New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1880-11-14
THE FEELNG At THE SOUTH.

THE FEELING Al me SDOIH.
There are some good signs at the South The
tone OF Democratic journals OF that section
shows an unusual appreciation Of the political
situation. 1he BOuIhonism which leans moth
ing and forgcts nothing does not control the
utterances Of all these journals by any means.
| Many manifest the most wholesome and hearty
! disgust for the Democratic managers Of the
! North, who, il Is clearly seem have caused the
! party to be not only beaten but disgraced.
! Greater contempt and scon than some of these
! journals express for the leaders who have for
| tweutyey years led tie South acan and again
| into the mirc Of defeat, can hardly be pui into
! English words. The thought begins TO come
! home. at least to the more intelligent Southern
men, that leaders who are so thoroughly and
Justly despised at The North as most Of the
Democratic managers are who are never su,-
pected of any patriotic aim or unselfsh purpose
OF honest conviction, even by their own fol-
lowers; who descend to the basost and vilcst
arts ct scondrelism in order TO succeed, and
are at once accused Of shameless treachcry by
their own party as soon as it is beaten, en-
never lift a Southern party from the slough of
despond. And this is in part the cause OF Dem
ocIatic defeats Northern party could never
make head at the South, which should chOos-
as its managers and representatives. those per-
sons who had no part in tie prev ailing opinions
and no hold upon the sympathies of the people
among whom they lived, who were incapable of
honest convictions on the tam question, the
money question, or any other, and who should
habitually resort 10 the fOulest means to over
come the popular hostility. \ party 50 led
would be stamped ont of existence at the
South. A party so led has at the North only
life enough to be s0undly thIashed whenever 1t
impudently asks for power
Another good thing is that many Southern
journals see aud point ont plainly the faults of
the Southern Democracy. They see, for in
stance, that Southern solidity is suicidal that
1t is, in effect, declaration of unceasng po-
ltical war by those who tiled to destroy the
Union against those who saved the Union.
They see that this soidity, having no honorable
and worthy motive in any actual wrong sus-
tanned OF any real need nnsatsfed, is naturally
regarded as manifestation OF an aggressive
sectional spirit hich is dangerous to the wei
fare Of the couuty. They see, and, better yet,
many of them openly say, that the means to
which Democrats at the South have resOrted in
OrGer to suppress opposition and make the
South solid, aIe such as cannot DC tolerated in
any free country, and are calculated TO arouse
against the party the most intense hostility in
the Northern States. All these things are said |
in very plain language, by journals of no mean
influence among the Democrats of the South.
A consideration which weighs still more, per- |
haps is that the South, by its sectional antag- |
Onism to Northern opinion, is shutting itself out |
from a share in the material progress and pros
perity of the country. A vast amount of capital |
stands ready to assist in the development of the
South, in the opening of mines, the building Of |
railways, the digging of canals, and the con-
structl0n OF levees, whenever the same cOndi-
tons OF good government, social order, and
faithful enforcement of law which exist in the
Northern States prevail also in the Southern.
Bat Northern capital is not only conservative l.
and rimid to a great extent it is Republican,
1t has been defended by the Republican party
from many measures of spohation threatened by
Democratic demlgogues. 1t has seen the public
credit assailed repeatedly by almost every Demo-
GRAFT and maintained by the aid of almost every
Republican. 1t has seen the tariff, under which
Investments in manufactures at the South
nave bfen greatly encouraged, persistently as
sailed by nearly every Southern Democrat. 1t
Ids StcU tUc utiUbob ubobIiitJ III
.ectiOD toward the whole system of National
development, by means OF grants of land to
aroads. 1t has seen wild and lawless mobs
ruling unchecked in Southern elections, so that
the legitimate and Iiehtful influence of prop
erty at elections in States, counties, and cities,
or the protection Of its rights and the conser-
Vaton of its opportunities for usefulness, has
been entirely destroyed. 1t has seen life held
cheap, laws defied and the guilty unpunIshed
All these adverse conditions capital associates
with Democratic solidity. Democratic rule at
The South, capital knows full well, means mob
rule or Ku-klux rule IN very many localities.
rs long as the South remains solid, capital in
seeks employment elsewhere. The
earty aid of the Government cannot be secured
OF any intelligent system for improving the
outh and developing its resources, for it is
cit that the conditions RLich drive away pri.
,ate capital will also render public aid frutless
nd wasteful. The expenditure of q thousand ,
iillions at the South would not avail, it is felt
0 long as those conditions exist of which Dem
cratic solidity is at once the result and the ,
On.
When the Southern people awake to sense