The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1884-05-27
TEE OLD CRY.

A leading newspaper of the South
the Greepville, South Carolina, NeoOs
says: "To.day ninety-nine Of eve'
hundred Southern men believe tina
the emancipation of the slaves wa
the greatest blessing the South hal
ever received, and the best thine
that could have been done for her.
It adds in the same article: ut made
the white people a manly, self
reliant, independent, Democratic
and united race. Slavery was fast
enervating Them into hostile fac
tions and classes. Labor, as the
badge and province of the slave
was brought into contempt; when
millions Of white people of all classes
were forced to become laborers
labor became honorable, and is
to-day our strength and power.
In an article on the same subject
the ChronicEe, of Augusta, George
also a prominent journal, says
"How dreadfully was the south
misled by her orators and doctrin-
aires! The rational course to have
pursued would have been gradual,
voluntary emancipation by the
federal government. This plan was
feasible, but did not meet the views
of leading, dominant politicians.
Had it done so, what misery, what
losses, moral and material, would
have been avoided But the south
followed the fiery, eloquent, unwise
spirits and saved nothing but her
military honor" These admissions
are as manly as they are true. The
southern people are a better, a
nobler and more Independent peo-
pie in every way than they were in
slavery times, and every year they
are improving as individuals and as
citizens. The masses Of the ne.
groes are those who have suffered
from the abolition of slavery, and
after a generation OF two have
passed and the blacks are educated
and trained to their new and exalted
condition, they also will reap the
benefits of the better and more
humane order Of things.
But in the face Of just such sim
cere admissions as the above, and
while all intelligent people Of the
south are declaring themselves well
pleased with the change, though
they may be opposed to the manner
In which it was brought about. the
south is insulted and abused every
four years as if it were a menace to
the Union. A leading Republican
organ in the east directs attention,
as if there were cause for alarm In
tito the circumstance that if q Dem.
ocrat should be chosen President
next fall it would necessarily be by
the votes of the southern states, and
that he would owe his Office to the
support of ex-rebels. This is lut out
as scare crow, and may have some
effect on the ignorant and stupid,
but it should have none on intelli-
gent parsons. The southern people
are to-day as devoted to the Union
as are the people Of New England,
and if the time came for them to
fight for It's preservation they would
demonstrate how mistaken thew
were twentysfour years ago, by
taking up arms and standing
shoulder to shoulder with their
northern brethren in fighting their
country's foe. The southern states
men are as patriotic as are the states
men of Massachusetts, and as full
of love for the republic and Its
institutions; we are not certain that
they are not better friends to the
nation than the New EnglRnders,
for they stand closer to the Consti-
tutjon. 1t Is as much an insult to
northern intelligence as it is to
southern loyalty, for the Republi>
can orators and organs to repeat
this senseless Islander about the
people who made a mistake but
were convinced of their error and
long since were willing to acknow>
ledge IT..