Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1896-07-30
POOR CRACKERS IN THE SOUTH.
Origin of the People Who Are Con-
demned by People Generally.

demned by People Generally,
The notion that the poor white cle-
mout OF the southern Appalachian reg
len is identical with the poor people
generally over the country Is an error,
and an error Of enough Importance to
call for correction. The poor white of
the south has some kinfolk IN the Adj
rUndack region OF New York and Tho
Blue and Allcghauy mountains of
Pennsylvania, hut he has few relatives
any place else above the Mason Dixon
limo The states OF New York aud
Pennsylvania were slave states until
the early part of this century
This poor white mountainous de-
seconds direct from those immigrants
who came over in the early days OF tho
colonies, from lG20 to about, or some
pcriod after. the revolutionary war per
lud, nh sold passcngcrs, They sold
their services for a time sufficient to
enable them to work out their passage
money They were sold artiolcl TO
masters, IN the COLONIES for their board
and fixed wage, and thus they earned
the cost OF their immigration.
rhc laws under which they W Nro ar
ticlcd were severe. M severe nv appron-
tic lawr IN those Gays. The sold
passenger" virtually became the slave
OF the purchaser Of His tabor. He could
be whipped II he did rot do the task vet
him, and woe to the unlucly wight il ho
ran away, He was sure to be caught
and cruelty punished. And though he
was usually descendant Of the lowest
grade of humanity on the British Ia
lands he stilI had enough of the Anglo
Saxon spirit about him to make him an
unsatisfactory chnttcl,
From 1890 forward Tie year when
the Dutch landed the first cargo OF
African slaves on the continent the
sold passenger" was fast replaced by
negroes, who took more naturally and
aminbly To the slave life.
The poor white naturally came to
cherish a bitter hatred for the blacks
that were preferred over him He al
ready hated his domtneerng white
master When he was free to 90 he put
ns many miles M his means AM his
safety from Indian murderers permitted
between himself and those he hated
and hoped he might never see again.
In that early time the mountain region
VAS not even surveyed. lot alone
owned by Individual proprietors,
The English Irish, Scottish and con-
tincntnl immigrant who had some
means sat down In the rich valleys.
river bottoms and rolling sayandhs,
and the poor white was made welcome
to the foothills and mountain platenus.
These descendants Of the British VII
lain Of the feudal era grew and multi
piled. became almost rs distinct peo-
pie from the lords OF the lowlands ms
the Scotch highlander was. as related
in his Iowand neighbor, in the SIX
tccnth and seventeenth centuries,
The stir OF the period since the close
OF our civil war has made somewhat
indistlnct the line that separates the
mountulneer from the plalnsman Of the
south, especially In the foothills and at
points where the two have intermlngled
in traffic in the schoolhouse and
p''i
whites have been employed nj mining.
iron making. etc, but go into the noun
tains far enough and you VIII ma the
type "a clearcut aS II was 100 years ago,
with TT lnimitable drawing speech and
curious dialect It's sall0w complexion,
lanky frame. lazy habits and immoral
nv all as distinctly marked as they
were when hundrh eds OF the people
found Cherokee wives in Georgia and
Tennessee. in the early part Of the
century, and Jleached most OF the cop
per out OF the skin Of the choctaw, ms
well a3 out Of the Cherokee
1t is pity that some competent an
chronological historian has not traced
the annals OF this interesting and dis
tInctive section Of orr population and
made record Of IL in the interest OF SCI
ancc no less than In the interest OF the
proper education and elevation OF the
mountain people. 1t has become, cs-
pecially in the Piedm ont section o. the
south, most important labor element.
The cotton mill labo. by thousands
comes from the cracker OF the hills"
and H. Ii destined 10 become great
power--that labor po?alation--social
end political.
The redemption OF he roor white be-
gan when slavery went down In blood
and destruction, and II has gone on
faster and travelled farther than some
OF us think.--Chattanooga Times.