The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1895-03-31
AS OTHERS SEE DIXIE.
RESERVATIONS IN THE SOUTH BY A
NEW YORKER.
sas Tone and Characteristic OF southern
Society ss They Appear 10 the VS.
tor-Dsf.rence TO Women


cor having travelled through three "
80 ~ tho southern states. along INC
coast line and in the interior l c"i'"V'
saw that / have found gratiyile
5cnccs Of a full tide OF prosperl'S' -
,hey are discoyerable nowhere III
country Al the present time; Du'
81 ,na,cations Of healthy activity anu
e.,,.,ar,,al progress have appe'''''
Doubtless the Improvement s"''' 49,,
IN the South seven or e'sn' S''''' -
has moi been 50 great as IL WIZ no
- a. Ga continuity mad not 70"
Lc, nv tho depression OF '"o pl,,,,,c, -
so,tbcrn staples. and by the V"e
entcrpriscs because on the ,,t,ot
home of The cNpecte' uoi '..,.,,o,o ,,o,,
btcb they dcreudci EVery"h'iS 80"
on "a or tho enormous and almost IL
,',..tic rcso,rccs Of this favored re-
-, h, which now as in the past the
,,.i,it of local pride Is slIohe' anu ~
,,ccds only "a cursOrv examination T." -
80 ,t,o natural wealth is not boaSthlly
evsgeeratcd. Even under present GNU
,Jons there As observable advancement
a,,d en- rsoplc are sanguine in thelr oN-
uectations of future prosperity III l'S i"i
gcst measure .,..,..-- .,.,.s ,,s
I
doc,rino Of dependence on a paternai Gov
sr,,nept should have gained any iotthold
a,,o,,,, This proud and self-rcliant popu-
iation now the most peculiarly Amer
tcsp in the whole Union. The faces or
nc crowds collected at the railway sta
fions are almost wholly OF "a distinctly
American type and indicative OF a lohe
American lineage. except where they OK
bibit the African features. Tney are
md
phvgicql DEVELOPMENT generally is vigor-
Gus and enduring. Seeing them. nobody
need De surprised that the rcbelhous
South was able 10 gather together ar
mics Incompatible IN their fortitude II
there Is anywhere a notion That this cli-
mate tends to the cnfecblCment OF the
people, the experience OF the civil war
and present observations IN all parts OF
the South prove II to be utterly bdseless'
The young men of the country districts
are almost invariably notable specimens
OF athletic manhood. Their grasp is
strong and firm, their movements are
much frcer and more graceful than we
arc accustomed TO see in similar regions
at the North, and they give all the EVIL
denCcs OF an enduring ana commanding
race, Their habit of riding and OF pursu-
ing the chase, OF hunting and shooting
gives them a "sct-up' which we so not
zee among the young fellows in our north-
ern farming communities IL also makes
them bold and selt-reliant, accustomed
10 surmount physical obstacles and in
ured 10 hardship. They constitute superior
examples Of the English race, Tor, IN
general. the southern white population
is made up Of the Old American STOCK
of English descent strengthened and en-
livened by strains of the Irish, Scotch,
Teutonic and HugucnOt blood Of colonial
times. The later admiXture OF foreign
elements has been comparatively tTinlng.
The vast immigration Of recent years
which has peoplcd great western states,
so that frequently other languages than
the English are the more prevalent, mas
not reached the southern States. Ihey
have grown almost exclusively by the nat
ural increase of their own old-time pOpu-
- latiOu, and, to a considerable extent by
immigration from the North since the
war The fTactoi of the foreigners who
have come to the States OF the south
along the Atlantic coast line and i'm the
interior is too small TO have produced
any decided impression on the character
of the population, save. perhaps here ana
there in a few particular communities
1t is generally and obviously a purely
American population, the like OF which
once inhabited New England, but now
IS outnumbcrcd there 10y recent immi-
grants from ireland and from Canada
more especially
The democratic character OF society IS
also preserved here more fully than at
the North, certainly than IN the more
Eastern States The malignant envy and
jealousy of prosperity which has beer
imported into the North during the last
generation. vile exotic, does not exist
here so far as concerns the feelings Of
the southern people toward each other,
Though IL may be that there Is some such
sentiment regarding The superior material
wealth of the North. Usually the rcla-
tons of the people in their social and
business intercourse are distinctly and.
TO me. charmingly democratic. Even
when the old slave-holding aristocrdcy
existed its members We're without AFRO
giant assumption. No OstcntauOus dis
play OF wealth was made. and really
there was no wealth os measured by the
northern fortunes of the present time
The people were then and they are now
without the cautious reserve tO which we
are accustomed at the North. with Its
heterogeneous population. They know
each other as people who have been
raised i'm these communities from fam
ilies long established here. and they
meet on terms of equality every one 10
spectful of the rights, and regardful Of
the dignity of his neighbor, though they
may ne MlltIN HNIdi llA 80 ilhNtI4dl tbii-
dltiOu. Nobody SIS afraid that he viii COM
promise himself by being too civil So
long as they are fellow southcrners there
IS bond between them which cannot
bc broken by any accidental and ar
official social classification. In this re-
spect the tone of southern society remind.
one Of New England i'm my early youth
before the great food Of immigration
began 10 pour in, and when every commu-
nifty was I'M de up of American-bom pc0-
pie. all speaking the English language.
homogeneous, and Of kindred spirit
This condition Of society is ,he more in
tcrrSting 10 observe In the South. because
10 Will not long remain. The immiprt-
tiOn which the labor unions of the North
would check or absolutely ba- out as
introducing an element OF competition
which makes futile their efforts TO con-
troll the labor market is now invited by
The South as meaGs necessary 10 the
larger development Of It's resources, and
in due time and in accordance with the
law Of supply and demand il will tend
hithor as IL has tended In the past o. the
West SO soon as the South really needs
these labOrers IN great numbers, and
offers them opportunities for advance
ment superior TO those they can find
elsewhere, the current Of immigration will
turn thitherward. and the whole face of
southern society and southern life viii
be transformed. Undoub IDLY this change
will be much more gradual than II mas
been al the North. because here the
labor market Is supplied with negro
labor, with which white labor is either
lcath to compete. or with which under
present conditions. II cannot compete
This leads me 10 say that find the rela-
lions between the two races more har-