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_From the “Elmira, N.Y., Advertiser.”_
THROUGHOUT the entire North as well as in the South will there be
heartfelt and sincere mourning over the death of this most distinguished
editor on the other side of Mason and Dixon’s line. It was only ten days
ago that he came North and delivered an address at the annual dinner of
the Merchant’s Club of Boston, following it on the next evening with a
speech before the Bay State Club, a Democratic organization. While on
this trip Mr. Grady contracted a severe cold which was the immediate
cause of his death yesterday morning.
The dead editor was a man of large brain and large heart. His hope was
in the future of the South and he worked for the results which his
prophetic ken perceived ahead of its present with great earnestness and
great judgment. Since he became the editor of the Atlanta _Constitution_
he has labored unceasingly to remedy the unfortunate conditions which
operated against the progress and development of the South. Under his
inspiring leadership and wise counsel many enterprises have been started
and encouraged. There is no other one man to whom the New South owes so
much as to Henry W. Grady. When he came to New York City two years ago,
and in a notable address there told the people what this New South had
done and was trying to do, the public was astonished at his statistics.
The speech was so eloquent, so earnest, so broadly American in tone and
spirit that it attracted wide attention and sent a thrill of admiration
to the heart of every gratified reader. It made him not only famous but
popular all through the North. This fame and popularity were increased
by his recent excellent addresses in Boston. The _Advertiser_ published,
on Thursday last, on the fourth page, an extract from one of these
speeches, entitled “The Hope of the Republic,” and we can do the dead
man no better honor than to recommend to our readers that they turn back
and read that extract again. It expresses the purest sentiment and
highest appreciation of the foundation principles of the Republic.
Mr. Grady was a Democrat and a Southern Democrat. Yet he was a
protectionist and believed that the development of the South depended
upon the maintenance of the protective tariff. Under it the iron
manufactures and various products of the soil in that section of our
country have been increased to a wonderful extent while the general
business interests have strengthened to a remarkable degree. Mr. Grady
has encouraged the incoming of Northern laborers and capitalists and
aided every legitimate enterprise. He has been a politician, always true
to his party’s candidates, though he has been somewhat at variance with
his party’s tariff policy. He has been a good man, a noble, true
Christian gentleman, an earnest, faithful editor and a model laborer for
the promotion of his people’s interests.
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