Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1878-08-14
hit. And whatever the blind leaders

light. And whatever the blind leaders
of the blind may say, history will re-
cord that the great struggle Of the re-
bellion was not contest Of Greek
against Greek" but of the powers of
darkness against the powers of light;
of ancient barbarism against modern
civilization; OF despotism founded Gas
Alexander II. Stephens stated that the
Southern Confederacy was to be found
ed on the slavery of the black race
against free republic, based upon the
sacred brotherhood of man.
INcAPACITY OF SOUTHERN STATES
MANsHIP.
But, apart from its crime Of REBEL
ion, the South should never rule this
republic, because it has demonstrated
it's incapacity to govern republic.
Craftsmanship is physical science.
A youth asked one of Plutarch's heroes
if he could play a flute. ''No" was
the statesman's naughty reply; but |
can make little village great city"
That is the test of craftsmanship. The
South can play on the flute of its own
vanity, it can blow the trumpet Of its
praises admirably well, for egotism is
the distinguishing trait Of all semi
civilized and uneducated men and ma
tions. But the perpetual vaunt about
Southern craftsmanship" could be
silenced at once in any grand inquest
by the simple demand for solitary
proof of it. Where is that evidence to
be found?
Southern craftsmanship had an easy
task Nature gave New England rocks
and ice as its chief natural products;
and New England is now fertile, in
telligent, and rich. Her colonies are
the most prosperous commonwealth
that the sun looks down on, and theil
people are educated, industrious, and
humane. Nature gave the South an
earthly paradise, with a sweet climate
f and atfluent lands, and royal harbors
} and great rivers that arteried every
!, State, and mines of more than imperia
wealth. What is the old South to-day
f as compared with the old North? A
: bowling wilderness, with a people
{ ignorant, indolent, and poor.
If it is answered that the presen,
= poverty of the South is the result O.
the war, Southern craftsmanship il
not thereby acquitted of incapacity, fo1
y her statesmen created the war, ano
, they are responsible for its results
S War, too, Is physical science. 1t il
y true that the South was ''overpowered'
by the North, but it was the duty o.
e Southern craftsmanship" to estimate
S the forces they provoked They
: showed their incapacity to rule by
r seeking their ends through war, with q
: calcuable superiority of physical powe,
? against them. The Southern struggle
r was magnificent, but it was not war
: The Southern soldiers fought with
S superb courage; but Ajax defying the
! lightning was not war, nor was theil
r defiance of the nation.
$ If it is still argued that the war was
) the chief cause of the present condition
S of the South, and that the North was
: equally responsible for it, the answer
! is, that the South lost far less by the
war than is claimed or generally sup
r posed individuals in the South los
their property in slaves, but the South
1 itself did not lose their labor. Eman
cipation did not take one dollar from
the capital of the South. AS much as
the ambitious labor of a freeman is
E more valuable than the reluctant tot
of slave, just SO much is the South
richer to-day because of emancipation
The real property destroyed by wa,
| was not greater IN the South than By
| the North-in material of war, in loss
of service, and by taxation. The
State and municipal war-debts of the
3 South we're expunged; the State and
, municipal war-debts of the North were
preserved. Besides, Chicago and Bos-
[ ton lost far more by their fires than the
South lost by all the houses actually
destroyed in the great conflict.
, But the incapacity of the South to
E rule a republic is demonstrated by the
hastiest glance at her condition before
the war began; at time when two
, centuries of unbroken rule had brought
, forth the perfect fruits of Southern
craftsmanship" At the birth of the
nation Virginia held the first place in
the relative rank of the States in popu-
lation. She maintained this position
: until 1910. In 1860 she held only
the fifth rank-New York (Which held
the fifth place in 1900 now leading
the roll, followed by Pennsylvania,
Ohio, and Illinois Virginia held the
tenth place in 1870. North Carolina
held the third place in 179O-only the
twelfth in 1860. She held the four
teenth in 1870. South Carolina held
the seventh place 1790-the eighteenth
in 1860. She held the twenty first
place in 1870. New York had in
creased her population in seventy years
from $40, 100 to $3.50, 1876; Virginia
from 74S,30S to 1,596,3IS only.
North Carolina, in 1890, had 1913, 751
souls; in 1860 she had only 962, 622.
South Carolina had 249, O73 inhabitants
in 100, and at the opening of the
war, Only 7O3, 70s. Thus, slowly, in
spite of every natural advantage, had
the three leading slave States, under
Southern Craftsmanship" advanced;
thus rapidly were they left behind
under the craftsmanship of the North,
in the grand march of the States to