Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1902-11-06
'DODD ON THE SOUTH.
PROFESSOR OF HISTORY AT RAN
DoLpH-,1AcoN "sAYs THINGS
OUR PEOPLE ARE BACKWARD.
such the Conclusion. Reached By
the Corre.pondent-DweIls Partic-
ulnr1y on the Lack of Educational
Progress-Need of Real UnIvcr-
OUR PEOPLE ARE. BACKWARD.
Such the Conclusion. Reached By
sity In the South.

PrOgreSs-Need of II Real Cniycr-
sity In the South.
In yesterdays Richmond News appeared
fessor William +. Dodd, OF the chair OF
History, al Randolph- Macon College:
Editor The Richmond News:
Your editorial of Oct. % discussing the
backwardness Of the South has attracted
considerable attention and it's reception
is indicative of sthe changing and more
tolerant attitude of Southern public
opinion. One of your RICHMOND cor
respondents expresses what is perhaps
the view of many If not most of our best
citizens, when he says openly we need to
have open and candid criticism from our
own people-a free discussion from all
points of view of all public questions.
The complimentary reference made to
my letter to the New York Evening Post
and Nation of Aug. 6. is highly ap-
preciated, and with your indulgence I
will re-state some of my conclusions and
touch upon some vital topics to Vir-
ginians of to-day as viewed by many OF
our younger men. If we admit that our
State has fallen into backward ways"
this baclkwardness is particularly mani
fest in three things: the making and ac-
emulation of wealth, in the dgnifying
and elevation of politics and in etluca-
tional progress.
Let us examine briefly the last of these
topics leaving the others alone for the
present. And under this head may be
included not only collegiate institutions
and universities, if we have any of the
latter, but also newspapers and pa triotic
ft.
taken up first is that the education of
the young is the primal duty of the pres
ent generation, and also because my oc-
cupation has brought {. closer acquaint-
ance with it.
THE UNIVERSITIES ERROR.
We have several large educational in
situations but no centre of advanced
study and thought such for example as
Harvard University is 20 New England.
Our University sprang full-grown into
existence. the last great work of Viz
ginia's greatest statesman. and for
twenty-five years after it's founders
death it was equal to, if not the superior
Of, any other institution of learning in
the United States. But it learned to de-
pend on the State for its income not on
the voluntary gifts of its alumni and
friends. It then ceased to keep pace with
other great colleges in this direction and
in their upward course and sought in
stead to give the State return for its
support in the form of free tuition to Viz
ginia students. This has gradually
brought the University into the field of
the small college. And instead of a great
institution with two hundred teachers
and fifteen hundred students and an in
come of an half million a year, instead
of a centre Of learning, a place for ac-
curate investigation into all the historical
and scientific problems of our Southern
people, we have but a college competing
with the other colleges of the State for
patronage and at the same time asking
$4,000 year from the supporters of these
colleges for its support. Can't the Uni
versity be endowed and become the re-
sort of scholars and the place of training
for the best high school and college
teachers of the land?
NEWSPAPERS AT FAULT.
Again our newspapers are not setting
high standards. They do not crticiSe
closely; most of them are the organs of
party groups and cIiques and as such are
unable to become the educational forces
in the State they might otherwise be- I
have noticed rather closely the share the
public press has taken in the encourage
ment of the study of history. No dis
criminative criticism, no suggestion OF
new subjects to be investigated, no en-
couragement to young writer's to devote
themselves to such work has characterized
it, A fair illustration Of the attitude OF
our best papers may be seen in the fol-
lowing quotation from a large daily:
But to return to the giants who play
ed their parts on the public stage when
old Virginia was ablaze with a galaxy
of bright political stars. For quite a CEN
fury Staunton has furnished a bar of
great ability and among those who have
passed away-N1ichie Stuart Shelly and
Baldwin-easily claim pre-eminence. Thos.
J. Niche was great legal logician and in
nisi prius cases he was ever quick and at
his best and was a consummate expound-
err of difficult question. g law to the
common mind. John B. Baldwin possess
ed a noble and fertile intellect which
shone before the bench and bar with un-
rivalled splendor in the YER
satile powers of reasoning, illustration,
wit. humcr and infective he was, indeed,
a great advocate and so on ad irfinitum.
In the article, from which the above is
taken there is nothing but praise and
:adulation. The reader, mindful OF the
fraiities of most men. grows weary OF
such talk. Why was not some one his
torical character chosen and a carefully
prepared article presented. not hesitating
to give the foibles and weaknesses as they
actually existed? Our papers, as before
suggested, are almost blindly partisan. An
instance which shows this recently occur
red The writer of a discrininative ar
ticie on j great Southern politician OF
ante-bellum days, sent his printed paper
to a prominent newspaper writer and re-
viewer not so far distant from RICH
MOND. The reviewer published his vpin-
ion of the work somewhat as follows:
'..This is fine piece of work; the best
I ever saw on the subject, but the North
ern bias of the writer may be
seen in the following. Chen appeared
a quotation which could scarcely have
been construed as either Northern or
Southern in sentimenD.' The author of
the article wrote the reviewer, express
ing his regrets that he had been mislead-
ing, especially as he was himself an
ardent Soutt1erner. The reply came: 81
thought you were from New England:
your name had been associated In my
mind with the people of that section and
hence my misinterpretation Of your point
of view
"