The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1881-01-13
PROGRESS IN THE SOUTH.

qucSL Will UC uelQ UeAI Week.
PROGRESS IN THE SOUTH.
The Views OF n Philadelphia Journalist
After Observation.
Col. A. K. Mcclure, ofthe Philadelphia
Times, Ind, has recently travelled through
the South on professional tour of in
sDection, and thus narrates his imprcs.
sions:
prosperity South means prosperity
North, and the South is prospecting now
us she never prospered before. Her
crops are the largest in ali her history,
and she is beginning to culver with new
life and energy, social, political and in
dustrial 'The old south,'" Mr. Nc
Clure remarked, "was described by Sena.
tor Chestnut, of South Carolina, in q
memorable speech in the Senate before
the war, in which he said:
"There are two classes in the South.
Those who rule, who have made her H.
lustrious in Statesmanship, aud the servile
classes, who have made her prosperous
beyond anything in the world, while you
of the North" he added, "are made up
of close .fsted farmers, greasy mechanics
and mercenary traders"
"That," said Colonel Mcclure, "was
the old South. Senator Chestnut's pic.
ture WAS accurately painted, true to the
life"
"As companion picture 10 the one
painted by Mr.. Chestnut, we have it in
the equally forcible, clear cut and elo-
quent words of General Joe Brown.
The world he says substantially,
moves, and we must move with it. La
Dor is wealth."
THAT" Mr.. Mcclure went on 10 say,
"is the policy of tile South to-day. Tie
old ruling classes have become workers /;
the old seville classes are working better
than they worked in the days of slavery,
and the close listed farmers and the
greasy mechanics Of the North and East
and West are everywhere welcomed.
This is the great social and industrial
revolution which the late war accom-
plished. In tn days when the planter
was king the South had no need for these
classes. And they did not go there.
The civilization amid which they grew
up was the very converse of the civilza-
tion then in the South. In the one section
labor was honorable, in the other it vas
dishonorable. To be workman
was to be serf. All this has been
changed. The pursuit of commerce
and trade which in the past carried So
cial stigma with it, is now the pathway
to distinction. In fact the South is en-
dcavorinp to convert itself rs rapidly as
possible into a nation of mercenary ira
ders, close listed farmers and greasy
.nechanics. The la.tle aud clalter of the
factory are beginning to be heard all
over the South. The South to-day seems
to me to present the most magnificent
field for industry and investment in the
world. SIZE has raised 500,000,000 bales
of cotton, this year, and there can be no
doubt that the annual production, so far
from diminishing, will grow every year
larger and larger. The great problem
before her now is to convert it into the
manufactured article instead Of sending
the raw material q thousand miles to be
made in cloth. That problem she is
working out and with the most profitable
results. 1t is almost impossible to pic
ture the prosperity of the South when
that day shall come. She will be richer
than ever India was. Just consider the
advantages she possesses. The climate
can not be surpassed. Labor is cheaper,
and, owing to her climatic superiority, it
always must be cheaper in the South
than in the North. Then there are her
unrivalled water facilities. The streams
that now run idly to the sea are capable
Of running all the spindcs of New Eng
land and Of Old England from one end Of
the year to the other without single in
terruption. In ten years, | firmly be.
lievc, the South will convert at her own
doors one half her cotton crop into cloth,
and in quarter of century she will be
the greatest manufacturing centre in the
world in this particular line. The pres
ent condition of affairs is an anomaly; it
is against all the laws Of trade, and it is
impossible that it should last. Capital
always seeks the most profitable field in
which it can operate-the field in which
it can find the largest returns. But
except in some rare Instances there is no
oppression of the black man in the South
to-day. He is puid fair wages and he
has all the work he cares to do. His
work, however, is altogether in the field.
He is not a success-at least the present
generation is not a success-in the tacto.
ry. He has not the steady application
that is needed around machinery. The
next generation may be better in this re.
spect, but have no hope for the present
one. Hence it is that in nearly all the
Southern factories the persons employed
are white 1t is curious fact that the
abolition of slavery has had as great a
beneficial effect upon the poor whites as
it has had upon the blacks. Their coll
dition has improved wonderfully, and in a
few years they promise to become what
white men everywhere ought to be-en-
lightened, intelligent and self.respecting.
There is, however, one great evil so far
as the neg,o is concerned, and it seems
almost impossible to tiud d way to remedy
or remove it. The negro is mercilessy
cheated by class of people who, as a
rule, have gone down there from the
| North-I mean the small traders who