Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-04-21
LIFE IN THE SOUTH.
A New south as Seen by Southern
Journalist.


Boston Post.
Mr.. Walter Ii. Page, of the editorial
staff of the New York World, delivered a
lecture on ''The New South as Seen bv a
Southerner," at the rooms of the Young
Mems Christian Association Oh Tuesday
evening. Mr.. Page is a Southerner bv
birth, and his address was the express
sion of his own experience and Observa-
ton. Mr.. Page gave a vivid sketch
of Southern life in antebellum days,
and said that in the simple hour in
which he had to speak he could merely
emlmerate, without discussing, some of
th0 problems that await solution. Indus
trial activity, with the exception of agri-
cultural activity, was not thought desira-
bic IN old times. Nothing CALLED South
erner more than to be employed bv an
other. 1t did not seem to him like a COM
pact between equals, but implied the
idea of dependence, and as a consequence
of this feeling the resources of the South
are almost as little developed as the re-
sources of newly discovered country.
But now the prejudice against labor is
fast dying, and generation of artisans is
coming on, thus assuring industrial pro-
greSS. In the South. instead of artisans
and savings banks, there is yeOmanry
of small farmers who know nothing of the
modern cOnveniences of living. Mr.. Page
here gave picture of the typical Southern
of his home. He said that this man, a
kind neighb0r, good citizen, 4 Free
mason, an uncOmprOmising Democrat
and an equally uncOmprOmising Baptist
lives the life of one hundred years ago.
and the railroad, the printing press,
banks and trade, have no influence upon
his life.
In referring to the negro the speaker
said that their sudden emancipation was
hazardous social experiment, and their
sudden elevation to citizenship an even
more hazardous political experiment: vet
the result in both cases has shown more
cOnclusiyely than any other ievent how
strong our republican institutions are.
He divided the negroes into two classes:
those who have been associated with
white people and under the influence of
civilization, and those whose only ac-
quaintance with white men has been
while under the 0yerSeer. The latter
class, he said, are simply savages, with
out the fundamental, social Virtues-in-
deed without civilization. What most
needs to be done is not simply TO
educate the negroes, but to teach the
young men handicrafts, and the
only solution of the ereat
social problem is more rigid moral
training Of the young women. One thing
is certain about this problem of the DrODeT
disposition of the negroes, and that is that
it is a decidedly new one, and cOnse.
quently the men who undertake to solve
it from distance or by theories must
fail. In referring to the practice of duel
ling in the South, the speaker said that it
was only in England and in the Northern
States that public sentiment condemns II.
In France and Prussia it is still prac-
ticed, and the South, of course, is not vet
rid of it. But the number. and horror of
these have been exaggerated, and before
long they will not be tolerated anywhere.
Mr.. Page paid glowing compliment to
Southern hospitality, and gave a comicaI
picture Of the Southern colonel, who has
been painted in war cOlOrs by many peO-
pie, but who should really be treated
with pity instead Of seriousness. In
speaking of the love of State, Mr., Page
said "The crucial question to ask abo1t
Southern men is: Do they love their state
more than they do the Union? Indeed
they do. And State pride, being now for
ever made harmless against the Union. is
a. fine old virtue. And in this homeless
age, When a man is most at home away
from 1t, 1t is a pleasant idiOsyncrasv.b |
Mr.. Page said that the young men of the
South did not desire to retain stupid So
lidity with any party. BE political parties
what they may, they will not allow Won TO |
doubt their loyalty nor their high pur-
poses. The men who occupy high places
IN tne SOutn are unworthy successors of |
their patriotic grandfathers, for in South
ern politics it is essentially a day of small |
men.
No radical change in a people was ever
wrought by revolution; the process is by |
evolution. To understand the condition |
and outlook of the Southern people we |
must look at them in this wise: One |
hundred years ago all the world wore the |
yoke of medi9valism. The spirit of free |
dom that the American republic let loose |
in the world was but one manifestation of |
the same spirit which has created modern |
scientific thought and made our mechani- |
cal achievements possible. Clearly all !
the earth has suffered an industrial as
we'll as a mechanical and a social emanci-
patton. 1t is new era-an era of the |
greatest changes that have ever taken
place in the world. The South is the