The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1902-09-23
SOUTHERN BURDENS.


stock, houses and fixtures emancipated.
eaten up and destroyed: the loss OF four
years Of producdveness in all lines Of
gainful industry: the more than decima-
ton OF the working population; the
boundless agony OF blood and wounds.
hearten our people and exhaust our vi
tally; the great treasure Of gold lavished
in vain to save the priceless liberties and
the noble system of government SO dearly
won and established by our ancestors, and
now again thre-t tened by a commercial
lied party without the high traditions and
with leaders ignorant Of lofty constructive
craftsmanship.
And since then we have labored through
the unspeakable reconstruction. and have
forced upon US, and have patiently en-
dured the enfranchised negro, and, have
slowly pushed him back and saved our
AngIo-Saxon civilization from the ruin
which almost overwhelmed it; and we
have paid our hard-earned money to give
these negroes as good educational facili-
ties as our own poor people ever have had,
to say nothing OF supporting countless pi-
vate schools because OF the African pres
ence in the public ones; and each State
has pensioned It's soldiers and sailors, and
given them homes, however Spartan the
living may be; and we have in addition
to that contributed, without question, and
with only an occasional protest at the
of the billions Of pension money that has
gone to comfort a people who hate us, and
to capitalize the States Of the North, our
commercial rivals; and these manufactur-
ing rivals have further harried the agri-
cultural South, and made us pay our full
share of the tariff tax that has now raised
up the fearful trusts, which WE must help
them fight; and with all these terrible, de-
pressing handicaps. we have paid our cur
rent expenses and have found money for
necessary improvements; and now we
have quit staggering under our burdens.
thank God, and are coming into our own
again, stronger for the awful discipline
that Providence saw fit to lay upon us,
and with perfect confidence in our mighty
spiritual and natural resources.
Our old Northern enemies will not, and
our new Northern friends may not. real
lie and appreciate what we have gone
through with and what we have over
come even in the measure which is at
M ~, Al
this rough outline Of the principal public
burdens we have had to bear, and are still
bearing. in the race for progress, and we
ask their consideration Of them. AS for
details: the mere contemplation Of our
cumulative, social and commercial losses
for lack of practical educational advan-
tages alone should be enough to staggcr
one.
Another thing: We are not writing this
in bitterness You must know that the
Southern people, as a whole, are not given
to whimpering For one thing, they are
too well-bred A well-bred man Gncluding
women is something of philosopher,
whether he knows it or not, and philoso-
phy and stocism are almost identical
terms in a sense. Stoicism was the noblest
ethical system of antiquity, and its phi
losophy, like all philosophy, was for the
promotion Of human happiness. This is
most true, we think, In the philosophy Of
Christianity The study of nature, accord
ing to all PHILOSOPHERS, is necessary as
help to the study Of virtue. Virtue,
taught Zeno, SIS harmony with Nature"
Surely there is no great people nearer to
nature than the Southern people. Stole,
epicurean, skeptic, Jew and Christian are
tolerably agreed in the practical teaching
that the only way to happiness consists
In peace of mind; consists in as much
freedom from external and internal dis
turbance as possible for the man to at
tain without apathy. A healthy tone of
mind is the great desideratum, and no one
can have this who is lacking in self-con-
troll; those emotions and passions betray
him from dignity. 1t is only beasts and
very low people that allow their common
the sort that make scenes" "A man is
a child in life wrote Epictetus, "even If
full grown, who is undisciplined in philos-
ophy." "a proud spirit will not COM
plain at misfortune" meditated Marcus
Aurelius Antonius. And it was with the
ancient sternness of the stole and the ex-
allied faith of the Christian that the
Southern people have endured. and in
which tbey are prepared to triumph.
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THE ONE ISSUE.