The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1885-03-25

fall, the white race deteriorates. One
large matter we cannot reorganize on
the edges of the Gulf of Mexico, and
that Is the climate. 1t is impossible
ever to make North of the far South,
any more than we can make South of
the far North" A tour through the
South had enabled the lecturer to I'M
derstand the political significance of
these familiar truths. He drew illus
trations from history. Great cities ex-
list south of the line which marks the
southern limit of the snowfall, but
they derive their energy and impor-
lance chiefly from the fact that their
populations, as in Bombay and Calcutta,
are Differed by whites who came from
north of the snow-line. He quoted
from Professor Draper to show that the
inhabitants of the climate zone en-
bracing the Southern States listlessly
submit to the heat, declining whatever
exertions they can avoid, doing nothing
forthemselves that may be done for them
by another. Society is resolved into a
grade that seeks to command, and into
grade that is compelled to obey. In
the higher caste an imperious spirit is
engendered that brooks no control and
will be satisfied with nothing but mas
terry. If New Orleans becomes great
city it will be because the United States
give her energy; because she absorbs
vigor from the vast populations of the
temperate zones. Cut off from immi-
grafton and dependent upon indigenous
population only, the Creole Queen
could never become formidable rival
of New York or Chicago. "When the
wind blows from the south in New
Orleans" said Mr.. Cook, 4" the brisk
New England step is substantially i'm
possible. You have invigorating north
winds there at times, and during these
breezes people become energetic for a
day and an hour; but nine months of
the year the population of the edges of
the Gulf must be languid. And, as
around the whole globe, on the line of
New Orleans, there is not, and never
has been, great city with white in
digenous population, l do not expect to
see great, white, energetic, indigo
nous population in that town, with all
its self-respect, with all its brilliancy,
with all its aspiration, for which even
strangers learn to love the place so
promptly and so well. The lines of our
great rivers are favorable to the COM
mercial eminence of New Orleans; but
the lines of our great railways are I'M
favorable. The latter run east and
west The great rivers run north and
south. If the time should come when
commerce with South America and
Mexico is thrice or ten times as impor-
tant as now, New Orleans could not
fail to be a great commercial center;
but it would be largely Differed from
the North, or from the Middle States.
Its indigenous working population would
be chiefly bronze or black"
Mr.. Cook showed from the census
that in the seven states to which the
Negroes are chiefly confined, the native
whites increased twenty per cent in the
ten years ended in 1880, and the col
ored people thirty-five per cent; that
there are seven millions of Negroes at
the present time and in 1900 there will be
fourteen millions, and these will concen-
trate on the borders of the Gulf, in
Florida and in the warmest regions of
the Atlantic coast. 1t is not probable
that they will migrate. There are some
who think that amalgamation will solve
the problem of the future of the blacks
in this country, but the latter are not
among those who hold this opinion.
Mr.. Cook finds the Negroes in the Gulf
states "heavier in spiritual compost
ton more sensual than the average
type of Africans in the North. They
lack aspiration and self-assertion, vet
:" in this apparent calm there may be
tropical thunder" They do not appear
to be able to compete with the Anglo
Saxon rivalry of the Middle States, but
great future lies before them some
where in the world.
Respecting the political status of the
Negro, the lecturer applauded the repub-
lican party for giving him the franchise,
but did not greatly revere the recent his
tory of that party in allowing his civil
rights to be taken away from him by
the southern whites. sour newest
president" said Mr.. Cook, "tells us
that the question of the untitness of the
Negro for his political position should
not come into discussion at all, except
as means of melting us to effort for
his education, and that as long as he
has civil rights, those rights must be
protected. thank God for this coura-
geous word from one who, hope, may
disappoint all his critics" He finds
that there is no conscience on the topic
of Negro rights in many of the rural
towns--and the South is chiefly rural
and that there is not likely to be, un.