The West Virginia journal. [volume] (Charleston, W. Va.) 1864-1877, 1864-11-02
The "Poor Whites" of the South
From DORM in Tennessee, and hack hy ray q
Richmond" by Elmu"i Kir@e.

Professor Cairrcs, in his very valuable
and generally accurate work on the
Slave Power. says:
ain tho Southcm States no less than five
millions Of human beings arr now said to
exist in condition little removed from
savage life, ckins out Il wrtchcd subsistence
bv hunting, by fishing. 10y hiring themselves
out for occasional jobs, and by plumber
Combining the rrstlcSsncSs and contempt for
regular industry peculiar to the savage, with
the vices Of The prol1mIr Of civilized commu-
mites, these people make up class at once
degraded and dangerous; and constantly re-
inloeccd as they arr by all that is idle, WORTH
less and lawlcSs among the population ot the
nci.hboring States. form al mcNi,auStihlc
preserve of rufliaa:>m ready 1t hand Tor all
the worst purposes of Southern Ambition.
S,lc! arc the mean whites or white
trash of the Southern States. x This
class comprises, rs have sail. five millions
of human bcingS-ahout Scvcn-tcnthS OF the
whole white population
This opinion Of Professor Cairncs is
no doubt held by fully nineteen .twcnti.
cths of the people Of the Northern
States and Of England. But it is a
grcat-a very great error. Having read
of, or seen, the wrctchcd specimens of
humanity who loiter about the railway
stations, or hover around the large plan
tatious on the great Southern thorough
fares, they have jumped to the conclu.
sion that they represent Seven tentl's
Of the whole white population Of the
South! The very idea is preposterous
for if it were so, ono half Of the
Southern people would be paupers, and
no community could exist which bad to
support that proportion of non. produ'
GERS. But it is not so. The great mass
of "poor whites arc superior (and |
say this with due deliberations, and after
sixteen years acquaintance with them
to every other class Of uncultiyatcd men,
save our Northern farmers, on the globe.
They I'LL were born ia this country, aud
have imbibcd from our institutions -
distorted and perverted as they arc at
the South sturdy independence, and
an honest regard for each others rights,
which make them, though Of Scotch,
Scotch-Irisl, or English descent, better
soldiers, better citizens, and better men,
than the ovcr-worked, ignorant, half.
starved, turbulent, and degraded peas
antry Of Europe. -, ...
There IS Attic South such class as
Mr.. Cairns speaks Of They are appro.
priatcly called "mcan trash" and exc
out a wretched subsistence by hunting,
by fishing, by hiring themselves out for
occasional jobs, and by plumber" but
they are comparatively small class.
The census shows that they cannot num-
Der above half q million. :.
These people do combine " the rest.
lessness and contempt for regular indus
try peculiar to the savage, with the vices
Of tho prolctaire Of civilized communi.
tios, are I" at once degraded and danger
GUS" and form a "preservc ofruthanism,
ready at hand for all the worst purposes
of Southern ambition" In fact, l was
about to add that oil the rufianism Of
the South is confined to them and to the
chlvalry, but l VIII cot say l., 1or II
would not be strictly true.
To give the reader an idea Of what
these ~mcan whites arc, Twill glance
Cor moment at their habits and ways
of living. Often their houses arc the
rude pole wigwams Of tho Indian
shaped like sugar.loac-with merely q
hole at the top. to. let the smoke out, and
the rain in; but generally they live
in small hu.s Of rough logs, through the
eSeviecs Of which the wind, in winter,
whistles most melancholy tune. These
huts are floorcl with nothing but the
sround-hardcncd with mau!s, and boil.
lowed at the centre, as if to bold the
rain that comes in at the roof-and their
one apartment is furnished with few
rickctty chairs, a pine log hcwn smooth
on the upper side, and made to serve as
SOFIA cracked skillet, dirty frying,