The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-03-25
Sentiment in the Orange State as
Spent Two Months There.
HOTEL GUESTS FOR PEACE
BUT NATIVES ANXIOUS FOR HOSTILE
TIES TO COMMENCE SOON.
Situation as 1t Seems to Charles Dud-
ley Warner, who Is SOjOurning in
MexfcO-Other Opinions.
,ecial to the indianapolis Journal.

Special to the Indianapolis Journal.
WASHINGTON. March 24.-George W.
Brown and Charles H. Bayley two Boston
business men who have been sojourning
in Florida since Jan. q and are now in
Washington on their way home, give an in
teresting account of the war feeling"
among the Florida natives-poor whites
and negroes articularly-whieh perhaps
explains in part the tremendous patriotism
of Mr.. Call, who for so many years repre-
scented Florida in the United States Sem
ate. Mr.. Bayley, who is very shrewd
observer. SAYS: IF you can think of the
way small New England town would view
the prospect of having great manufacture
ing plant located in the community, or per-
haps having it selected as the site for
worlds fair or something of that kind you
can imagine the attitude of the middle and
poorer classes of Florida towards war
They can apparently give no reason for
wanting war, but on general principles they
all favor, it and assign for that wish no
deeper reason than that they think Cuba
ought to be free One day when we were
out driving number of miles from the
hotel we came to a hut in a little clear
ing in the wilderness seemingly about as
as human being could get. Out of this
shanty came an old negro, whose feet were
bare, and most of his body for that mat
ter He ran after us to inquire the news.
We found him surprisingly well informed
on the one topic that interested him, but
when we gave as our opinion that there
would be no war; he dissented positively
almost fiercely. That is where you must
Io kaIxo n Iod Ti1oxT hay 0Ql
McKinIey's hand once. and when they (the
Spaniards) call it again he won't dare to
back down. ana very anxious, boss, to
avenge myself for the killing of our sailors
on the Maine, and we can't do it any too
quick. You will see that by the 1st of
April we shall have a fight agoing in good
shape str.
ION another occasion overheard the re-
marks of a poor one-Iegged colored man
who was talking to a. companion somewhat
after this strain: L never missed my leg
so much as now; to think that L should be
right with the war coming on and no way
of going in Perhaps there will, be some
chance for me to help them and get place
somewhere even as-I am. intend to let
the government know that l am ready
Among the guests at the fashionable hotels
there was no great difference of opinion,
but on the other side! All were for peace
and argued that the quarrels of the Cubans
and Spaniards were an insufficient cause
for embroiling this great Nation in the
horrors of war. 1t was very impressive
fact that these people at the hotels, who
in all probability will never see actual hos
Titles in case of a war with Spain, are
for peace, while the poor natives of the
Florida peninsula, who would be likely to
taste the real sufferingsi of the conflict, are
ready for it. This is curious trait of
human nature. The cynical might say that
it indicated that men,cwho have financial
interests al stake guard them more care
fully than those whose possessions consist
of merely arms and legs. How that is 1
cannot tell, Florida is so near Cuba that 1
suppose the people there think war would
bring them business in the way of trans
portation or of raising supplies for the gov
eminent. In any event, they look forward
to a struggle as the most desirable thing
that might be undertaken by a village i'm
provement society. "A
The splendid loyalty to the Union of the
Southern people is magnificent to behold,
and everywhere observable From no Sec
ton OF the country would enIStments more
readily come or supplies be more generous
~ provided. 1t Is a curious fact, neverthe-
less, that while the suggestion of certain
Spanish papers that in case of war the old
Confederacy would revive and the South
take this chance to free itself is regarded
as huge joke in that section, there are
regions remote from railroads and means
or communica ton where this view of the
question can be found. at least | was told
by a man who had been in the backwoods
country that he ran across some unrecon-
Structed SeceSSiOniStS who insisted that this
was the time to try the lost cause again.
OF course such instances are curiositieS in
the way of human fossils, and do not in
any sense reflect Southern sentiment
While it is true that the guests of the
hotels, representing as q rule Northern
business interests, do not want war" said
Mr.. Brown, the other gentleman, lit is a
sad fact that the notion that war means
better business, and SO on that account is
to be tolerated, has gained some foothold
among the classes of our people who ought
to know better, remember the little squirt
of business that followed the last war due
III large part to the opening of the Southern
markets which had so long been bare
remember the stimulus which government
purchases of arms and supplies gave to
certain lines of trade and that would doubt
less be repeated. But we should above all
never forget how many times we have paid
over and over for these temporary spells Of
prosperity. We paid for Their fourfold in
the terrible panic of 1873, when the imitation
bubble began to BURST we are steadily
paying for them in our federal taxation to-
day. Thirty-four years after the surrender
preparations traceable to the civil war do
This is from the pecuniary point of view
The civil war may have been worth all that
it cost will not discuss that But / will
insist that it should not be forgotten that
it did cost and that heavily, as any war
will or must"
SAWS xxTUEU