The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1880-06-12

natural defects OF the soil. lie South
is producing more agricultural wealth,
however, than before the war. The
negroes are working almost as industri-
ously rs in the days of slavery, and large
Numbers of whites who used to live in
idlcneSs are tilling their own acres
Nevertheless the country seems poor, be
cause the money for the crops no longer
goes into few hands, but is distributed
among the laborcrs, leaving the land
used to get. To understand how the
new system works as compared with the
old, take the case of Il plantation en-
Floying thirty hands. In the old times
the yearly cash outlay Of the planter, on
account of his labor, was perhaps one
hundred dollars per hand, or three thou
sand dollars in all. Now, with rations to
supply, rs before, and wages to pay, it is
at least two hundred dollars per hand, or
six Thousand dollars in all. lie there
fore has three Thousand dollars less in
come than before, and instead Of living
freely, with money to invest in banks, or
railroads, or buildings, he is closely
pinched to- meet his expenses. Tke
whole section is thus without surplus
capital to make improvements, and wears
4 shabby and forlorn look. But there is
as much money coming into the country
hafp u-ha In,c Mainly,
into the pockets Of the Jew traders, who
have established little stores at every
cross road to sell cheap goods and gaudy
gimcracks to the negroes at eXorbitant
prices. The men of enterprise and char
acter are without means to educate their
children well, to keep their places in or
der, or to engage in movements for the
development of the resources of their
States, and from this condition arises Il
chronic discomfort. The people who
ought to be energetically engaged in the
work of to-day, with thoughts fixed on
the achievements of the present and the
promises Of the future, are too often
listlessly brooding over the ruined splen-
doris of the past; and they blame the
North for their lack of prosperity, be-
cause the North overturned their labor
system, desoiatcd their fields with the
scourge of war. and forced them to aban-
don their scheme of a great slave empire.
Their hostility to the Republican party is
a natural outgrowth of their feeling to-
wards the section where that party has
its strength.
The want of a broad, liberal education
for the young men Of the Influential
classes in the South is anoth.r cause Of
the political attitude of that section. In
the course of the fifteen years that have
passed since the war closed, Il great
change has taken place in the voting pop
ulation; but the young men that have
come into its ranks have had but scanty
educational advantages. Their parents
were too poor to send them to Northern
schools, and the Southern colleges are. as
Il rule, mere academies, without libraries
or scientific apparatus. These lnsttu
lions have done more towards perpetual
ing the memories and preiudices of the
rebellion than towards intoxicating pa
triotism or disseminating valuable knowl-
edge. Their pupils learn very little of
the real condition of the country they
live in, and are too often led to suppose
that the South is the most civilized part
of it, and that it is their duty to main
tain rs something sacred its traditions
and ways of living and thinking. They
are thus poorly qualified to deal in lib
eral spirit with the political problems of
the day, and to aid in the regeneration of
their States. \ little lower in the social
scale than the young men who attend
the schools at the country towns. or the
larger institutions ambitiously styled uni
versities, to be found here and there in
the South, is another and larger class.
getting almost no education at all, and
full OF ignorance and prejudice. Thus it
comes that as years go by, and the old
politicians die of and younger ones come
to the front. whose memories hardly ex-
tend back to the times of slavery. no
healthful change is produced in public
sentiment and political action.
1t would be hazardous to make any
prediction as to the future political course
of the South. 1t is section peculiar
and apart, and as long as it remains SO
its politics will not be governed by the
laws of mind which divide the people of
the North into two nearly evenly bal
anced parties. In two ways, however,
pretty formidable opposition to the Dem
Gcratic party may arise in the old slave
States. The election Of a President and
the control OF all departments of the
national government by the Democrats
would soon produce so much d!sappoint-
ment among Southern politicians eager
Tor Office that, under some name or other,
an opposition would get a foot hold. The
determination to hold the prize they had
Sulllctl ltttSt " tlICoIIl-
pliSh the purposes mentioned above
would cause the present leaders of
Southern opinion TO use all the old
weapons of intolerance and prejudice
against such an organization, and they
would doubtless succeed in keeping it in
a minority in all the Southern States till
after 1sSi But the remedy Of a period
of Southern rule for tie disease of
Southern soli;lity is one that will scarcely
commend itself to the Northern mind.
The mischief that might be done in eight
years would hardly be compensated for
by the ultimate breaking up of Southern
politics.
The other way is to continue the Re
publicar party IN power until the South
loses all hope of realizing its purposes
and falls apart at last from sheer despair
of accomplishing anything by keeping
together. One more Republican victory
at Il Presidential election may he suiii
| cicnt to effect this, hut ii may require
| tive, The new census will transfer to
| the strong Republican States Of the west
much of the power in Congress and the
| electoral college now possessed by the
| South It's effect will be shown first in
the House Of Representatives chosen in
1882 and organized i'll December, 1888,
and then in the Presidential election of
1884. Ii the Republicans succeed TIL,