Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1877-05-30
4" The Southern Fool"

The Press Association of South Caro-
lima met recently at Columbia They in
vited DR.. George W. Bagby, of Virginia.
to deliver an address. DR.. Bagby was
educated in the North, and has been, APP
parently, a man OF observation. Being
from Virginia, he was, of course, the
true friend of the South, and the expect.
ant quilldrivers were in a receptive state
OF mind as to any thoughts about the
future glory of the South. DR.. Bagbv
took friends privilege and lectured the
gentlemen on their faults. His subject
was "The Southern Fool" and while he
handled his dissectlng instruments skill
fully and gracefully, he made cruel cuts
all the same.
He said that when he was a school boy
at Princeton he was taught to look down
on boys of the North when the war broke
out, he, as Southern man, was expected
to underrate the strength of the North,
and 10 sheer at the Yankees The BOYS
who sought to influence him as boy,
and the men who moderated the strength
OF the North, were types OF the Southern
Fool. He desired TO remind his hearers
that the southern Fools were not all dead
yet. lie had said to himself, when in
the North, This land is not merely
tanned, ii is civilized il is enlightened in
its thorough culture, and yet the South
ern Fool affected to dCSpSC il. Coming
North during the war, he had seen great
armies on the march; great trains NOV
ing; great camps, symmetrical and strong,
and bad said to himself, These people
make war "a business they mean to sue
coed, ~ and yet distinguished COnteder-
ate statesman had told him at Richmond
that two hundred thousand Yankees
would no more stand in the way of the
southern army than SO many Chinese
with gongS ana stlnk-putS
This distinguished Confederate General
was Southern Fool, and he and men
ike him made a fatal mistake. Contempt
for the North and an underestimate of her
sentiment, courage, strength and ability
was the cardinal error of the struggle on
the part of the South.
The southern kool was now eng gcd in
undertaking the power of accumulated
capital in undertaking the thrift, skill
energy and daring OF the North, and was
again making fatal mistake.
This IS in substance what the Nirginiau
told South CarolinianS last week, and
South Carolina is in an uproar about it.
Nearly every Democrat in the state thinks
the doctor was personal in his remarks,
and offensive.
The Southern Fool has long ruled the
South. He has shaped its policy, formed
its sentiment and made its political faith
Ii is high time that he was compelled to
retire from the leadership that the people
of that region may learn thatan atiecation
OF ChISalrlC notions does not cover acts of
moral cowardice. There have been mis-
takes enough under his leadership, GER
tanly, to cause the people to desire a
Chan gc. Experience has shown them that
all the old notions IS 10 the North were
false; that their tauntS and SnetrS were
ridiculous; that their prejudiceS were ut
fault; that Northern people were gen
CrouS as well as brave; Northern people
condemn a wrong because it is q wrong,
and war against 1t not because of hos
uiity To a section. hui IS q matter of prIn-
yiplc They have been telling the people
ut the South for thirty years what DR.
Ba-1y told them last week, When q
Southern man, looking at things through
Southern ewes, speaks the words of the
Northern friend If the South of twenty
wears ago. there would seem 10 De basis
for the nope that in due time the reign Of
the Southern Fool will end Ii viii be a
bright day for the South when il does
CitcJgo later 0tsdH,