The Savannah morning news., 1901-01-28


| have shaped themselves to admirable &C.
complishments of body and mind Leav
ing out the deserts Of heat, cold. and dry
ness, our land shows a remainder OF
about three-fourtns Of the whole, that is,
! as regards its physical conditions, more
| nearly allied to the cradle-land OF our
folk than any other equally large area in
the world. A portion Of 1t was fitly nam
ed New England The term could well
| have been extended so as to include
! much larger area 1t would have been
no misnomer IL the continent had been
+ termed New Europe, or better still New
/ Ayra. BY its development it has come TO
deserve beth those names.
North America Land of Promise.
The Judgment as to the fitness Of North
| America for the needs of our race has
been well established BY the test OF CEN
turtles. Leaving out of account the set
Element of the Latin peoples in the trop-
ical districts, where the results have been
rather unsatisfactory, we have had
fail trial of the new environment over
period that may be roughly counted as
two and a half centuries. of this the test
for the interior district, that of the Mis-
sisppi valley, extends to about one half
that time; and for the Cordlllerah area,
l. g. the Rocky and associated noun.
tains, to only fifty years. The test OF
greatest length approximately includes
European people settled along the coast
and the Appalachian district of the In
terror from Labrador to Georgia; the next
the areas that fairly sample the EASTERN
half of the Mississippi valley, the region
that of the western mountain region OF
the Pacific border Of the same. Thus we
see that the trial fairly includes all ex-
cept the area of Northern British Amer
lea and Alaska. Taking the areas in their
order and seeking TO base our judgment
on their human product we will now note
the results of the several settlements.
In the Atlantic coast district. where the
test of European man In the part of North
America nearest to Europe has been
longest continued, the experiment has
been admirably successful Statistics
show that, as regards the physical con-
ditlon Of the folk, they have lost nothing
by their transplantation. They are as
able bodied and as fecund as they were
In the Old World. Counting their emil
nent inventlveness as part of their in
tellectual success, an inventiveness tnat
ranges from religion and politics to me-
chanical contrivances, they assuredly
take rank as the equals of their kindred
over the sea. 1t may indeed be justly
claimed that the generations of English
folk reared on the Atlantic slope OF
North America have, for their numbers.
given as mucn 10 tne duNduCeihNAe VI
mankind as the home people
The evidence from the population of the
Mississippi Valley is In the same effect
las that afforded by the sea border folk.
The measurements of soldiers of the Civil
War, made by the United States Sanitary
Commission which is an admirable source
of information, shows that the men from
the Kentucky district (the longest settled
Of any part of the region west of the AL
H. ,.4Ef
of greater girth of chest and head than
those OF any other part of the country. AL
though these American troops included
practically al who were fit to bear arms
Immature youths as well as adults, their
average development was equalied only
by certain reg ments OF picked nj II, en-
listed In the British army from Scotland
and Ireland. II is noteworthy that these
roops from the Ohio valley were almost
altogether from families who came from
Great Britain and Ireland several genera
tions before the Civil War
The Man of the western Mountain.
We lack statistical information to show
the physical condition of those born In
the Ccrdilleran district. There is no rea-
,on tn doubt the verify of the impression
| they mako on the observer which Is that
| Of exceeding Yigor except 1t may be, In
the southernmost portion of this field
| Hardly any pait of The cohtinent prom
lses a more interesting population than
this Cordllleran region. While there are
One Indications that the people viii have
peculiar quality, there is no ground
for supposing that they will not regain
the essentia. qualities of their race.
OF all the tests. that go to show the
continued mental and physical quality Of
a people that of military service is I'M
happily the surest Given a civil war
which enlists the hearts as we'll as the
bodies Of a folk; draw into it the mass
of serviceable men, protect it until the
trial proves not only valor, which is COM
mon in the ADLER races, but also the high
er emotions of patience and fortitude; and
We have an essay diabolical in it's perfec-
tion but showing the absence of a people
as none other can. How well the civil
War proved that Americans, after genera
lions of existence in these environments.
remain sturdy may be illustrated by the
history of single commando The First
Kentucky Brigade of the Confederate
army 1 select this body of troops es-
pecialy for the reason that. while they
were officially. my enemies, many of the
officers and men were personally well
known to me. l have, moreover, careful
~ inspected the lists, and am convinced
that all save very few of these SOL
ders were from old American families OF
British or Irish origin The part of tne
great story of this brigade that can be
here told concerns the last hundred day.
of it's service. 1t is enough for the need.
tInrdIhood of the American breed.
on May Z, 1884, the brigade left Dalton,
I'm its long-continued retreat before Shsr-
man, with 1,140 rank and file. During
the subsequent hundred days. In almost
continued action, II took $50 death or
hospital wounds. AT the end of that time
it had but $40 present for duty. There
were less than a dozen unaccounted for,
l. e., not more than that number OF de-
sertions The noble remnant was then SO
far crippled that it would no longer
march The command was therefore
broken up, and the men used as order
lies 1t should be remembered that these
men for all their valor were steadfas ,ly
beaten back-every days fighting leaving
them farther from their homes. SO far a
| have been able to find, there is no bet
ter record of steadfast, enduring valor IN
the history of our people on the other
side of the sea. / do not indeed know
where TO find it's parallel Such are ruda
tests. but more than any other they go
to prove that the quality of the man who
is bred on this continent, whose fore.
fathers have been for generations shared
in the environment It affords, Is in mind
and body equal to the best.
Alpha Twencentia Minnea Lundeen Is
the name the first baby Of the century
In Minneapolis will bear.