Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-05-08
The Curse Of the sonth.


Absenteeism, the curse of Ireland, may
also be sand to be the curse of the South.
Not so much is it true now as it was in
slavery times, but still it is fact to a
most destructive degree. From boyhood
up to old age l have been accustomed to
trace effect to cause, and from the time
when Robert and L sat on the top of
Crows Nest and, looking down on the
cadet drill on the plain below, determined
that the de-provincializing of Georgia was
a nobler work for us than chasing Indians
over the prairies or firing cannon at
Fortress Monroe, have l realized and
felt mortified at the thought of how
blind we are to the blessings which
God has shOwered down upon Georgia,
and how suicidal we were in not using
them fully. To our boyish eyes, even, it
was evident that raising cotton to buy
negroes, and buying negroes to raise cot
ton, while the proceeds went abroad for
the purchase of food and clothing, and
even of shelter. when Northern carpen-
ters, furniture makers, iron founders and
other artisans built our houses, was fast
making us the hewers OF wood and draw
ers ofwater for the Northern people. This
was bad enough, we thought, but the
we recognized that in ignoring
our own superiority in climate and soil,
and seeking abroad for intellectual pleas
ures, schOolmasteTs, preachers, editors,
master wOTkmen, etc, we were gradually
assuming the position of dependents and
scholars in all that make State great
and respectable, and that at time when
Troup upheld the political sovereignty of
Georgia and Calhoun battled for the
rights of the State to put a veto on the
usurpatiOn by the general government of
unconstitutional powers. But while we
recognized the evil, we did not see how
UtOpian was the idea of remedying 1t, for
it did not enter into our philosophy to
seize this great fact, viz: That the riches
Of the South flowed from the
fredneSS of its negro labor and
the lceGtb of the North from the stu
bbty of it's industrial element. We
had learned from history that nOmadic
people were never great till hey became
fixed, and were never willingly so till
suborned by superior power. Till this
was done there was little or no progress,
but when effected labor becomes neces-
sary, and it begets thought, method,
training, self-cOntrol, morality, law, order
and unity of action, while from these come
the higher impulses of a spiritual nature.
1t is in this necessity for labor in the
white people of the South that we must
look for our redemption from the curse of
absenteeism, for if only small portion of
our population were absentees they not
only carried away much money, but
they left behind them a population
of whites whom natural characteristics of
the land allowed TO live after fashion up
to their needs, while want of culture gave
them few of those artificial wants which
lead to eXertiOn of mind and body.
But 1T NAV be asked how shall we ar
rest this a6senteeism? Who will have the
moral courage to resist the temptation if
he have the means to indulge in it? The
answer is easy, viz: The stay-at-hOme
folks must unite to make our native re-
sorts in mountain and on seashore at
tractive and cheap for the sum-
mer and our cities for the Win
ter, and thus fix population, and in
so doing foster home industry.
Here is the secret of national greatness.
home comfort and popular morality.
Carolina has an exceptional advantage in
SuilIvan's Island, but Montgomery and
Tybee, fairly patroniZed, would do much
for Savannah as summer residence,
while its location on the direct route to
Florida, its theatre, its churches, and
the Telfair Academy of Arts and Sciences,
properly managed, will do much for
making it a favorite winter resort for
climatic and educational purposes. Add
to this pure water by artesian wells, and
cheap bathing houses for popular use, and
its mucn needed sanitary reformation will
be the sooner effected.
Fifty years ago Savannah was known
for her frank hospitality, the grace of her
society, the elegance and cultivation of
her women, the high character of her gen.
tlemen, the mOdesty of her youth and
maidens, ertine wines and splendid snipe
shooting, but if our modesty prevents our
referring to these now, why be silent on
our other merits in an age when every-
thing great is made by putting?
r. VIII.