Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1899-12-26

they signify profoundly to the united
people Of the republic.
No bridge can be stronger than It's
weakest span. no nations prosperity
can touch o beucr ievel Than the aver
age Of ~ producing classes: and. dur
ing the third Of q century following
the outbreak Of the Civil War. that
average dropped pcrllously low among
the millions OF producers who have
their being In the southern States Of
our Union.
The Inevitable law Of fitness WINS no,
In full operation when all the cotton
mile OF this country were located In
New England and the adjoining Sec
lions. while to the Gulf and South At
lantlc States was left the one task
which New England could not perform:
that In, producing the raw material for
those distant mills. True. natural 1T
ness stamped half the situation. In
the East was an abundance OF water
power. building stone In lavish plenty.
and a class OF Inhabitants cnducd with
even more than the Initiative. vlgor
and Industry Of their British and Dutch
antccedonta.
Matters took their own lame oourrc
and hobbeld on until several generations
were done with. The Africans brought
across the ocean In the slave ships OF
the New Englandcrs drlfted TO the
warm, wide fields VI the South. where
alone they could be utilized. but where
In time they were TO become the stern
est curse that great nation must
wrcstlc with. The Cavalier and Hugue-
not population OF virginia. Carolina,
and Gcorgin, following the Instincts OF
their blood. were glad enough 20 leave
all trading and manufacturing TO their
Northern cousins while they them
selves dropped into the leisurely and
lpruiy life that the great plantations
fostered.
Thus. the East grow strong by striv.
Ing, and next grew rich. and later be-
Fnn to populate ana establish In thrift
and prosperity u great West In the
South the gentlemen lived at ease.
while the slaves produced the cotton
that Northern mills must weave into
the cloths OF the nation but there grew
up no stable, slnewy. wealth making
middle class. II took mighty and
tragic upheaval to overthrow these
established phases; and after the up-
hcavnl came the protracted pause Of
ruin that threatened never TO give
place to reaction.
"cnn the South ever retriever" "Or
II her part played In the development
OF thu Western world? VIII she hence
forth be given over to nothing better
than small agricultural endoavorsY''
were questions ever heard through
those dark days.
The complete answer was long In
coming. Hut II is here nj last: and II
II no riddle to read. A mere newspaper
SKINNER must be struck by the con-
trast between the daily reports OF the
cotton industry In New England and
those from the Southern States. The
eye win pass In the same column from
item TO item Indicating the astonishing
manufacturing development In the
Carollnns, Georgia, or Alabama, and
this next 20 paragraph after paragraph
descriptive OF troubles In the Eastern
factory towns. such MS cuts In wages,
shut downs, lock-outs strikes. dlreful
complaininss from both capital and
labor-aii the disasters that drag In
the train OF n once profitable Industry
dropping into sure decline. II re-
qulres no philosopher 10 read between
tho lines when the press dispatches
state that Massachusetts, II sending
u commission 10 South Carolina to re-
port on the cotton mills OF the latter
December Forum.