The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1877-10-26
THE SOUTHERN STATES.
rwrsn SOCIAL AMI INDUSTRIAL HIS
TORY. CONDITION AnD NEEDS.
4 p.nrr Wead nef0re the social science
Association Ivy MR.. w. Il. Trenholm,
of south Carolina.

Of south Carolina.
n is honorable to both the patriotism and the
sngacty Of this association that It should recog-
American people TO know each other better.
The popular mind is fixed in the belief thai, 9
Lstfaf asa,laintance between the sections would
hovp aveTted the late war. and that the perma-
na,,av of our national unity depends. more upon
freao snt intercourse and close persona, anu bus.
iness relations among the people farthest apart
. nsents sa 81 Cong Songressona legislation During
i epinad much about their Northern brethren,
and have acquired knowledge 81 the social
npd industrial eharaeteFEisties q a tue North
circumstances il remains. for the people Of the
North to come to q like N understanding Of South
s sn a'' NAV reign throughout The land Ii is
fnanifestiy impossible on this occasion &c, enter
Into details, nor is TINT necessary IN order to
pose In view will be. attained II we select for
consideration only those traits Of social and
nsrs else eonesae he u
The Houth. THESE distinguishing traits are oil
dearly defined they. stand out n bold relief
upon the surface Of American history and So
nety, and are strongly contrasted with the types
OF progress prevailing elsewhere.
THE ISOLATION OF THE SOUTH.
The centtry ending in 1860 witnessed wonder
ful social and Industrial changes all oyer the
world. Our own revolution and thosei In France
the Napoeonic wars and their consequences,
had created almost new World for te fhn
Higher ciasses previously Idle. we're. gradually
ativity. Invention science and the, arts had
literally put new face upon the earth the di-
s s p PR S has s 6sa a
pl0yments and needs, ,stimulating trade and
dlnusing inteliigense The gold Of California
In navigation aud inland transportation, pro-
luced universal activity IN commerce and trade
The whirl and rush OF this eneoinp passed the b,
II at every point Of her, extended interests and
on every line of her development: ]. she felt is
fruits Ii her ap Expanding wealth. Yet alone s' ii ali
tho world she stood unmoved by 1T in govern
h II spse aggS X II sy srs IN aso The
what they had been In 1910 when the abolition
of the slave trade had impressed upon their
pf which II seemed suscept BILE. Not only had
the South remained unchanged during all this
@ s 81 4 }e SaS he pSu bs
BY. MILLIONS of men and women from every
country Of Europe passed along the whole ex
the. industrial secrets Of every quarter of the
Globe and carving their s sk and thrift e the
sight almost Of the fertile coil, untenanted
lands and untouched resources of the South,
where, beside the roads, bridges and railroads
were already built cities and towns already
established, churches. and schools already ex-
listing; but they would not come in The con
HBfyHtlSm anu lSOlHEl0D DI Tie S0utU iS IHP more
remarkable because the century was SO iull of
nnriehing progress, and because. the American
people have ever, taken the lead IN exploring
new Ideas and trying new methods,
PRIMITIVE SOCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL FORMS.
Yet lin that very age and that very country
these few States stood loeked in immobility,
and for il hundred years they chung to tho most
70 the simplest methods of industry. Blind to
tho mineral wealth of their hills, deaf to the
roar Of waterfalls which would have guided any
tn " nahsayra
thents. Che people Of the South concentrated
5her whole efforts upon the production of cot
neither the aid Of machinery nor the counsel of
science even the suggestions Of thrift were dis
regarded the production of work animals and
The nine cotton States which supplied the world |
with cotton had, In 1900 only one hundred and
S IN tRa United stat Ss dh bsn en
per centum-and their consumption of raw ma |
tsflal was only seven and one-h half per centum. |
A conservatism so except enal and conspicu- |
Gus became an otfense, to the spirit of progress
eliminating the T. st of the world; 1t was unntel- |
ligible, and therefore intoefable. Thus the |
sduth came to be separated from the rest of the |
world In sympathy AID feeling az well as In in
terests and expsrience II is Obvious that such
QI exceptional force and persistence. No or
binary Influences, certainly no mere moral
pf modern progress, the solicitations of self-in-
forrest, the prumptings OF cupdity. the siege and |
bgmbardment of outside public opinion to |
Hubiected, nor, on the other hand, could any |
sentiment or suueamishness have kept out of |
sRcerfnily encounters cold hunger, thirst and
savage la making bis home In the lonely prai |
81. we must OF course, look for the prime |
institution. African slavery. and then we must |
70 further and observe that under this form of |
slavery labor be ONES capitalized; the labor of |
svefv individual Ia thrown into q common |
4tDck aud constitutes a labor capital possess-
ing The power OF labor and the mobility of
OUTSIDE FORCES.
& The. destiny of the South has always been
ruled by forces over which her own people had
no control. Her history during the century |
npding In 1860 was wholly controlled by series |
u events occurring outside her own territory. |
ments made in cotton machinery by Hargreaves |
Arkwright and Compton in England; Watts |
Invention Of the steam engine and its subse- |
Qlent application to cotton machinery. In 1906 |
Hi Whitney'a invention of the cotton gin. In |
1eo6the introduce ion of steamboats, In 1903 the |
improvements in cotton spinning machinery in |
England. IL 1885 and 1886 the introduction of
railroads The cotton gin n made cotton plant
from improynd machinery stimuli lated its rapid |
extension; the abolition of the slave trade cut
On supplies of imported labor for this purpose,
and threw the strain upon the labor already in |
the country, The mobility of this labor and the
sn II moving + to the best sof Is caused h
" and rapidly Transported from place to place |
By means of the new agencies sup piled by steam
became prematurelv distributed over an area |
much too extended for advantageous occupa- |
amy acceesions from without, Virginia. the Caro-
llnMs and Georgia have peopled the greater |
part of the territory between the Rio Grande |
and the thirty ninth parallel Of latitude.
THE HINDRANcE TO IMMIGRATION,
nc was this spreading out OF It's original popu- |
1ation over a vast area which chiefly distin- |
Guished southern territorial development from |
Northern. and the causes which produced this |
movement also obs ructed European immigra-
ton and otherwise hindered material progress. |
III has been Gus omary to ascribe the hfndrauce
70 moral causes, TO speak of the instincts of |
freedom, and other supposed sentimental OBJ
sections; but such explanations are unphilo-
sophical and untrue. Immigrants had GER
fAiniy been taught, by the experience of those
who had tried il, that the South was not the
plHce for them, but the causes that excluded