The age-herald., 1898-03-13
TECHNICS FROM
 CURRENT TOPICS

Maine; to the subsequent strained relations
 existing between the American and Spanish
 governments, and to the fact that upon the
 ragged edge of war this country has been
 intentionally sitting for several weeks,
 public attention has naturally been dis
 tracted from the importance of individual
 achievement. The electric wires have
 flashed startling "war news'' in such rapid
 succession that the average Americans
 brain has become hopelessly muddled on
 many occasions with the significance of
 the dispatches. At no other time in the his- tory of the republic have the people at large
 been so thoroughly cognizant of the thrill
 ing details of a national crisis has been
 the case since Spain and the United States
 have been on the eve of declaring war with each other.
 "Yellow journalism" so-caled ha.s edu-
 cated the people in the ethics of national
 honor, and the ordinary citizen, through
 this modern instrumentality, has been
 made familiar with all the facts and de-
 tails of an international controversy, as promptly as if he resided at Washington
 or New York. Yellow journalism, to be
 sure, has its defects, and 1t is frequently guilty of fragrant offenses against good
 taste; it is occasionally obtrusive and in-
 trusive-so the conservatives say-but it
 is the means by which the masses of the people keep in touch with the stirring
 events of the present pusating period. Conservatism has its advantages this no
 one will deny, but it has its serious llmita-
 tions, which preclude the broadest mental
 development and individual growth and ex- pansion.
 In the present commotion and agitation of the people it is not unnatural or singular that greater stress has not been placed
 upon the position taken by the south in
 upholding national honor and in contribut-
 ing to the general desire to resent the most
 insignificant foreign insult. For more than
 quatrer of century the men of the south
 have been termed "traitors" and "rebels; invectives and abuse have been heaped upon them, in the halls of congress and through the columns of the northern press, and every espousal of question of pot- ical import by southerners was deemed suf- ficent reason to cover it with suspicion, and sometimes ignomy.
 
 Now, that a crisis confronts the nation; now, that an insult is to be resented by the country, it is the southerners who are first
 and foremost in taking their stand under the old flag and in offering their services
 to the proper authorities.
 Past bitterness and humiliation are for gotten in their patriotic impulse to serve
 their country and to preserve the integrity of the nation.
 Statesmen politicians and private citi-
 zens below Mason and Dixon's line, while deprecating the necessity for such a course, are, as one man, prepared ito do their full duty, should war be declared between the United States and Spain
 In the congressional debates upon this Spanish embroglio, southern representa- tives have been as outspoken and fearless in demanding resentment of the slightest infringement of national rights as if they had been drawing millions from the treas ury. like their northern brethren. The animosites engendered by conflict ing interests-political and f1nancial-have been forgotten for the time being, and in the debates it was distinctly the southern congressman who carried off the honors- because of fervid eloquence and patriot ism. Party lines have been temporarily obliterated, and southern representatives at Washington have been leading in all questions which bear upon the preserva- tive of the integrity of the national gov ernment. The one great man thus far developed if such a term can be used regarding a man already a hereby the present war excitement is a southerner of southerners General Fitzhugh Lee. It is a significant fact that in the first serious crisis in the history of the United States since 1865, a Virginian, an ex-confederate soldier, should be the one grand figure to whom public att tention is drawn, and upon whom rests the tremendous responsibility of representing the national government among a treacher- ous foe. The man to whom has been in, trusted the honor of the American people in a foreign land and who, any day, may fall a victim to Spanish perfidy, is southerner who did not sheathe his sword until the April shadows fell upon the bat tlefield of Appomatox. A man true and devoted to his native section at all times and under all circumstances, General Fitz-
 
 whole country. The south has furnished the noblest figure in this international tu- mutt.
 While General Lee is doing his duty in Cuba, while southern representatives at Washington are a unit for the defense of the old flag; southern veterans and south- ern youths ready to go to the front when | the call comes, the policy advocated few years ago by Alabamas senior senator, is to be adopted by the United States in ad- justing its difficulty with Spain. Southern statesmanship anticipated the present conditions sometime ago, and now the plan outlined by Senator Morgan will l be insisted upon by President Mckinley. Southern genius and patriotism represented l by Senator Morgan and General Fitzhugh | Lee are the most conspicuous, esential fac | tors in the settlement of this American Spanish trouble. The south is never en- l rolled on the pension list but she can al- l ways be depended upon to write her name | high up on the roster of brave, brainy