The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1902-08-05
Cor. of The Progressive Farmer.

Cor. of The Progressive Farmer.
Nearly every newspaper or maya
zine that n takes up to read now
adays has some reference in it to the
HNew South" We young people who
read much of this stuff cannot help
wondering why the South of to-day
should be called the New South" any
more than the North should be called
the "New North" or the West the
"New West" And, if we take it upon
ourselves to make some researches IN
history on II own account to dis
cover the why and wherefore of all
this. we will only be doing something
very natural and, I think, very pro
per. For myself, this is what 1 have
been doing; and, as I hope and be-
ieve other young men who read The
Progressive Farmer are interested in
the subject also, I shall endeavor to
give through its columns some of the
conclusions I have reached, hoping
that in urn other young men viii
come forward and give their views.
To begin with, I think that the aver
@ man, if asked the question, what
is meant by, the terms cold South
and New South" would probably
answer, that the result of the war, in
freeing the slaves, brought about such
conditions as necessitated a change
in the old customs, ideals. and to a
very great extent the occupations of
the Southern people.
To a certain degree this answer
would be true. But it is not wholly
so. The customs and ideals of the
North and West have changed fully
as much during the last fifty years as
have those of the South. Nor does it
appear that the freeing of the slaves
had so very much to do with diverting
the energies of great numbers of Our
people from agriculture to CONNER
cial and manufacturing pursuits. On
the contrary, the freeing and making
voters of the slaves probably hindered
the development of our resources
along these lines twenty-five or thir-
ty years. This is a strong statement.
I am aware, and it viii be vigorously
challenged, I suppose, especially by
some Northern people. But. if we seek
the truth, we will find that our his
tory, written for us by our own great
men and women, tells us that many
progressive men of the South before
the war were already holding conven-
tions to discuss ways and means of in
Producing manufactures, building
railroads, improving rivers and har-
bors, establishing steamboat lines di-
rect to foreign ports, and were even
advocating the building of an 18TH
milan canal, so hat our great agricul-
tural, mineral and forest wealth might
be the better and more rapidly devel-
oped.
Our history also tells us that many
of our people even then conceded
that slavery was an impediment to
progress along these lines; and, as
this was a rapidly growing belief,
there Is little doubt but that the in
stitution would have been abolished
in the course of a decade or so, and,
even without war, we would still
have had a New South" But Ger
tainly it would not have been the kind
we have had during the last thirty
five years, with It's carpet-bag govern
ments. Ku Klux Klaus, lynchlngs and
Redshirt campaigns.
It would have been a New South
with no slaves, l firmly believe, and
assuredIy no carpet-5oggers, 10 Eu
Klux, no lynchings, no Redshirts: for
the carpot-haggers were the result of
the war, and the Eu KIuIx, Iynehings,
Red-sirts were the result of the car
pet-baggers.
Minus all these Affections, the white
people. left alone to study and solve
economic and industrial problems.
would have kept the South represented
IN State and National legislative
bodies by men possessing the ability,
and with the experience necessary, to
guarl and protect u interests. and
to-day TO section of the country would
have been richer or more powerful
politically than this Southland of
ours.
But the saddest of all sad facts is,
this could not be! Narrow minded