The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1869-10-08
The situation at tho South.

The Situation at tho South.
The South ought to be tOlerably well
known by this time. It has been very tho
roughly explored Its social and political
condition has been investigated and discuss
ed by Radical and Democrat, soldier and
civilian, correspondent and carpet-bagger.
Our States have been '.guarded and regard
ed,' like the famous Matthew Byles, of revo-
lutionary memory. They have been decom-
posed and recomposed analyzed and recon-
structed. They have been subjected to
every variety Of military surveillance and
rule, and Of official manipulation. Where is
the Southern country that has been untra-
versed by armies; the Southern plantation
that has been unvisited by foragers; the
Southern river that has not been blockaded
and penetrated by gunboats; the Southern
city that has not been garrisoned by soldiers
and despoiled by satraps from abroad. How
strange that such region should still be
land of fable-as impenetrable to the sober
light of reality and experience as the blue
mists Of the Northwest Passage or the
mocking mirages Of Sahara.
The outside world has studied the South
through medium Of prejudice. There has
been plenty of light; but the light itself is
untrue when refracted and discolored-when
seen through, the spectacle, of Mrs. Stowe
or the chronic jaundice Of Mr.. Sumner. AS
to the testimony Of natives-that has gone
for nothing! The creations of romance, or
the casual impressions Of travel, have been
esteemed as more trustworthy than the OBJ
servations OF life time.
Quite recently two business men of Bos-
ton Messrs. Loring and Atkinson, have un-
dertaken to obtain and disseminate authen-
tic information in regard to the present
status and future prospects OF the South.
They have opened correspondence upon
this subject with not less than two hun
dred Southern planters, brokers and
factors, and have published pamphlet con-
tanning an abstract of this correspondence.
1t will be to the advantage Of the South and
of the country at large if evidence so unex-
ceptionable, and gathered from so many
sources, can secure patient hearing.
What we are to expect and what we are to
do, can be decided upon with some degree
of confidence so soon as the conditions OF
the social problem are fairly set before us.
In the midst Of the general disturbance of
the old social relations, three classes remain
distinct. The first is the respectable white,
the friend of the old order while that sur
vived, and when it perished the determined
opponent of the Radicalism which sought to
reconstruct society after an idea and made
the craziest experiments upon the self-re-
spect of the people and the public prosper
ity. The second is the imported citizen
white or colored, whom personal advantage
lured to conquered and impoverished cOun-
try. This class consists of legislators
to whom negro equality was the engine for
political advancement, or of spectators
seeking profitable investments of capital, or
of bona tide settlers, Of adventurous spirit,
who were invited southwark by our fertile
fields OF enterprise. The third is the negro,
to whom emancipation in some cases has
been benefit; but to whom, as Il race it
has been prejudicial-there being general
drift Of the laboring population away from
the plantations to squatter's farms, to cities
and even to the woods, and also sensible
decrease of numbers through improvidence,
neglect of the young and the sick, and gen.
eral irregularity Of habit. The settled order
OF the new regime will arise when the best
Of these last two classes combine with the
| first as the members of an Anti-Radical
party The precedent has already been es
7 tablished in Virginia and Tennessee, and
will be followed by the other Southern States.
One of the most striking changes that has
taken place is observable in the depreciation
of plantations. The greatest difficulties have
been experienced ii the conduct OF the pres
e1t system Of labor; where fields have oeon
planted on shares tie metayer does not look
DeNOl.ll tHt NcuI, Dut - StCiibliN"Hy HoS5iSCio
the repairs, drainage, &c, which prepare
the field and storehouse for the production
and protection of future harvcStS. On the
other hand. where wages are paid the hire
ling does not look beyond the week, or per-
haps the day: his work is shiftless and slov-
enly, and the pay received from time to time
encourages deser;ions. Besides, there mas
been diminution Of laborerS. arising from
the withdrawal OF women and boys and girls
from the tcld and also from the increase in
the number OF squatters and loafers, who
prey upon property in the cities and stock
in the country, and devote their leisure to