The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1899-01-05
THE NOMINEE FOR 1900.
A Visionary Suggestion for
the Year of Jubilee.
BY ROBERT STEIN

new century. We feel as if the year
1900 ought somehow to be different
from other years. The imnensity OF
time, rendered ralpab!e, as it were, by
the approaching landmark, upbraldo
Our animosities with their smaliness.
In the year Of jubilee, if ever, we
ought to bury our quarrelr.
New Years Day is a day OF good
resolutions for individual. Nations,
being longer lived, may appropriately
make their good resolutions at The be-
ginning Of new century. All over
the world this feeling maniiests Itself.
The resolution generally proposed is to
stop cutting one another's throat. 1t
has been suggested that the reconcila-
ton Of France and Germany be ceIe-
Grated in 1900 as an impressive OK
of French-speaking AIaace-Lorraime t"
France Most sign iicant Of all, the
first step towards disarmament, which,
he says. would be, by the help Of
God, happy presage of the century
about TO OPEN Peace, reconclia-
ton, are felt to be the proper watch
words for the year Of jubilee.
What monument shall America set
up to stimulate her good resolutions
throughout the new century? Of
course there will be fireworks, sound
ing brass and tinkling cymbal, dances
and flowers and speeches galore.
There may be marble statues, gold and
silver medals, perhaps postage stamps
to gladden. the wistful philatelist But
wherein do we find the real spur to
noble conduct? Not in words, but in
deeds. Ferba morent, erempta trdhunt.
Nelson's real monument, a perpetual
spur to patriotism, is his great deed at
Trafalgar. Can we not make this year
1000 conspicuous by magnificent deed
not by few men, but by the whole
nation, that may cause ourselves and
cur posterity ever after to eXclaim
So noble was our nation once; let us
not deteriorate,
An arbitration treaty with England.
as a step toward alliance, would be a
glorious beacOn-light to the new cen
fury, and with the reOrganiZed Senate,
in the present state of good feeling to-
ward England, American peace societies
can initiate the work with practical
certainty Of success. But more i'm
portant than peace without is peace
within. Is the brotherly feeling alike
in all directions in our country, or are
there wounds that still rankle. and
whose perfect healing might now be
possible if our nation is noble enough?
The reader knows the answer. The
South does not feel quite as the North
or West. The South is reconciled but
not consoled. First of all, it is not in
the nature of man to remember defeat,
no matter how long past, with equanim-
ity. Britons still smart at the defeat
of Boadicea eighteen hundred and
thlrty-seven years ago. Thus for
centuries to come the story of APP
pomattoX will be read in the South
with feelings of modification. Other
causes still contribute to swell these
emotions. Thousands now struggling
to earn a livelihood on the brink of
perjury, and fOreseeing no better lot
for their children, look back to time
when aflluence reigned in their families
Wherever they turn they are sickened
by the sight of once stately mansions,
surrounded by perfect villages of out
houses, now desolate and decaying
They gloomily contrast the black,
dense network of railways at the North
with the white spaces of the wide
meshed net at the South. The census
tells them that the single State OF New
York exceeds the entire eX-Confedcr-
acy in wealth by five hundred millions.
They note that their section. once
dominant in the Union, the nursery o!
Presidents. has become a mere corner
of the commonwealth, largely outside
the current of development. All the
great educational institutions, endowed
with constantly swelling millions. are
at the North; very few donations go to
Southern colleges. Nor does the
future promise large amends TO laud
where half the laboring population is
an inert, leaden mass, requiring super
human efforts to lift it, if possible, into
civilization, while in other States the
laboring class is the very nursery Of
the great forces of progress. Southern
men would not be human if they could
think of this without heart burning
The Spanish war has been almost
welcomed because it gave the South a
chance to prove Its loyalty. And
gallant was the proof given. 1t has
become a trite saying that for this re-
suit alone the sodr tcds cheap price
So deeply does the nation feel the
necessity of trying almost anything to
efface the last vestise of luminosity be.
tween the two sections. The North's
delight at Southern patriotism ana
bravery, the universal rapture over
Hobson's exploit, ought to render the
task particularly easy and opportune
What can we do to this end in the
year Of jubilee? What acknowledge
ment can we make 10 Hobson 5
countrymeu for their loyalty: So fal