The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1880-03-09
THE DAILY STAR
BROOKLYN LETTER.

Abating-The New Requirements
of the PiatfOrm-Generals stewart,
.WOodfOrd's Lecture On the south
A Pen and Ink Sketch of the
General-A Adult IdiOSy yncrasies- -
Mr. Phelps symphony.
Special Correspondence of the Star.
BROOKLYN, N. Y, March Sth, 1880.
The rage for popular lectures, once so
conspicuous in this country, is, believe,
fast dying out. This is one of the con-
comitants of cheap books and of news
papers for the million. When for quar-
ter of dollar one of Macaulay's essays
on Addison or Frederick the Great can
be purchased, no one is going to pay so
cents to hear Mr.. Smith or Mr.. Jones get
off half-digested commonplaces on Eng
lands most classical of classical writers,
or on the man who could create Prus-
sia, yet was small enough, as an act of
revenge, to deprive Voltaire of his daily
allowance of chocolate. Nor is it any
longer paying investment in an intel
lectual sense to spend dollar and half
on course of lectures on the natural
sciences by Professor Ozone, of the Col
lege Hill Academy, when for the same
money one of the works of Tyndall,
Lyell or Silliman can be purchased to
be like thing of beauty joy forever,
and ready source of reference. The
lecture platform is not, however, to be
abolished, for there is always a
demand, first, for information and
explanations from great specialists in
natural science or art; second, for eX-
Founders of new PHILOSOPHERS; third. for
men whose regulations have inspired the
people with curiosity to see the men
themselves. But the popular lecturer,
he who deals in commonplaces and ex-
pends his energies on elementary
branches of knowledge, is coming every
day to be less and less in demand as the
advantages of a common school educa-
tion are more widely reaped by the COM
munity, and books and newspapers be-
come cheaper and greater in number.
/ should have included in the class of
lecturers who will ever find warm well
come on the platform, him who has valu-
able opinions to offer on topics of
weighty interest to the people-on such
topics as fall within the scope of politics
or social condition; and it is of a lee
turer of this class that | propose to speak
briefly, though he is not a lecturer in
the sense in which the term is usually
employed, for lecturing is not his pro-
fession; indeed, the lecture to which l
have reference was given without pay
and in compliance with request from
the Board Of Trustees of an academy,
and will probably never be repeated.
The gentleman referred to is General
Stewart L. Woodford, ex-Lieut. Governor
of this State, and at present the United
States District Attorney, located in New
York city. His campaign speeches in the
West long ago made his name familiar to
Ohio, and it will be remembered that at
the last National Convention he received
q handsome vote in connection with the
Republican nomination for Vice Presi-
dent, and prospects Of his name coming
before the approaching Chicago Conven-
ton with the selection of a candidate
II, the same Office is not slight. People
out of mere curiosity, even setting aside
his personal attractions, will always flock
to hear such man, as they did the
other night, though his subject was what
gave his appearance on the platform es-
necial weight and significance, "Impres-
sions Concerning the South"
You will recall how, at the Chisholm
trial, he figured in connection with the
prosecution, having nobly offered his SER
vices to the heroic woman whose hus-
band, daughter and son had been shot
down by the mob of some Of "the best
citizens of Kemper County" Such an
experience as this, with his war expe-
rience, eminently fitted him to speak on
such topic, and lent weight to his utter
ances.
The lecture was a catholic, liberal,
unbiased, statesmanlike survey of the
past, present and future condition of the
Southern people. Excusing no mistakes,
palliating no crime, and, at the same
time, setting nothing down in malice,
the speaker graphically but with the di-
rectness of philosophy, portrayed the
past and painted the possibilities of the
future. In a word, he considered the
outlook hopeful, arguing that increasing
material prosperity and recognition of
self interest due to the progress of edu-
cation were solving, and would eventu-
ally completely solve, all the great prob
lens involved in the manipulation and
enfranchisement of the blacks and the
new relations created between the Caucas-
ian and African races. The material
prospects of the South were, we believe,
unlimited. Let me quote few pas
sages from his address:
s'The entire cotton product will not al
ways be brought to New England for
manufacture, and the iron fingers of At
lanta will some day rival those of Lowell.
"You ask me then have / any hope for
sbe political future of the South, and with