The weekly tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1891-1894, 1892-04-23
H WEEKLY TRIBUNE.
SUPPOSE.
APRIL -. 1872.

What would have been the condition
of the south today if the confederac.
had succeeded: 1t is interesting to not
that the intelligent people of the soutl
unite in the opinion that the success o
the confederacy would have been disas
trous to the country. They say nov
now that their defeat was their onl,
salvation. One southern brigadier says
frankly in the columns of the New York
Press:
The confederacy was a great mistake
and its success, If that had been possible
would have been a frightful calamity tc
liberty and civilization. If all Of us
could Just tell what we know without
being misunderstood we could throw
much light upon history. but we can't
do il.
For this reason the eX-confederate de-
clined to say more. He could not shat.
ter some of the idols of his people and
still appear to them as a true southerner
Jefferson Davis is still a heroic character
in the south and they cannot talk about
his mistakes.
John S. Wise Of Virginia is equally
frank in expressing his opinion. lie
says:
II the southern confederacy had sue
cceded it would have been bankrupt at
the outset. 1t wouldhave had no system of
railroads and no manufactures 1t
would have depended for existence on
slavery and agriculture: except seaports.
cities of any magnitude under such a
system would have been impossible, and
there would have been very little div
ersitication of employment for the citl-
zens. \ large standing army would have
been necessary along the frontier. neces-
stating heavy taxation, and the con-
federacy would have dragged along on a
wretched course of poverty from the out
set. If the south had succeeded she
would have been spared much of the
humiliation she has suffered, but defeat
was the only way to wean her from
slavery and agriculture. Our people
could never have hoped for the liberty.
happiness or prosperity they now enjoy
if the southern confederacy had sue
ceeded.
Capt. Hugh p. Gardner, ex president
of the Southern Society in New York. in
discussing the question, said;
Being an agricultural people, produc-
ing two or three articles for consumption,
the southern confederacy would have
declared for free trade, and its financial
condition for a time would have been
infinitely better than the north. But in
a very few years the extremes of opinion
which prevailed in 1850 would have
again produced fruit. The border states,
Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, Tennes-
see. etc. finding slave labor less
and less profitable, and beginning to
see IN the products of their mines a new
source. properly fostered. Of almost
h0undlcss wealth, would have followed
the example of their former fellow-citi-
zens of Massachusetts. New York and
PENNSYLVANIA. sold their slaves to the
cotton. planters and then peaceably Sc
cedcd from their southern associates.
At least two or more. naturally three re-
publics would have arisen in the south.
bat this wOUid not have happened 50
long as the intense feeling of brother
hood ergcndered by the wal endured.
These frank expressions from repre-
s~entati, G men of the south are worthy
of the attention Of the organs of the e. o.
p. which even noH. thirty years after the
war, persist IN waving the bloody shirt.