Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1893-05-18

tion the black belt, and for long
time it, with the exception Of a few To-
calities, lay suffering under the incu-
bus OF its dense negro population.
! Finally the white peopl got control
and it began 10 get up again. | have
oftener than once Travelled nearly a
hundred miles on the railroad through
this section, and, outside of the towns,
not seen a single farm animal; this is
a region which was once filed with
well-stocked plantations owned by
well-to-do people There are, OF course,
in this belt localities where there are
still good plantations. For instance.
along the Staunt0u and the Dan lie
some of the best farms in the state.
On the stanton il what / think the
most beautiful country place in the
south, and the production Of yellow
tobacco has brought up another por-
tioo of this section But the country
generally, in consequence Of new con
ditions. has undergone an immeasur-
able change.
The number Of men in this part Of
the state who were forced into bank
ruptcy hy the war and the conditions
which followed is almost indescriba-
ble. Prior to the war il was custom
airy for gentlemen who were neigh
bars 10 go security on each others
bonds aud afterward it was not un-
usual 20 find whole neighborhoods
in the bankrupt courts. Indeed. / be-
lieve that the outs le world has never
taken in the complete and almost uni-
versal bankruptcy Of the south by the
war and It's consequences. IT was not
merely that the property values We're
destroyed, but that everything upon
which property values are based. and
by which they can be cyeated, was
destroyed 81 rendered unavailable
II is difficult accurately 10 conceive of
a region in which nearly the entire
personal property has been wiped OUT
the lands left unworked and useless;
the whole system Of labor suddenly
changed; the entire former laboring
population thrown into state of un-
certainty and partial hostility to the
land owners, their former employers;
the whole governmental system rayo-
lutiouized; the former wealthy classes
left burdened with debt and with
their means 70 pay their debts sud
denly swept away; with the fatigue
and sorrow of a lost war piled mp on
them and with an unknown future be-
fore them
1t /, difficult TO conceive of This as
applied is any considerable section 81
a country; hat when it applies u a
vast territory emhraein many states
aud population numbering many
millions. the mind IS incapable 81 tax
inr fiji the whole fact, Such was she
condition at the south \ whole reo-
pie absolutely Frustrated had to pick
itself mp reform itself. adapt itself to
new conditions, catch up with the gen
cral progress of the world and make
for itself anew its place in the column
of advance
How it has succeeded all know; hut
what il has endured and how il has
striven have been known only TO itself.
Those who fell in battle have had their
names inscribed on granite and bronze.
Women have wept over them and poets
have sung of them but those who
went down in the long and bitter
struggle afterwards are on no roster
and have no monuments, II is their
glory that they asked nothing and
went down without . murmur The
poverty and hardship which have been
( endured at the south since the war are
something Of which the duter world
4 has had no idea
That the results 81 the war have beer
advantageous to the non-s,ave holding
class, and In the main. 70 the new gen
Grafton 81 the former wealthy class, ns
/ thoughtful pel son OF reasonably broae
views can questions but the older gen
Grafton 81 the latter class has suffered
more than the world viii ever know
II 4, uat difficult to tind whole neigh
horheo5-. indeed whole SECTIONS, j.
/ @hyheFtsz place formerly owned Is