Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1897-05-20
Washington e. Lees New President.

vas some Clulo ago, DIS Guo COuAUAy Aoo
oeen informed, elected President OF
& Lee University. In ac-
cepting this position Mr.. Wilson as
sumed a great responsibility, and I'M
dertook a colossal work. The position
was at one time filled by the man who
was in his day, foremost in
the hearts of Southern people. The
University is in truth a Southern
school and where there is bitterness
engendered by the war the name OF
Gen. Lee would possibly drive away
the son of partisan. 1t Is to
be hoped that Mr.. Wilson will succeed
in doing the good he contemplates.
From his letter of acceptance we catch
at least faint echo OF the aims and
purposes he has at heart.
II was influenced" says Mr.. Wilson,
II may say captivated by the possibil-
tiles of making this institution a great
center of sound learning, and sound
citizenship, power to reproduce In
the South some of the high thinking
which made her leadership in past
generations so conservative and yet
national. I am sure the seed has not
run out. But it needs strong and
wholesome culture" 1t is remarkable
that no expression as to the usefulness
and the work accomplished in the past,
| In fact in the recent past, by this e1-
cellent school pervaded the, to say the
least, intrepid utterances OF the new
president. This omission must have
been intentional, when we recall the
political ire so recently stirred in Mr..
Wilson by the failure of the South to
fawn at the feet of that Gamalial Gro
yer Cleveland, he SO ardently worships.
The letter itself is evidently intended
as satire upon the present overwhelm-
ling trend of thought in ma tional affairs
J in the South. II am sure the seed has
not run OUT" says Mr.. Wilson, but the
expression is one of doubt, which we
see by what follows in the next SEN
tence. "But it needs strong and whole
some culture"
This letter of acceptance was the
text for the following screed in that
foul-mouthed, south despising journal,
Harper's Weekly:
"He (Mr. Wilson, is about to turn
, his attention to the education of South
8 ern youth in the hope of doing some
, thing for that section of the country
: and of enlightening the ignorance that
now unhappily prevails among Its
!. public men. Surely there never was a
: people more greatly in need OF educa.
= ton and of such education in mind
and morals as Mr.. Wilson can impart
and inspire. The South is wrong on
nearly every economic and moral ques'
S tion. 1t has not man of distinguish
r ed ability in public life. 1t is under
the rule of hare Drained adventures,
I who are ready to take up with any
y cause that seems to serve their amDl'
s ton of the moment. 1t has become
= the harbor and refuge of the widest
economic and political heresies. Not
= only ia the present intellectual condi
l. ton of the South demoralizing the
It Immediate section, but its evil 1nfiu
II ence extends throughout the country
J and very seriously affects the charac
ter of the Federal government. There
= is no cure for the evil except through
o education, and in the spread of en-
q lightenment, every centre OF civil
Z. cation in the Union is deeply inter
ested."
q By having poured out on the Soutl
ss the walls of wrath of this slanderou
II publication Mr.. Wilson has done thi
q section particularly, and the Soutl
s. generally, a grievous harm. That W
q are wrong on economic questions is
1t matter of belief, but to be accused Q
't being wrong on every moral questio
) is a charge that goes further and deeI
Z; er, it amounts to a libel upon virtr
le GUS people, and may do US, as it wa
" intended, an incalculable injury, be
t. cause it will come to the ears of peopl
es who do not know the deep feeling {
v hatred Harper's Weekly bears to every
g. thing Southern, or the amount
Il, living it can compass in a few brit
> sentences.
At one time no man stood highe
with the people of his district tina
. - Mr.. Wilson. He was their idol an
40 they would have followed him I
% death. But there has come a chang
&c He and they have parted company. N
L. longer it is said does he find pleasul
o in visit to his old home. When
~ the campaign just ended he can
no speaking for Mckinley and the repu
% lican high tariff lords, his old constit'
o' ents fled as from contagion, and h
II. cousin and law partner when he sa
eo him, said if any man had told him til
is of Billy Wilson he would have reptile
70, lis thy servant dog that he should
~ such thing?"
ts, Called by this reception, fallen fro
III that high station in their opInlo
're having wept tears of bitterness ov
40 his treatment, finding the great tide
ut Southern manhood drifting away fro
III him, finding congenial company pr
no cipally at Waldorf dinners, in the et
d" torial sanctum of Harper's Weekly, al
~. amongst syndicates, trusts and mon
ne changers, it is not unnatural that
7re should express the hope that the Sc
~ which grew great men in the Sou
I'LL had not run out. but warned t
Icountry that it needed strong al
i0' wholesome culture. To say the lee
rs' the entrance of Mr.. Wilson upon tt
new role has not been diplomat
though possibly it has been mark
with great candor.
49, His hope to bring the men of t
- South up to 1.-THE high thinking whi
-: made her leadership in past gene
49, tions NATIONAL clearly asserts that
the present generation this quail
in his opinion does not exist. We IL
that if Mr. Wilson expects to prodr
such men, through the curriculum