laws and to the ministers of justice as such, without regard 
 to what he may think of their personal characters. If a law 
 appears unjust, unreasonable or oppressive, no one should resist 
 it on that account in an illegal way, or even to suffer himself so 
 to speak or act as to induce others to violate it. There is a con- 
 
[16]- 
 
 stitiitional iiiclliud ot repcnlini;- bad laws, and any departuit- 
 from this wlielher by individuals or bodies of men tends to 
 anr.reliy and the destruction of all law. If we can not consci- 
 entiously ol)ey a law Ave ought meekly to make known our 
 scruples and submit to the decision of properly constituted au- 
 thorities whatever the penalty may be, until we can either peace- 
 fully procure a change in the law or else withdraw^ ourselves 
 from under its operation. 
 
 But the law is also the conservator of morals. It bears in 
 it3 hand a llaming sword to drive the wicked from vice. It 
 throws the vEgis of its protection round the form of pub- 
 lic virtue and sedulously frowns down though it maybe power- 
 less to check — private vice. Therefore the good citi^cen in up- 
 holding the laws of his country upholds at the same time ihe 
 cause of morality. Indeed, it is a duty devolving upon him, 
 which is of a higher nature even than obedience to its laws. 
 Law is an expression of the citizen's will, but Morality, in the 
 abstract, is the result of God's law in men's hearts through the 
 conscience, which is His vicegerent upon earth. It is a beauti- 
 fid indication of the sufficiency of that moral Government that 
 is displayed in its operation in our midst. Let the heart of the 
 citizen be pure, and it is a matter of 710 moment if there be 110 
 laws to govern him. Let the blood in the human frame be pure 
 and you may safely reckon the state of that man's health. 
 Find me a land where the hearts of the citizens are pure and 
 of true morality, and I will answer for the fact of their being 
 peaceful law abiders ; for" as is the fountain, so will be th(! char- 
 acter of the waters which it sends forth." 
 
 Cicero, who lived long years before the advent of Christ, 
 wrote a sentence relative to the moral duties of the citizen, 
 wliich so forcibly applies to us of this day, that it would seem 
 but yesterday put into print, " His duty," said he, " is to live 
 on a just and equal footing with his fellow men, neither sub- 
 servient and subordinate nor domineering. In his sentiments 
 towards the public to be always for peaceful and virtuous 
 
[17] 
 
 measures, for such we are accustomed to imagine and to describe 
 a virtuous citizen." 
 
 More than 2,000 yera's have elapsed since that sentiment was 
 uttered, and in that time we have scarcely learned to define the 
 duties of the citizen with greater accuracy. His morality is, 
 indeed, his crowning jewel. It is a " brightness of glory " 
 around him. Let him, therefore, preserve his morality, both 
 for himself and for the good it may extend to others. Virtue, 
 Burke says, is as catching by contact as vice. Let him, there- 
 fore, cultivate it the more assiduously, that it may extend its 
 good influences to others who may surround him. And from 
 Morality to the highest type of Christianity the step is short, 
 is easy and is natural. Morality is, indeed, but a lesser sort of 
 Christianity,' and he who^has filled bis mind and heart with 
 its fruits, even though he may not conform to the outward ob- 
 servances of religion, hath laid up for himself treasures 
 "where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves 
 do not break through nor steal." 
 
 But how will you obtain this morality on the part of the 
 citizen ? The answer is by purifying his mind by the processes 
 of education. It would belittle use to attempt to rear delicate 
 shrubs upon uncultivated fallow land. Clear the mind from 
 the noxious weeds of ignorance and unenlightenment and you 
 have a fair prospect for a glorious fruition. To purify the mind 
 is to advance the man by that much nearer to that primeval 
 state in which dwelt the first pair — '' ere sin entered into the 
 world and all our woe, with loss of Eden." It is to cause him 
 to exercise the nobler refinements of humanity — to cultivate the 
 blessed spirit of charity — to heal the sick — to cheer the faint 
 — to succor the distressed and needy, and in every way to as- 
 similate his actions to the character of that one glorious model, 
 "in whom dwelt the fullness of the God-head bodily." 
 
 And this, as I have said, is to be accomplished by the preva- 
 lence of education in our midst. Now, the word " education," 
 in its broadest sense, does not mean the mere acquisition of 
 knowledge alone, for knowledge may be accumulated and yet 
 3 
 
[18] 
 
 our actions may be vicious and immoral ; but education, as 
 Webstter has it, means that " the feelings are to be disciplined 
 — the passions are to be restrained — true and worthy motives 
 are to be implanted — a profound religious regard is to be in- 
 spired, and perfect morality to be inculcated under all circum- 
 stances." Now let ns, for a moment, reflect upon this ! What 
 a nation would that be in which every citizen would be thus 
 educated; where the public sentiment cast into the pure molds 
 of enlightenment, and tempered with the blessed influences of 
 religion, would glow with all the fervor that cultivation could 
 give. Xo wretchedness and degredation would be there. Xo 
 haughty oppression from the hand of licentious power. No 
 dungeon bar or prison cell to shut out the coveted light from 
 the unhappy captive, but the fabled Utopia that sprang up in 
 the imagination of Sir Thomas Moore, would not fu* distance 
 the happiness of such a land of such realities. 
 
 This is a visionary dream, 1 know. Our experience is 
 against its ever happening, but let us ask ourselves by what 
 method can the nearest approach be made to this glorious 
 country, and we shall not fail to receive for a reply that it is 
 by leading the mind through the broad avenues of learning. 
 It has wisely been said that " in morals, as in physics, light is 
 a great disinfectant.'' Let there be the light of knowledge 
 shining in the hearts of the people and you may safely reckon 
 the morality of that community. It is ot the utmost import- 
 ance, then, that the blessings of education, in the popular sense 
 of that term, should be sown broadcast through our com- 
 munity. 
 
 Behold ! wc place lamps upon our street corners, that they 
 may drive back the plunderer and the robber, and that the 
 citizen may walk in the light thereof safely and advisedly. 
 Let there likewise be erected in every nook and corner of our 
 land abodes of education, that by diffusing their light through 
 the people they may put to flight the dark demons of ignorance 
 and unenlightenment and that the citizen may walk his way 
 through the world understandingly, and not gropingly. 
 
[19] 
 
 It i8 peculiarly the duty of our public officials to secure this 
 blessing, but it is also greatly the duty of the citizen to enter 
 with all zest into the spirit of the enterprise. 
 
 Do you remember, my friends, the parable of the 
 talents in the Scriptures ? It was only the foolish servant to 
 whom this possession had been confided that " went and 
 wrapped his in a napkin and digged and hid it in the earth," 
 but the wise servants " went and traded with the same !" That 
 is, they let it pass current from hand to hand to the promotion 
 of trade, and thereby benefitted the community. So, likewise, 
 he who has received the blessings of education ought not to be 
 content to let its treasurers remain locked up in his own breast, 
 but he ought, by all means, to endeavor to have them simi- 
 larly circulated into every household — to have them distributed 
 broadcast throughout the community, that others may reap its 
 rewards equally with himself. Let this be done, and we will 
 have secured one of the greatest safeguards to National pros- 
 perity. 
 
 Then, fellow-citizens, 1 recount one other duty resting upon 
 American citizens of the present time, more stern because more 
 uncommon — more important because more solemn than any of 
 the duties which he owes or can owe to the State. It is a duty 
 which has been dwelt upon to satiety, and which can be found 
 emanating from the columns of any respectable press, but I 
 allude to it here because I think it could not be too often 
 brought to our notice if it should be dinned in our ears each 
 hour of the day and each minute of the hour, and that is our 
 duty towards each other. 
 
 Since the Government under which we live is composed of 
 and upheld by its various constituent elements, it follows that 
 we are strong only in binding together these component parts, 
 even as was the case with the bundle of faggots in ^Esop's fable, 
 though each particular stick in that memorable collection may 
 have been of a weakly and indifferent nature. " It is in union 
 that there is strength." Hatred and bitterness towards each 
 other ; strife and contention iy our midst ; discord and bicker- 
 
[20] 
 
 inge, uit! the surest "svay of deranging the vital functions of the 
 public and defeating a peaceful course of affairs. The people 
 of our day and generation are placed in a situation whose em- 
 barrassment has never found a parallel in the annals of 
 American history. A great commotion has but a few years 
 died away from us, and we are but beginning to rouse ourselves 
 from the dead calm that follows the muttering thunder. A 
 mighty conflict, producing stupendous results, has rolled over 
 us, and we are but beginning to repair the ruin that follows in 
 the track of war. But does it follow from the fact of war that 
 the misery of it should be kept up for all time to come '.' The 
 heart of every good citizen must respond to that inquiry, Xo ; 
 but on the contrary, ttiat sectional hatred should be frowned 
 down as one would discourage sedition — that difference of 
 opinion during the late great sectional conflict ought not to 
 constitute an immoveable bar t© friendly intercourse, but that 
 all these sentiments should be as sincerely purged from men^s 
 hearts as one would drive a noxious vapor from his dwelling. 
 It is not a commendable process to secure peace and tranquility 
 in any other way. Men can expect but little else in return 
 when, mimicking the Demoniacs of old, they "haunt the tombs, 
 dig into the graves of past occurrences and reanimate with im- 
 pure life the mouldering dust of departed controversy." 
 
 It is a subject of great rejoicing with me that in the main the 
 citizens do not this last, but the former. I know that I echo 
 the sentiments of every worthy citizen when I say that that 
 man has my respect who is an honest man, and who endeavors 
 to be a useful and an upright citizen, I do not care if it be 
 true that he differed with me in his opinions during our late 
 great sectional conflict. Let this policy be pursued, and I have 
 no fear that we will not be a ha})py and a prosperous people ! 
 Let the citizen discharge faithfully this duty and we will be 
 strong in our inherent strength and power ! Let this sentiment 
 animate the hearts of our citizens and then, as if some Angel 
 of Peace spake soothing words to calm the troubled waters, we 
 will behold our distracted country 
 
[21] 
 
 Wipe the dark ashes from her forehead bright. 
 Her sombre sackcloth change for robes of white. 
 And smile to see her sons once more unite — ■ 
 That nought should e'er dissever. 
 
 But, leaving the Past to sleep oblivion's sleep, 
 Her noble sons in her support would keep 
 Distinct as waves, but joined as \h the deep, 
 Forever ! yea, forever ! 
 
 Fellow-Citizens ©p THE State OF Arkansas:— It lias 
 been my endeavor in the course of the rambling remarks that 
 I have addressed to you, to lead your minds to oou^der the 
 poAver and the importanee of the citizen in countries as a gen- 
 eral rule, and ho\v' this importance is augmented bv the 
 structure of our peculiar government. I then strove to im- 
 press upon you a conviction of some of the duties which rest 
 upon American citizens at tlie present time, and if in what I 
 have said there be one sentence that will cause one of you to 
 reflect upon these things for good, I shall rejoice that " not in 
 vain I wore my sandal shoon and scollop shell." The time 
 would, of course, fail me to enumerate all the duties whicli rest 
 upon American citizens of the present time, and many of those 
 I have selected relate more particularly to the duties which 
 pertain to him in respect to the National as well as the State 
 Government, but the purpose of my coming hither would be 
 totally unfulfilled if I failed, briefly at least, to recount to vou 
 one other duty resting upon yon as citizens of this State, and 
 that is your duty to the State itself. If we shall but be Avise 
 in our relations to her, we shall make her one of the brio-htest 
 in this fair array of States that compose our nation. By Na- 
 ture we have been gifted with elements of greatest productive- 
 ness. In the broad sweep of her territory is to be found soil 
 possessing every degree of fertility. Products of every variety 
 and kind are evoked frem this soil with the greatest f^cilitv. 
 Vast forests, affording a profusion of splendid material, are to 
 be met with on every hand. AVe have beds of ores scattered 
 over her surface, exhibiting natural resources of rarest quality 
 and all these things accessible by deep and navigable rivers 
 which intersect her beautiful plain in all directions. Let us 
 
[22] 
 
 add that in one of our sections we exhibit remarkable springs, 
 that surpass anything of the kind in the known ,world, whose 
 medicinal qualities would have joyed"the heart of Esculapius 
 himself to behold, and we present a State whose varied attrac- 
 tions can not fail to secure for it a prominent place in the esti- 
 mation of all who may be at all acquainted with its resources. 
 These manifold excellencies are rapidly attracting attention. 
 \Mth that natural desire in the hearts of our people to move 
 Westward, a great tide of emigration is pouring into this geo- 
 graphical division of our country, not a few of whom are 
 locating in our l)orders. Let us extend to all such the right 
 hand of friendship, and bid them welcome in our midst. From 
 what portion of the world soever they may come, let us bid 
 them, equally with ourselves, to help ns tend the broad fields of 
 our State with wise culture, to help us pierce the mountain, 
 bridge the stream, bring forth her mineral wealth from the 
 secret places, make her valleys blossom with the blooms of 
 prosperity, and her hills be crowned with plenty. \Ye are, and 
 necessarily must be, an agricultural people. Occupying, as we 
 do, a central position with regard to the natural divisions of the 
 great Continent of which we form a part, we are thrown on our 
 own resources to keep pace with the opulence of those around 
 us. Shall we, since we have been gifted with such great ad- 
 vantages allow our opportunities to lie neglected? Shall we 
 waste our time in sloth and idleness, and trust that others Avill 
 bring to our hand those things of which we feel a need in the 
 (!ommon affairs of life ? They who pursue such a course are 
 not regarded as being of any worth in the community. It is a 
 duty entailed npon man by the pronunciation of the original 
 curse that he shouldMabor. Yet there is a dignity about labor 
 that is worthy of our highest encomiums. "\\'e are made for it, 
 and W'ithout it our [condition is.^one of deep wretchedness. 
 Each one of you is aware that it is only by labor and the ex- 
 ercise of energy that any matter is accomplished. 
 
 "Not a truth liutli to Art or to Science been given 
 
 But that brows have ached for it and souls toiled and striven "' — 
 
[23] 
 
 is a sentiment not more true in regard to advancement in indi- 
 vidual enterprizes than it is to the advancement of the public 
 welfare. Let the citizen, then, turn his attention to the pro- 
 motion of Agricultural and Mechanical Arts in our midst, and 
 we shall be a State great from our own qualifications, and great 
 in the respect we shall command in the estimation of our sister 
 States. Let Ceres wave her golden harvests from every hill- 
 side and in every vale, and the air resound with the monotonous 
 hum from palaces of Mechanical Art in our towns and cities, 
 and we will become a State great in both ©ur financial and our 
 political significance. 
 
 Heretofore, our progress as a Nation has been looked iipon 
 with wide-eyed astonishment. 
 
 Hereafter let the citizen live up to the laws of his State in 
 their spirit and intent — let him preserve his morality — let him 
 promote the cause of Christianity and Education in our midst 
 — let him discharge fully and faithfully the great duty of 
 Charity towards his brethren — let him turn his attention to 
 Agricultural and Mechanical Arts in our midst, and then will 
 our progress as a State be none the less rapid and effectual. 
 Then will it be acknowledged that our Nation has no fairer 
 State than Arkansas — that Arkansas is composed of none but 
 worthy citizens — that her citizens have no more laudable occu- 
 pation than Agricultural and Mechanical Arts, and surely none 
 will deny that these latter have no more crowning triumph 
 than their annual display at the Fair of our Agricultural and 
 Mechanical Association. 
 
JlU S S -A- JL 
 
 ON THE 
 
 RESOURCES OF ARKANSAS, 
 
 WRITTEN BY 
 
 DR. y^. Vv^. GRANGER, 
 
 ^nd ^ntered pctober, 187o, to pompete for the prizes 
 Offered by the 
 
 STATE FAIR ASSOCIATION, 
 
 AND 
 
 LITTLE ROCK CHAMBER OFCOMMERCE, 
 
 FOR 
 
 The Best Accepted Essay on that Subject. 
 
 LITTLE ROCK, ARK. 
 fiAZETTB PUBLISHING COMPANY. 
 1870. 
 
ESSAY. 
 
 The resources of Arkansas may be considered under two 
 general heads, as consisting of, first, her natural productions, 
 with the industries of which they afford a bnsis ; and, second, 
 her actual and possible products of cultivation, with the indus- 
 tries and traffic for which they do or can furnish the raw mate- 
 rials. 
 
 To these may be added her geographical position, her large 
 extent of navigable streams, and her climatic conditions. But 
 these are all so interwoven with one branch or another of the 
 two main heads already named, that their separate discussion 
 will not be undertaken. Incidentally they cannot escape atten- 
 tion, in connection with other topics. "We will consider, first, 
 her natural productions, under the several heads of " Forest 
 Growths," "Fisheries," "Mines and Mineral Resources," "Ag- 
 ricultural Resources," and " Textile Products." 
 
 FOREST GROWTHS. 
 
 AVe need only name her sister States, Maine, Minnesota 
 and Wisconsin, as familiar instances of the vast wealth to 
 be drawn from the forests alone. Maine, with the ocean 
 for her highway, Minnesota and ^Wisconsin with the Mis- 
 
[4] 
 
 sissippi for theirs, have each reaped their yearly millions 
 of tribute money from regions more favored, perhaps, in 
 other respects, but deficient in this: and they have done it with 
 but two varieties of timber as their capital — the white pine 
 and the hemlock, or spruce pine. Granting that for some uses 
 our pine is inferior to theirs, it is for others as much better ; 
 and, foot for foot, all uses considered, is equally valuable. If 
 that, seasoning more rapidly, and lighter when seasoned than 
 ours, is better adapted to inside ceilings, or the manufacture of 
 doors and sash, our native growth is its superior for floors, ship 
 building and framing timbers, from its greater hardness and 
 strength; while, as to comparative beauty of grain, when fin- 
 ished in its native color, simply with oil and varnish, either for 
 furniture or interior decorations, the comparison is unquestion- 
 ably in our favor, as specimens of both, manufactured in Little 
 Rock, will show. As to their hemlock swamps, our cypress 
 brakes will match them in area, and more than match them 
 in the quality and value of the timber they can produce. 
 
 In our yellow pine and cypress, then, we have the full 
 equivalents of their total resources for consumption or export, 
 w^hile we have left, adapted to either purpose, an equal amount 
 of oak, ash, pecan, hickory, sycamore and gum, which are all 
 commercially valuable, apart from their home uses. To this 
 list of lumber-producing trees should be added the vast amount 
 of walnut in our State, hardly inferior to mahogany or rose- 
 wood in beauty or value, and the splendid poplar of our Xorth- 
 eastern counties. Nor should we forget our cottouwood, which, 
 if it does not yield merchantable lumber, is largely available 
 for fencing, fuel, rough lumber for out buildings, and other 
 home uses. 
 
 We need not lengthen the list with cedar, mulberry and a 
 host of others, notwithstanding their value for domestic uses. 
 The mention of our leading growths alone is sufficient to show 
 that in value and variety we have no cause to fear a comparison 
 of our lumber resources with States that have, as already re- 
 marked, grown rich from this one source, with but two kinds 
 
[5] 
 
 of timber against our widely-varied list. And if these States 
 choose to claim a value we have not mentioned in their hem- 
 lock — for the uses of its bark in tanning — we can double" that 
 in the bark of our oaks for the same purpose, and add its com- 
 mercial value for export as quercitron, which it is when rosscd 
 and ground. In that shape it commands a price that will bear 
 transportation to any part of the United States or even to 
 Europe, which the hemlock bark will not. 
 
 In this connecticm we ought not to forget another product 
 which, though too small for consideration as timber, is still 
 entitled to be ranked as a " resource," from its extensive use in 
 the arts and manufactures, and consequent commercial value. 
 We mean "sumac," or "shumakc," as it is generally called, 
 equal to the Sicilian product in quality, and, when properly 
 handled, commanding an equal price in the eastern markets — 
 from $90 to $150 per ton; and with a wide demand, based on 
 its uses in tanning, dyeing and calico printing, there is hardly 
 a county in the State in which a thousand tons do not annually 
 grow and go to waste ; yet its value and saleableness are as 
 certain as those of cotton or corn, as any one can see by con- 
 sulting the market quotations of drugs and dye stuffs in any of 
 our Atlantic commercial cities. It derives additional value as 
 a resource, from the fact that it thrives without care or culture 
 in fence corners and waste places, or can be grown to any 
 extent on the southern exposure of hillsides and mountain 
 lands, available for few other uses. 
 
 There are, also, other miuor articles indigenous to our forests, 
 from which no small income might be derived, owing to their 
 uses in the preparation of medicines, essential oils, etc. Some 
 of these have long ranked as"articles of commerce, foreign and 
 domestic. Among them we may name ginseng, a staple item 
 of our ChiuCvSe trade, blackroot, bloodroot or sanguinarea Cana- 
 densis, May apple or podophyllium peltatum, snakeroot 
 prickley ash, and slippery elm ; all of which, in their crude 
 state, or in the shape of concentrated extracts, are extensively 
 used in officinal medical preparations of recognized value, and 
 still more extensively in patent or quack remedies, 
 
[6] 
 
 From this exhibit it will be seen that oiir|forest resources are 
 of the most ample and varied character. It only remains to 
 consider, in general terms, the area over which the production 
 of some leading articles extends, with our natural facilities for 
 their conversion into merchantable shapes and their transporta- 
 tion to market, when we may dismiss tliis branch of our subject. 
 
 The Arkansas river divides the Pine Region somewhat un- 
 equally, but from its initial] point ' on either side it extends 
 North, South and up stream to the limits of the State. On the 
 South^side, beginning at Pine Blufif, it 'extends Southwardly to 
 Louisiana and Texas, and is limited on the West by the Choctaw 
 line; while North of the river, beginning^at Little^Rock, and 
 bounded Eastwardly by a'.line running from the capital through 
 Batesville to our Northern boundary, it reaches West to the 
 limits of the State. It is true that only a small portion of this 
 vast area is exdusivety pine land, and equally true that much of 
 it, especially the river bottoms, produce none ; but on nearly all 
 the uplands included within these limits it is a prominent 
 growth, and in many 'sections it is the predominant one. 
 
 Mingled with the pine, usually, are oak, hickory, dogwood, 
 sumac, sassafras and gum, skirting the small streams, while 
 north of the Arkansas j river the elm, beech and sugar maple 
 are found both within and outside the pine regions. The bot- 
 toms, which yield no pine, produce oak, hickory, pecan, ash, 
 walnut, sycamore and cypress in exhaustless quantities, besides 
 mulberry and cottonwoodj in abundance, and their], full share of 
 the medicinal shrubs and plants already mentioned. East, on 
 the lines which bound the pine region, we have the poplar in 
 the Northeast, with cypress and the other bottom growths in 
 the utmost profusion, A limited area,'not_^exceeding five per 
 cent, of the State, including prairie and what are known as 
 " brush barrens," may be considered practically destitute of tim- 
 ber ; but this local and limited '[scarcity only adds value to the 
 general abundance. But, while both for extent and value, our 
 forest resources may claim a high place, their worth is increased 
 by the thousand miles of navigable^streams which afford them 
 outlets to the Mississippi through the St. Francis, Cache, 
 
[7] 
 
 AVhite, Black, Little Red, Arkansas, Saline, Ouachita, Little 
 Missouri and Red rivers. The lateral tributaries of all these 
 streams afford, at certain seasons, not only the moans of floating 
 to the navigable streams a large share of the timber which 
 grows between them, but they furnish, also, hundreds of mill 
 sites and water powers to drive lumber manufacturing or other 
 machinery. Considered in all aspects, including extent, va- 
 riety and quality, our forest growths, in connection with the 
 facilities afforded by our navigable streams and their distribu- 
 tion for reaching the great markets of the world, as well as the 
 wide extent of country which can be drained through their 
 tributaries, and the manufacturing facilities which these tribu- 
 taries afford, we may safely claim, in the combination, a class of 
 resources hardly surpassed in the world. They are ample in 
 themselves, as elements ot an export trade in both raw and 
 manufactured materials, with the collateral home industries 
 they can sustain, to employ, profitably for a generation, a 
 larger population than the State contains. 
 
 From this we turn to the consideration of a minor but, your 
 essayist believes, a rich, though as yet neglected, resource — 
 
 OUR FISHEEIES. 
 
 As an organized industry or regular business, they have in 
 fact no recognized existence. Our thousand miles of rivers, 
 with their still greater length of tributaries, and unmeasured 
 miles of lakes, lagoons and bayous, every rod of them swarm- 
 ing with edible fish, have shimmered in the sun for a genera- 
 tion with their treasurers practically untouched. Gentlemen 
 of means and leisure have, it is true, made them the scene of 
 an occasional day's sport, contented if they caught enough for 
 a "fry," and to prove their skill as anglers. Occasionally 
 some idle adventurer, too lazy for more regular pursuits, and 
 too poor, as well as too deficient in business capacity to manage 
 this, has tried it as a means of support, and has failed, as such 
 men would in any business. The intelligence, capital, skill 
 and industry requisite to develop any new business have been 
 
[8] 
 
 very rarely brought to bear ou it ; but when they have, a cor- 
 responding success has never failed to follow. Enough, how- 
 ever, is known to settle these points : 
 
 1st. That our waters contain both an abundant supply and a 
 fair variety of edible fish. 
 
 2d. That with the requisite appliances, industry and know- 
 ledge of their habits, enough could be caught to supply a con- 
 siderable demand. 
 
 od. That a demand exists, which a constant supply would 
 both meet and augment. 
 
 4th. That those not required for immediate consumption can 
 be cured with as much certainty as those caught in the North- 
 ern lakes, or the tidal waters of the seaboard, for at least half 
 the year, and furnish in that condition a very palatable and 
 nutritious food. 
 
 In view of these faets it is thought safe to assert that our 
 food resources in this direction are capable, at least, of becoming 
 objects well worth such attention from the law-making powers 
 as will protect and preserve them, and from capitalists and 
 men of energy as will develop them into a staple food resource. 
 
 It is proper to add here that many of the coarser varieties, 
 not fit for table use, yield an amount and quality of oil which 
 well repays attention, and command, for all the varied uses to 
 which such oil is put, the highest market price. 
 
 It is enough for the present to know that we possess the de- 
 ments of a considerable and paying industry in this direction, 
 and that those elements are none the less a resource because we 
 do not now need to use them, or because at present other pur- 
 suits, involving less exposure with equal or greater rewards, 
 invite us to other channels. Our fisheries are nevertheless a 
 resource on which we can draw, when increased population and 
 other circumstances make it necessary or desirable, and with 
 this statement we pass to the consiv«!eration of our 
 
 MINES AND MINERAL EESOURCES, 
 
 which, if less in some directions than those of other States, are 
 
[9] 
 
 still ample to give assurance of profitable and diversified em- 
 ployment to a considerable population and capital. Even our 
 mountain crystals, intrinsically the least valuable in our list, 
 command, from their beauty, and rarity in other quarters, a re- 
 munerative aud considerable, as well as growing sale to trav- 
 elers, geological cabinets and visitors at our springs, which, 
 whether thermal, mineral or saline, seem fairly entitled to 
 notice here, both because of their mineral origin or qualities 
 and their right to rank as natural resources. 
 
 If our Hot Springs, and those impregnated with iron, sul- 
 phur or other materials of recognized medical efficiency, send 
 forth no waters which can be bottled and sold, they are still 
 resources, in a two-fold sense. First, for the relief or cure of 
 our own diseases ; and, secondly, in the throngs of health and 
 pleasure-seekers they attract, with their attendant disburse- 
 ments of money. 
 
 Then, too, our saline waters are of proved capacity for the 
 production of large amounts of that indispensible article — the 
 salt of commerce and domestic use. If we cannot in this re- 
 spect rival the immense production or resulting wealth of New 
 York or Cracow, we are sure at least of a home supply, and a 
 respectable quantity for export, whenever skill and capital 
 shall be applied, as they can be profitably, to this pursuit. The 
 full extent of our saline resources is by no means ascertained ; 
 but we do know that brines rich enough to repay evaporation 
 lire found abundantly in various portions of the State, and their 
 existence points to that of solid salt deposits, through which the 
 waters must run, or from which they must originate. If the 
 only partially saturated waters from which we now produce 
 this indispensible article can be made, as they are, a profitable 
 source of supply, w^hat may we not expect when capital and ex- 
 perience shall enable us, as at some future day they will, to 
 reach the beds themselves, and either mine the solid crystals or 
 use none but saturated brines. 
 
 Our vast quarries of slate, novaculite or whetstone rock, 
 limestone, and marble may be fairly counted as among our 
 
[10] 
 
 permanent and valuable resources. Except the novaculite or 
 whetstone rock, none of these have been worked to any consid- 
 erable extent, but their existence here, of good quality, in 
 quantities sufficient for any home or export demand, is too well 
 settled for question. They are here; so many elements of 
 varied and profitable industry. Peeping out from our hill- 
 sides and mountain ridges, they only await the march of events : 
 the completion of our railroads and the influx of population, to 
 assume their rank as important resources both for consumption 
 and trade. 
 
 Iron, in different kinds of ore, is known to exist in variousi 
 parts of the State in quantities more *tlian sufficient for any 
 home demand. 
 
 The existence of co;U and lignite is well ascertained over 
 large areas within the State in paying quantities ; and they 
 must, at no distant day, become important resources of trade, 
 domestic use and manufactures. 
 
 The great lead belt of the United States is knowii to extend 
 diagonally across the State. Paying deposits are well settled 
 facts at many points along its course, and some of these are 
 known to be rich enough in silver to leave the lead as a clear 
 profit, after paying all expenses of mining, smelting, separation 
 and marketing. 
 
 Fire, pipe and potters' clays, as well as kaolin, are abun- 
 dant, and unsurpassed in quality. And gypsum, or plaster of 
 paris, has been found in quantity sufficient to meet a large 
 demand. 
 
 The existence of nitre caves and nitrous earths has long been 
 known, and the recent war proved them rich and extensive 
 enough to take high rank among our resources for both war 
 and peace. 
 
 Copper is known to be among our minerals, and the presence 
 of zinc and tin are more than suspected. Of the extent and 
 value of these deposits too little is known to warrant assigning 
 them any high rank, and they are mentioned only as possibili- 
 ties, as is coal oil, also, which may be fairly believed to exist 
 
[11] 
 
 within or near our coal deposits, experience having shown it to 
 be almost certain in similar situations elsewhere. 
 
 Our manganese deposits are entitled to notice from their 
 known extent and richness, as well as the wide and growing 
 demand for this ore in the arts. Xor should we, for like rea- 
 sons, omit our ochres and paint earths, or forget our vast de- 
 posits of white sand, so well adapted to glass making. 
 
 This statement of our mineral resources is far from complete, 
 and necessarily lacks exactness from want of sufficient data. 
 So little has been done in the way of ascertaining their extent, 
 and so much less in that of their development, that neither 
 precision nor fullness is yet possible in such an essay ; but 
 enough is known to warrant the belief that they have not been 
 overstated, and mav be relied on as sure foundations for indus- 
 tries and commerce, ample to support an added population 
 greater than we have. 
 
 We will close this list by reference to our rich and extensive 
 marl beds, which, from their value as fertilizers, are entitled to 
 mention, and aftbrd a fitting opportunity to pass to the consider- 
 ation of our 
 
 AGRICULTUIIAL EESOURCES, 
 
 in which we shall include both our actual and possible produc- 
 tions. These we shall consider as textile growths and food 
 products, discussing the latter first, on the principle that food, 
 as the prime physical necessity of the race, outranks, by right, 
 all other productions. If our practice conformed more closelv 
 to this theory, we might safely discuss our food resources on 
 the basis of actual production. As it is, we shall have to give 
 our proved capacity the precedence over achieved results, as a 
 measure of our claims. But we may, and do claim a high pro- 
 ducing capacity in food crops, though others have received more 
 attention, generally, except as to small grainfs and fruits, which, 
 in the northern and northwest portions of the State have been 
 more regarded, and found profitable. If, in other portions, corn 
 
[12] 
 
 and sweet potatoes have too nearly limited our actual achiev- 
 ments, it is no fault of our soil nor of our climate. 
 
 Experience warrants the assumption that we can grow, prof- 
 itably, almost every variety of food that obtains between Alaska 
 and the tropics. Kot only corn, but all the cereals of the 
 Union, including even rice, have been grown enough to prove 
 our ability to make them articles of export instead of purchase, 
 if we choose to cultivate them, and the same holds true of all 
 the leading root crops and iruits ; and, with these as a basis, 
 the production of our meat supply is an assured possibility. 
 
 If we cannot grow the cane of the gulf coast, we can supple- 
 ment it with sorghum and the sugar beet. And, excepting tea, 
 coffee, spices, and a few tropical or serai-tropical fruits, almost 
 every edible product between Canada and the equator is within 
 our capacity, so far as concerns soil and climate. 
 
 It is simply a question of economy and convenience whether 
 we shall produce or purchase our food supplies. In the past it 
 has been considered more convenient, at least, to be purchasers 
 than producers, and to devote our attention to other crops. At 
 present the tendency, and it is believed a wise one, is toward 
 their production, on the score of both certainty and economy. 
 Time and experience will, as they alone can, decide the point : 
 but, pending the solution, w^e may safely count among our 
 resources the ability to produce, with a wide export margin, 
 and without reducing our cotton production, food enough to 
 meet every demand of a population tenfold greater than we 
 possess. 
 
 From this topic we pass to the consideration of our 
 
 TEXTILE PRODUCTS. 
 
 Of these it is known that w'e can grow cotton, hemp, jute, 
 ramie or China grass, and flax; and can produce both silk and 
 wool ; but cotton alone is produced to an extent that enables us 
 to rank it as a resource in hand. Hemp has, in a few cases, 
 been cultivated as a crop, and proved to be no less profitable 
 than cotton, as the yield was large, and prices generally kept 
 
 MB 18.7. 
 
[13] 
 
 pace with those of cotton. Our ability to grow these products 
 is, however, well settled, and if we cannot count them as re- 
 sources in hand, we may safely reckon them as within our reach. 
 Nor is the value limited, when we choose to draw on them, to 
 that of the raw products, but includes the diversified pursuits 
 and traffic which their manufacture and transportation will 
 employ. Even their cultivation for the raw product would 
 increase the average yearly value of our growths, by increasing 
 the certainty of having a surplus of some, even when the sea- 
 son is unfavorable for others. It is folly to stake all on a single 
 crop, subject to numerous causes of failure, when we can as 
 easily divide the risks between half a dozen of equal produc- 
 tiveness and value, no two of which are subject to the same 
 causes of failure. Each additional crop cultivated is at least 
 another chance against disaster, if not for increased profit. 
 
 The limit of value we can expect to reach in textiles, as raw 
 materials, may be measured in part, but only in part, from what 
 we have done in the single staple we do raise as a crop. Of 
 cotton we have produced in a single year over three hundred 
 thousand bales, worth twenty millions of dollars, and this with 
 not over a tenth of our cotton area in cultivation for that pur- 
 pose; at least, those familiar with the subject assert that four- 
 fifths of our cotton lands are yet in the woods, and it is thought 
 safe to assume that, between scarcity of labor, and the necessity, 
 as well as growing tendency to cultivate other crops, not more 
 than half the cleared cotton lands are at any one time given to 
 that crop. This estimate would give a yearly producing ca- 
 pacity, when fully developed, of three millions of bales, worth 
 two hundred millions of dollars — surely no small resource for 
 a single State. And it is believed we can reach this enormous 
 growth of the various textiles named, if not of cotton alone, as 
 the money value. per acre of the others is little, if any, below 
 that of cotton itself 
 
 There yet remains a list of products which, though not be- 
 longing to either of the classes named, are so clearly within our 
 
ability to grow, and commercially so valuable, that they cannot 
 be omitted from our list of resources without injustice. 
 
 Tobacco and the castor bean can be grown at a profit in 
 almost any portion of the State ; and our bottom lands, at 
 least, will produce large and remunerative crops of indigo, 
 madder and broom corn, with the mention of which we close 
 the list. 
 
 The summing up will show that our lumber and other forest 
 resources, with our facilities for making them available, entitle 
 us to claim rank Avith any other State in that direction. 
 
 That our mineral resources will bear comparison with anv, 
 and surpass those of most of the older States, in abundance and 
 variety. 
 
 That our agricultural resources, including food products, tex- 
 tile materials, and a wide range of unclassified, but commercially 
 valuable articles, are of the highest order ; and that, altogether, 
 we may justly feel a loyal pride in the resources of, and the 
 prospects which await, in the near future, our State and home — 
 Arkansas. W. W. GRANGER. 
 
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