The Life of Henry Bradley Plant / Founder and President of the Plant System of Railroads and Steamships and Also of the Southern Express Company

by G. Hutchinson Smyth

It is as creditable to the men who have stood around their president most faithfully in his arduous labors, as it is honorable to him who has led them on to noble achievement, and deserved success. Mr. Plant’s methods of management are worthy of highest commendation, and would repay careful study in like conditions. If any man were to discover a plan for extinguishing fire that would to save the country $285,390,219, in the course of a dozen years, the insurance companies would purchase his patent for a large sum of money, and the country would raise monuments to his honor. Mr. Plant’s method is even better; it is on the philosophical principle of prevention. It prevents the kindling of the flames, and while it may not be absolutely fire-proof, it has stood a long and severe test. We honor him and his loyal associates and employees for the more than peaceful course they have left on record. We say “more than peaceful” for it has been a course of mutual concessions, personal interest, and friendly association, as the following chapters will show. Nor is the view taken in these chapters narrowed to special and individual cases. It is as broad as the South linked to the North, and covers the whole United States; for no part of our country can be advanced without every other part sharing in the uplift.

It would not be surprising if the best part of Mr. Plant’s work should fail to be recognized. People see the material progress of a State, the things that can be measured, weighed, and valued at a price; the subtle forces that produce the material are often overlooked. The intellectual, moral, patriotic, and philanthropic spirit that moves the man and diffuses itself throughout the State or nation is not the first thing that arrests attention. Yet this unrecognized force is the great uplifting power of a people in all that is best and noblest in their onward march of progress. It is now an axiom that the North and South did not know and understand each other previous to the late war; that if they had understood each other, a war such as the revolt of the Southern States would never have occurred, would, in fact, have been impossible. The facilities afforded for travel and the superior hotel accommodations which have been provided by, and have resulted from, the Plant System, have brought North and South together in mutual interest and friendly accord to such an extent that a war can never again take place, for these two sections of our country are so interlaced, interdependent, and identified in interest, and withal in such friendly association, that the misunderstandings of the past can never again arise. It is a fact of history, that in proportion as nations, races, and religions come closer to each other, the causes of conflict are, to the same degree, lessened. A homely illustration of this fact is contained in the story of the Irishman who was walking along the Strand in London one morning, when through the fog he discovered a monster from which, at first, he was going to run away; then, grasping his shillelah, he came close up to the monster intending to kill the “baste,” when “lo and behold,” said Pat, “it was me brother John!” So it often comes to pass that the monster in the distance to be annihilated, in closer proximity is a brother to be loved.

CHAPTER XIII.

Plant Day at the Cotton States and International Exposition of 1895 at Atlanta, Georgia—Preparations for its Celebration—Impressive Observance of Mr. Plant’s Birthday at the Aragon Hotel—Mr. Plant’s Remarks in Acknowledging Presentation of Gifts.

THE Atlanta Cotton States and International Exposition was created through the zeal and enterprise of a number of the patriotic citizens of the city of Atlanta and of the State of Georgia, and, on the 18th day of September, 1895, when its doors were opened to the world, naught but words of admiration and praise could be spoken for the men, who, through the devotion of their energies, time and money, had made it in every way a success.

There are already extant records of the speeches of the prominent men who, from the Auditorium platform in the Exposition grounds, addressed the public on that day and proclaimed to the world the reasons which actuated the creation of this Exposition, not only for the advancement of the mercantile interests of the southern section of the country, but as well for the education of its people.

While it is, therefore, futile to reproduce here the history of the Exposition, it might be well to say that as far back as December, 1894, Mr. H. B. Plant was called upon by a committee of gentlemen representing the Cotton States and International Exposition Company and urged to make an exhibit at the Exposition. In recognition of his acquiescence, and the erection of a building by the Plant System of Railways and Steamship Lines, in which was placed a most creditable exhibit from the sections of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Florida traversed by the Plant System of Railways, the Exposition Company determined that a day should be set apart, to be known as “Plant System Day,” and as the founder and president of the System, Mr. Henry B. Plant, was to celebrate the seventy-sixth anniversary of his birth on October 27, 1895, it was decided that in his honor the two events should be commemorated as a unit. This plan was impracticable, as the 27th fell on Sunday, but that the celebration should be as closely connected as possible, the day following, October 28th, was named by the Committee and announced to the public as “Plant System Day” at the Cotton States and International Exposition.

From the time of this announcement until the day of the festivities, preparations were made to make the occasion in all ways enjoyable. Mr. Plant, accompanied by his family, arrived in Atlanta on Saturday, and on the succeeding morning, the seventy-sixth anniversary of his birth, was greeted by the following article, written by Mr. Clark Howell, and published in the Constitution. It served as an index to a time replete with pleasure, and as a welcome to Mr. H. B. Plant, President, and to the Plant System in Atlanta, Georgia, October 27 and 28, 1895.