The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1895-10-26
AN ELOQUENT ADDRESS
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ed it's territory under their guiding
hands. gBy strange historic paradox
the causes of their weakness became as
well the causes of their strength. The
dangers and antagonisms of a militant
labor system made them masterful In
action and persuasive in speech. Bar
onial life. with its leisure and inherited
overlordship, made them as simple as
shepherds and as proud as kings. In
the placid air of their enlighten-
ed mediaevalism fingered the brave
old ideals of courage and beauty
and gracious dignity There was
but one overs allowing Southern
gu sion then, and this for its treat
ment did not so much need uniyer
sal thrift and the spirit of gain and
growth, as it did character, principles
oneness of purpose and chivalric codes
of conduct. Hence all the forces of the
time concentrated on these lines, and
there arose an assertive, sensitive, daunt-
less race OF men esteeming life less than
honor and loyalty more than gold, who
wrought with a sad, titanic sincerity for
their doomed cause, withholding moth
ing, compromising nothing until the
mighty struggle wore to its sublime and
pathetic close at Appomattox.
The great war, in the mystery OF his
toric forces, freed the white man, rolled
away his burden and enrolled the South
in competition with the great industrial
democracies Of the world. It's problems,
no longer direct and primitive, are their
problems intensified by the painful pro
cesses of social trans formation. The old
individualism has given place to comb
nation and capitalism, servile lator 10
the labor of the free black and with this
the best products are to be raised, the
best goods manufactured and the best
routes to market devised. Our first
work is to possess the land and subdue
it. The law of the passage of society
from the patriarchial to the economic
stage necessitates the higher organism,
the subtler brain, the more cunning
hand. Hence, like belated army, the
South is seeking to conquer place in
material civilization; it's dreamers be
come captains of industry aud its doc
trinaires lords of trade. We shall lose
an element of charm and picturesque
ness, but we shall gain the wealth and
produc i've energy,
i
guidance of the irrepressible instinct of
Democracy restrained for generations
now asserting itself in the upheaval of
the plain people the third estate-who
are everywhere coming to the front, de-
handing their share in government and
challenging the authority of the ruling
class. Our unframed men are learning
to govern by governing pedagogi
cally and historically, wise
process, for that surely is better than to
be governed and remain ignorant. The
situation is not without great hopeful
ness. The rank and file of this popular
uprising are the best material in the
world for the making of educated citi-
zenship. the civil war revealed their
value to the word and constituted their
University. Its marches and dangers
opened their eyes and gave them their
outlook on life. They and their sons,
the younger element in the movement,
are men of unmixed English and
Scotch-Irish blood, inheritors OF the
Anglo-Saxon consciousness, descendants
of men who sacrificed peace and life for
principle in three wars, keen Witted it
unframed, their very excuses the result
of boundless faith in the majesty of their
government. The tasks awaiting ad
justment by these men, sure
to attain and hold power in
the end, are enough to appall
the wisest statesmen and the profound
est social scisntists-the remodelling of
constitutions, The settlement of grave
questions of suffrage and property, the
reconciliation of classes, and greatest of
all the problem of the two races
The sentimentalists and partizans Of
the reconstruction period fancied that
they had settled the question which had
disturbed the dreams of Jefferson, which
had perp.exed and affrighted the nation
al conscience through all its history and
which had just evoked the mightiest
moral energies Of the century. But
their solution was no solution. 1t was
solemn opera bouffe. The problem had
just begun and remains the transcendent
sociological problem of the age. Rant
will not dispose of it, nor ignorant gnsh,
nor race prejudice, nor the philosophy of
the sentimental and the remote; but
it must work itself out on Southern soil
by the wisdom of Southern men of both
races. 1t must pass into the region of
scientific study and investigation. The
Southern scholar must make it his prov
ince in the still air of the University;
the statesman and publicist must pom
der it and the capitalist may well reckon
with it amid his gold.
What manner of men, then, does the
South need in its coming life2
Perhaps Ia the past we set too much
store by wise leaders and neglected to
provide for wise followers. II so, the
irony Of fate is sporting with us, for
now in the threatening danger of these
great questions we are practically lead
erless. The old type of leader soft
ened by fortitude and idealized
by woe, has passed away, canonized
by love and letters. The voluntary
and occult forces of the time are seeking
diligently to fashion the new. Now and
then we seem to get glimpse of OIL
leader AS when Henry Grady, with h't
golden tongue and free spacious spirit,
uprose upon the South radiant pro