The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-02-09
THE NEW SOUTH.
Rev. 0. c. McCulloch Tells of the South's
Past Progress and Predicts It's Future.

At Plymouth Church, last night, Rev. O. G.
McCulloch, before giving his lecture on DUTY,
which was the theme of the evening, spoke fol-
ten minutes on The New South the senti
ments being condensed from the recent address
on that subject by Rev. j. L.. M. Curry, d. D.,
before the Congregational Club of New York
city. Dr. Curry is the agent of the Peabody
fund, a native Of Alabama, and a Southern mar
Fln education, habit and spirit. and as one of the
Old South as teacher, preacher and legislator,
helped to carry Alabama out of the Union.
Since the war he has been identified with the
new South, and none know better than he the
state OF Southern sentiment. The great issues
IN dispute that have been settled are III the
emancipation of the negro, (2) the supremacy of
the Nation, 81 national citizenship. These re-
suits, says DR.. Curry, have been accepted heart
lily by the South, which to-day is enthusiastically
loyal to these great principles. Nc legislation has
taken place in Congressf for six years touching the
war or the negroes. Time. social intercourse, in
terchdnge OF courtesy, sympathy and service,
railroads and telegraphs, investments of
Southern capital, educational meetings, circula-
ton of periodical literature, and the Christian re-
nglon have cemented the bonds of the Union.
The new South recognizes the fact that as the
negro grows III intelligence, thrift and skill as a
laborer, and in morality, the wealth of the South
Will be proportionately enhanced. The present
feeling is one of cheer and hope. of absolute
freedom, and friendship and good feeling. The
freedom, citizenship and suffrage of the negro
are recognized. The Union is loved because it
is their Union and they are a part of ii.
AS the consequence of subjugation and eman-
cipation there was paralysis of business and
universal bankruptcy. The South alb
sclutely touched the bottom in ref
erence to poverty and bankruptcy.
One of the most hopeful signs of the times is
the subdivision of the immense landed estates.
What in 1870 was comprised in 248, 992 farms,
became by 1880 divided into 4S6, 225 farms, and
has since been further subdivided.
The young men in the South are not as thew
were before the war. Many of them now ac-
qulre their education by working their way
men OF the Eastern States. and by great self
denial. The negroes are being reached educa-
tlonally. There is now no State at the South
without a system of education. Some people
say the South is opposed to the education of the
negroes 1t is a gross blunder; it is a SANDER.
1t is absurd to suppose that the South is so sui
cidal as TO be opposed to the education of the
negro. Last year over sixteen million dollars
we're gwen by the Southern States in the
way OF public schools; over fourteen millions of
That was paid by the white people, and that
money goes proportionately, per capita, to the
black man as it does to the white man, although
the white man pays eight-tenths of the taxes
which 60 to the support OF these public schools.
The mayor of Charleston. South Carolina,
reports that by statistical calculation, that CITY
is paying more tod 4y, proportionately to its prop
erty, for the education of whites and blacks in
that city than Boston is paying for the educa-
ton of her people.
DR.. Curry asks us to see what occurred in the
South. In a moment relations changed. A
revolution, the grandest and most stupendous,
and in some respects the most sublime that civ
ilization ever saw. occurred in a moment. To adapt
ones self to the adjustmento of this common, equal
citizenship was a difficulty some people do not
realize. There is nothing in the whole history
Of the past that is comparable to it; emancipa-
ton in the West Indies, the abolition of serfdom
in Russia do not furnish even symbols for a com
parison. The emancipation of negroes in the
United States is unparalleled in its sublime a>fa-
ton. The South overcame prejudices and tradi-
tons of six generations.
Let US of the North retain no bitterness born
of the days that are gone; let US act for the
years that are coming, in friendliness, in charity;
for the country is united and belongs to all Of
US. The old South has disappeared and the new
South is here.