New-York daily tribune., 1865-10-04
ruE pOoR WHITES.


has been offered for their acceptance. but they
mako no bid-thoy give no sign OF hopeful iiie
The Govcrnmen, would be too happy to transfer
into their keeping the civil power of the South
ern States; but they send out no representative
meu-nobody but their old rulers come forward
in respons q TO our cali What are uey about
Their day has dawned and they seem to DO
asleep. From Virginia, for example, we some
times hear that they have got up riot or
killed negro, hut where are their gatherings
TO consider the signs of tho times. and TO act
independently, and, If need be- in opposition
to the ancient Lords Of the Lashf dreary
81 cnce reigns throughout the region of the poor
whites, broken only by the report Of musket
shot A. murdered freedman falls. ~
Eveywhere we hear that tho negroes are
flcckng 70 schools tOttling children. mothers
with their babes at their breasts, workingmeu
ailer their days toll is over. aged patriarchs and
white-hesded grsndames-all may be seen
pcring over their primers wherever the Teach
ers of the Froedpen's Aid Societies are sta
toned. They learn with wonderful rapidity.
This is the uniform report-froln Louisiana and
Virginia, from Tennessee and the Csrolinas.
Their ergerness to learn has been Described as
almost disease. There is no checking il, no
controlling IL; i is ss fierce Us fever at its
hight"
Meanwhile, neither the adult poor whites nor
their children show any such propensities.
Their stolid apathy not even the artillery Of
confronting armies has dispelled. As they were
in tho bad old times, they are now in the holy
era that has dawned on our land. They
are az lazy and hstless, a. inert and abject a.
ever Every ignorant class is q dangerous
ciass; and the history of tho last generation and
Especially of the war, has shown how very dan.
gerous people the poor whites are. For, by
their lack of intelligence, an oligarchy has ruled
the South from time immemorial; and when il
time for rebellion came, they were driven, like
+ sheep to the slaughter, to fight against every
earthly interest of their class and nation.
How profound the ignorance Of the poor
whites is, it required this war to expose. Oui
soldiers stood aghast az it-and at tao amazing
immoralitics that gathered around it. Every.
where adullcrous misccgenaton, incestuous
marriages, indIscrip mate and universal impu.
rity were found hand and hand with q stold
stupidity, listlcss hopcicssncss and a darkness
of mind of which, happily, the North knows
nothing but by report. Statistics are made
quate to describe IT.. For, what avals il to say
that there must be to-day One Hundred Thou.
sand adu,s in Virginia who can neither read
DOR w.itel There wero $3.50 by the Census
Of 1850. But man who can neither read mol
write may be thrifty, prudent, ambitious and
have fully developed his common sense and
his habits of industry; he may be compe.
tent TO Discriminate between rival platforms,
not resolution Of which be could copy or spell
out. Not sothe poor white trash.
Mr.. NJ. ID. Conway, in q brochure not scircu.
lated here, has Published an account of the
poor whites Of his native State. lie had ample
opportunities to SOC them in their homes-lor
not only was he reared among them, but he
travelled circuit in Virginia and Maryland as
Methodist preacher. ~ have thus learned
Icnough," he writes, ito convince me that this
dumb degraded, crushed class in the Southern
States is destined in the end to rest upon the
American mind more heavily than do the ne.
groes." His description is much too long Ia
copy; but we will give the salient points Of 1t.
They are exceedingly prolific. They swarm.
Tho old woman OF the shoe Ia in every poor
white hut; their floors are alive with bloomless,
squalid children. Their soeisl position 10 really