The Savannah morning news., 1902-11-23
SOUTHERN INVASION
OF NEW YORK
Prominence Attained in the Business and Social Life of
the City by Men and Women from Below
Mason and Dixons Line

Post a young man landed in New
York with wife and baby and $50
his total assets after a business ship
wreck in the South. With a living to
make for three, the necessity of being
I'D and doing sat heavy upon him. He
had no capital to start with. Ditch
digging and newspaper work seemed
the only promising occupations that
did not require it, and, choosing news
paper work as rather better suited to
the antecedents and traditions of
gentleman, he straightway bearded the
editor of one of the largest papers in
the city. in working hours.
But, my dear man." objected the
newspaper autocrat, himself South
erner when his visitor had mentioned
his desires, you haven't any training.
You've never written before
Neither have ever been hungry be-
fore" was the rejoinder.
The man succeeded, of course The
courage behind the answer made that
a foregone conclusion. Not contented
with writing for one newspaper, he
gathered half a dozen into his list and
syndicated his articles with them, at
the time when syndicates were nov
city. A small position in Wall street,
occupying his day, was added to the
sum of his joys, and ne kept up his
newspaper work at night for five years
lingering about the Hoffman House till
the last distinguished man had gone
for the night, writing his copy after
that, filing it at the telegraph Office,
tumbling into bed at in the morning,
breakfasting at 8, and occupying his
desk down town at the regular time
1t was a strenuous life, but his reward
was forthcoming, and now he is the
confidential manager of one of the
best and largest banking firms in Wall
street, itself monument to Southern
success.
A Mecca for the Ambitious
A Mecca for the ambitious, a focus
for financial pilgrims-that, by some
local law of evolution, has come to be
the significance of New York to the
nation. Through the business dis
tricts of the city surges the United
states in miniature. The men who
carry on the branches of that vast
composite which is called the "busi-
ness of New York" come from the
four corners of the country. Canada
sends its quota, and the countries of
Europe. So great, indeed, is this
adopted multitude, that the real New
Workers., men to whom the city be-
longs by birth and inheritance, in
comparison seem almost as scarce as
the proverbial red herrings that grow
in wood"
The poverty of the family, the alb
solute necessity of helping them, and
the narrowness of business opportuni-
ties in the home town are the goads
that drive out small armies of the
Southern boys to find a quicker way
to bread and butter than the slower
methods of Southern cities permit.
The obvious reason why their choice
falls oftener on New York than any
other Northern city is the contagion
of example, the old obedience to the
principle of the birds of a feather"
One brother, whose only equipment
was the education given him by
highly cultured father and mother,
worked his way through one year of
a law school in Baltimore, was ad-
mitted to the bar, came to New York,
entered firm of patent attorneys, and
pushed his way up, until he was re-
ceiving the largest salary they paid.
At present he holds a high official
position in the city of Manila. But
he has never forgotten his obligations
to the family group in the Southern
land. When he was receiving a sal
airy of $4,000, he sent half
of it home, and his brother, sue
cessful in another line, with salary
of $1,000 year, lived on $500 himself
and contributed nearly 800 a month
to the family expenses.
Such as these are the men who
count in the warp and wool of a city's
business, and for industrial success it
can never have too many.
The Southern Society.
An important factor in preserving
the outlines of the Southern colony in
hos
ciety, founded fifteen or sixteen years
ago. 1t suffered a temporary eclipse a
few years back, but emerged later in
much better shape to meet the needs of
its members. Smokers or dinners
four or five times a year bring the
members together socially. At these
newcomers find q welcome, and the
older members an audience. But that
Is not all. Love of the South is the
bond that holds together the 1900
members from the sixteen Southern
states The South, its past, it's pres
ent, or it's future, makes the theme for
the speeches, and the applause comes
with a responsive love for the old that
shuts out no loyalty for the new. We,
Of the shifting North, whose dwelling
places have the span of years lease
can understand only by proxy South
erner's devotion to the home that has
sheltered his family for generations. In
the rush, and tear. and whirl of COM
mercia1 struggle the memory of IT
might slip away even from him, were
it not for the society that calls him
as a Southerner to meet the general
company of his brothers, who other
wise, merged as individuals in the null
titude, would lose all the pleasures OF
Southern kinship and all the advant-
ages of organization.
Positions Held by southerners. +.
New York Southerners take kindly to
railroad presidencies, if w. II. New
man, president of the New
York Central. and William G..
Raoul, president Of the Next
can National Railroad, one of the larg-
est in Mexico, are to be taken as fair
examples They fit comfortably also
into the shoes of bank presidents, as
James Stillman, president Of the Nat
ional City Bank, the largest in the
country; James T. Woodward, president
or the Hanover National Bank, and
more than half-a-dozen of their South
ern brethren besides heads Of many OF
the most important banks in the city,
can readily testify.
The pinnacles of the various profess
sions In the city have enough South
ern Representatives 81 make more than
one Northerner break the Tenth Com
,Aandment -Four judges are on the
lst-William A. Keener, Judge OF the
Supreme Court; Roger A. Pryor,
Joseph F. DAILY and Augustus Van