The record-union., 1891-10-03
" WHAT IT OUGHT TO BE-"
AN EDITORS ADVICE TO TIE PEO-
PIE OF THE SOUTH.
Better Facilities for Education Should
be Sought After and
Obtained.
special to the REcoRp.UrIox.


RALEIGH N. C.), Oct. AT the open
ing Of the Southern Exposition yester-
day an address on 1.-The Real New South
What 1t Ought to Be- was made by
Octavius Cohen, managing editor of the
Charleston, S. c., World. He started out
by saying:
No section can possibly advance in
material prosperity as rapidly as it
should, if the people persistently shut
their eyes to their own shortcomings.
Instead Of employing our remarkable
advantages of soil and climate as steps to
lead to the pinnacle of material progress,
we have, 1 regret to say, simply made use
OF them to a sufficient extent to enable
us to exist in Scant comfort. Right here
in North Carolina, and next door. in my
native state, South Carolina, to say moth
ing OF the others, which are also greatly
blessed, do you not know, and are you
not willing to admit, that if New Eng
lauders, with their feverish push, and
keen, financial instinct, possessed half
our advantages, they would have two of
the most thriving, bustlinp and wealthy
States in the Union? If they can extract
prosperity with bleak hills, rocky slopes
and five months OF SnOw-banks as bases
why cannot we accomplish the same re-
| suit with the most fertile lands and the
most SaIubriOuS climate in the United
States, together with the ability TO work
outdoors all the year round? We have
lived too much within ourselves and we
must stop it Immediately. Intercourse
almost always involves education on
some point and 1t must, therefore be of
benefit"
Mr.. Cohen thought education was
needed and better facilities to obtain it
should be sought and obtained. The
I I lot al
the purse when extension of education
was suggested, because it cost too much
1T ISL he said, 'the most culpable sort
of shortsightedness to refuse to appropri-
ate money for educational purposes. No
money is extrayagantly spent which is
judiciously applied to the elevation of the
| standard of public school education.
''NOw, if it be true, why should we de-
sire to keep any portion of our population
in ignorance? l say TO you now, nv
friends, in all earnestness, and with full
appreciation of the importance of the
statement that the negro is with US TO
stay, and the sooner we come to r reaIiZa-
ton of that fact the better. And further.
/ wish to express it as my honest convic-
ton that If this were not so the future of
the South at large, especially for the next
thirty or forty years, would appear to me
1 to be very gloomy. Any great negro ex-
! odus means untold loss to our peoDIa Tn
! own State. agriculture is next to impos-
sible without the negro. He wants to
/ live with us, and continue to ride along
with us 10 wealth and prosperity, and
! we must make it possible for him to do
so.
ION the other hand, the negro must
/ bear in mind that his place in the politi-
! cal economy of the south is clearly de-
! lined. He must not hope to rule here.
! He is Incompetent to do So He has once
tried the experiment and viii himself ad-
nit that it was q terribly disastrous one
FOR the South, coming, TOO, as it did. close
upon the devastation and desolation of
+ The greatest civil war the world has ever
known.
81 am not farmer, but / take the
greatest interest in all measures suggested
tor the amelioration Of the condition OF
! ihe agricultural classes, and my observa-
ton leads me 10 the conclusion that the
I two remedies for the farmers Ills are di-
( versity OF crops and planting ten acres
, 10 the mule IN other words. don't nav
/ the Western farmer an enormous price
( Tor corn for yourselves and your stock
( when your cotton is selling for less than
/ The cost of production. Plant more corn.
raise more pork. You are obliged to have
them bOth.1