The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1895-10-30

slaves represented large amount of
material resources. That curse swept
away, there yet remained large negro
population, ignorant and sometimes
thievish, placed upon political equal
ity with her white citizens, entrusted
with the ballot when too ignorant to
use that mighty engine for the good of
themselves or others. Virginia was in
deed in hard case. Yet she struggled
along bravely and will yet be, what she
once was, one of the more important of
the American states.
One of the greatest obstacles to Vir-
ginia's progress is the physical inertia
of her people. They are slow, indolent
and conservative. Only the revivify-
ing effect of Yankee industry and
Yankee money has in places lifted her
out of the ruts. Yet the people, while
not actively opposing the introduction
of modern ideas, look askance at them
and rub their sleepy eyes as if reluctant
to awake from their dreams. That
mighty engine of modern life, cleo
tricity, is yet but sparingly introduced
among them, except in Richmond,
which is substantially northern city.
Even the telephone, that almost neces-
sity of modern life in the North, is lit
tie known among them. The few COM
panies operating there have but sickly
existence. Her magnificent waterpower
and waterways are but slightly utilized.
Coming among this people from the
North, it seems to one as if the hands
on the dial of industrial progress had
been set back century. That was APP
parent in war time, and it is largely so
now.
This is no less apparent in her agri-
culture than in anything else. BEST
with fertile and easily-cutured soil,
her crops look poor and scanty. Here,
again, conservatism is apparent. The
planters adhere to the old, but not
good, ways of their fathers. Vast tracts
are either not cultivated at all, or have
been cropped year after year 80 long
as they will produce anything, and then
abandoned to grow up into worthless
scrub timber. This statement is not
intended to be too sweeping. OF course,
an occasional planter is up to the times,
but it is substantially true of most of
Virginia which came under my observa-
ton. Yet nowhere, in this broad land
of ours, is there better opportunity
for the progressive farmer-not except
ing the West. The tide of emigra-
ton will yet be turned from the West
to the South. When that time comes,
New England will need to bestir her
self to hold her own.
That social probem-the status of
the negro-is being rapidly solved in
Virginia. My means of observation
were too limited and the time too short
to form any definite conclusions. Only
impressions can be stated. Those i'm
pressions are that the white and the
black races there live together in more
harmony, and with less of friction,
than in the North. There is less of the
prejudice of color. Indeed, in their in
teicourse, the whites with the blacks,
they seem not to notice, or perhaps do
not care about, the difference in color.
This may seem an astounding state
ment to people of the North, but l
assert it with the utmost confidence.
One may see there, travelling in the
same cars and often in the same seats,
the African of the darkest ebony hue
with the proud and high-spirited F. F.
", and neither seems conscious of any
improperly or incongruity. If one ever
notices the two races separated, it is only
because the negro prefers the society Of
his own race.
The temptation to prolong this series
of articles must be resisted, and 80 it
is brought to close with single re-
mark. What has been stated is what
the writer sincerely believes in all can
dor and fairness, and with all bias, so
far as he knows, entirely eliminated.
Another traveller through that region
will see with different eyes, and may
draw different conclusions. The trip
has served to modify or change some of
the predictions of lifetime. II to
the Virginian some of these criticisms
may seem harsh, yet they are meant to
be kindly ones. The endeavor has
been to be to "your faults little blind,
and to your virtues more than kind"
You are proud of the history and tradi-
tions of the Old Dominion, and you
have right to be. Her history has, in
the main, been a noble and inspiring
one. If Virginia at one time fell from
her high estate, grievously hath she
answered it," But she has brought
forth fruits meet for repentance. Her
people were too kind and hospitable 10
me not to pay her this tribute: Were 1
not Vermonter, 1 would be a Vir-
ginian.
These papers were intended to be
but random jottings of my journey,
and were written with no expectation