Joel Chandler Harris' life of Henry W. Grady including his writings and speeches
History
Joel Chandler Harris' life of Henry W. Grady including his writings and speeches
Grady, Henry Woodfin, 1850-1889
day when he was alive that he could not have made thousands of dollars
by placing his pen at the disposal of men interested in speculative
schemes. He had hundreds of opportunities to write himself rich, but he
never fell below the high level of unselfishness that marked his career
as boy and man.
There was no limit to his interest in Southern development. The
development of the hidden wealth of the hills and valleys, while it
appealed strongly to an imagination that had its practical and
common-sense side, but not more strongly than the desperate struggle of
the farmers of the South in their efforts to recover from the disastrous
results of the war while facing new problems of labor and conditions
wholly strange. Mr. Grady gave them the encouragement of his voice and
pen, striving to teach them the lessons of hope and patience. He was
something more than an optimist. He was the embodiment, the very
essence, as it seemed—of that smiling faith in the future that brings
happiness and contentment, and he had the faculty of imparting his faith
to other people. For him the sun was always shining, and he tried to
make it shine for other men. At one period, when the farmers of Georgia
seemed to be in despair, and while there was a notable movement from
this State to Georgia, Mr. Grady caused the correspondents of the
_Constitution_ to make an investigation into the agricultural situation
in Georgia. The result was highly gratifying in every respect. The
correspondents did their work well, as, indeed, they could hardly fail
to do under the instructions of Mr. Grady. The farmers who had been
despondent took heart, and from that time to the present there has been
a steady improvement in the status of agriculture in Georgia.
It would be difficult to describe or to give an adequate idea of the
work—remarkable in its extent as well as in its character—that Mr. Grady
did for Georgia and for the South. It was his keen and hopeful eyes that
first saw the fortunes that were to be made in Florida oranges. He wrote
for the _Constitution_ in 1877 a series of glowing letters that were
full of predictions and figures based on them. The matter was so new at
that time, and Mr. Grady’s predictions and estimates seemed to be so
extravagant, that some of the editors, irritated by his optimism, as
well as by his success as a journalist, alluded to his figures as
“Grady’s facts,” and this expression had quite a vogue, even among those
who were not unfriendly.
Nevertheless there is not a prediction to be found in Mr. Grady’s
Florida letters that has not been fulfilled, and his figures appear to
be tame enough when compared with the real results that have been
brought about by the orange-growers. Long afterwards he alluded publicly
to “Grady’s facts,” accepted its application, and said he was proud that
his facts always turned out to be facts.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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