To that fair land upon whose strand
No wind of winter moans.
Major J. F. Hanson, as the representative of the Chamber of Commerce, said:
ADDRESS OF MAJOR HANSON.
It would be impossible at this short distance in point of time from the final struggle in which Mr. Grady yielded up his life, to form a just estimate of his character, his attainments and his work. These have passed into history, and will survive the mournful demonstrations of his people, because of their loss in his sudden and unexpected death.
To many of you he was personally known, while, with the people of Georgia, his name was a household word. In his chosen profession he will rank with Lamar and Watterson. With these exceptions, in the field of Southern journalism, he was without a rival or a peer, while, as an orator, his brilliant efforts had attracted the attention and won the plaudits of the entire country.
His speeches before the New England Society, at Dallas, Texas, Augusta, Georgia, the University of Virginia, and finally at Boston, constitute the record upon which must rest his claim to statesmanship.
While the people of the South, with one voice, approve the purpose manifested in these matchless efforts to maintain the supremacy of the Anglo-Saxon in the public affairs of this section, there are differences of opinion with reference to the methods, which, by implication at least, he was supposed to have approved, for the accomplishment of this purpose. If, at this point, there was real or apparent conflict with the broad spirit of nationalism, for which at other times he pleaded so often and so eloquently, it is but fair to attribute it to the supreme conviction on his part that, through white supremacy in the South, by whatever means maintained, this end was to be secured.
However we may differ with reference to the methods which, as a last alternative, he would have employed, or their final effect upon the institutions of our country, we recognize the great purpose which inspired his efforts in our behalf. Because this is true, the people of the South will keep his memory green, whatever the opinion of the world may be with reference to this question.