The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1901-06-28
COME CUTTING.

thorS and newspaper men DO not gen.
orally ''gush" over h people in the
north. OF the south they say but little,
If anything. In fact they are preju-
diced Ik that late gifted young Eng
lish writer and traveller, G.. w. Stew
Gems. In his book on the United States,
he says when he proposed to make a
short run into the south he was in
formed by his northern friends that he
need not go for there was nothing to
see. We had 4 call from him INT an
hour and a half's interview. Frederic
Harrison, the eminent English author,
lately visited the north, and writes
kindly OF his impression But the Lon
don Saturday Review. which has been
a weekly journal of literary and politi-
cal power, for a half century, is not en-
amored of Uncle Sans people. 1t
sees but little to admire over here be-
yond money making. 1t says. and it is
scathing. and not altogether unfair or
untrue:
Dismiss culture and tone, freedom,
equally and all such Pigments, and get
down to a hard transaction and you
see the American at his best. There.
in fact. he becomes very great; and it is
absurdly to take him in any other a
The production of wealth is h one
thing to which the American people
has really given it's mind"
He thinks that the Americans Tin the
north. doubtless,) are a peculiar folk
IL this-that never has there been a
people in which the discrepancy be-
tween their performances as traders
a. I their achievements in every other
CO Dacity has been SO great. In that
respect the United States are a por-
tent"
Now hat might seem to be crash
ignorance or superficial condemnation,
but able men in the north take some
such view. President Schurman, Of
Cornell university. at Ithica, one of the
greatest educational institutions in the
rich north, and perhaps the greatest
in the greatest state. New York. in his
address on the goth inst, to the grad
uating class, spoke freely of the back
wardness Of the United States, and said
they were still dependent intellectu-
Gly-tlldI III dIl. hlcid luIS dIIu plill-
osophy they were still living OF the
bounty of Europe His address is
most noticeable. A scholar and speak
er of rare excellence. his views are sig
nificant and interesting. Like most
Americans he r~ejoices in the riches Of
the country, and recognizes the i'm
portance and usefulness of great ac-
cumulations Of money. He say it is
Ian essential condition Of civilization"
He points to big gifts by the very rich,
and thinks that our richest men have
come to regard wealth as a trust which
they hold for the benefit of their fellow
men and nay be regarded by the fu-
ture historian of American civilization
as the most significant feature Of our
day. The American habit of giving to
colleges and universities is n of
two most encouraging ~eatures of our
intellectual life. The other is the pub
lie school, in which h children OF the
people are freely educated at the eX-
pense of the people,"
1t is indeed important to diffuse edu-
cation. to make the primary schooling
universal. If we are to retain free in
situations we must have enlightened
voters and honest voters. The average
intelligence in this land must be stead
lily raised and all must become better
educated. 1t is a mistake to suppose
that even in the north that the chill
dren generally attend school and are
really intelligent. We lately read some
funny examination papers published
in a leading northern daily. 1t is a
good thing to have good common
schools, well taught and with long
terms. But it will be a better thing for
the south when all of the children of
proper school age shall attend them.
1t is a very necessary and imperative
thing to have excellent schools of the
higher KIND with real scholars in charge
and NJ empires and clustering seiolists.
There are some such, no doubt. Other
are we'll manned by creditable and eff
cient scholars and educators.
DR.. Schurman has this to say as he
nears the close of his remarks:
Undoubtedly, we may well be proud
of all the material agencies and in
OF our eOucdtlONdl WOIh.
Nay. the product. so far as the general
average is concerned. is also a subject
for congratulation. The indictment
lies elsewhere. 1t is that, while in the
industrial sphere we have developed
world-leaders in the intellectual we are
content to be underlings. In art, in
literature. in scholarship, in science,
we are a long way behind Europe. Let
me speak with the utmost frankness.
Apart from the domain of politics and
emit America has not produced a
single man or woman whose name will
shine in the intellectual armament with
Rafael. Shakespeare, Copernicus. New
ton. LaPiace, Goethe and Darwin. I
know we are a youthful nation. /
know the law OF development is first
the natural and then the spiritual; and
our chief business has been to clear the
continent and make it habitable."
Because immense fortunes abound
and m%illionaires are so thickly scattered