The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1903-04-28
TIE NEW SOUTH-THE SAME OLD
SOUTK.

south by ma III EuIiIoHN"
of n Manufacturers Record
This term New South by the way,
we have never. liked. There IS no rev
south. 1t is the same section, inhabited
by the same people or their children
and grandchildren as was the so called
cold South" The only thing new is
the change that h people have
brought about by their own energies
and industry. When the slaves were
emancipated, the country laid waste
and the people impoverished by the
results of the war between the states
the men of the south saw that it was
necessary TO go to work along different
lines. They took on their shoulders the
burden and went m%anfully to work
against greater difficulties than ever
before faced a people. They were de-
termined to succeed, and by their own
pluck and energy they have succeeded
beyond their own expectations and to
an extent that has astonished the
world. These people asked for 70 help
from others, but took the burden upon
themselves, and to them alone IS u
the credit for what the south is today
the same old south, the same race of
people, the one resurrected from the
desolating results Of war and made to
blossom Xix a garden by the descend
nts of the men who founded her first
colonies, cleared her first farms and
built her first factories.
Mr.. Edmonds in his article "
I'VE are told that the industrial de-
yelopment Of the south has been
brought about by northern and western
men, and the world believes it, just as
it believes that the old south was a
nOn-progressive agricultural commune
ty. The south itself is largely to blame
for this misconception of the business
activities of the present and the past,
for too many Of its writer's and speak
ers accept this doctrine without fnves
tigatiOn-"
Mr.. EdmOnds takes this as the sub
ject of his article and shows from facts
and figures that there is no truth in
the statement. He shows that the
present condition of the south is not
due to an infusion of northern en-
ergy.' He shows that until the inven-
ton of the cotton gin this section was
an industrial one. Then for years we
devoted our energy to raising cotton
and the section thereby became inn
mensely wealthy but in the 40's the de-
cline in the price of cotton caused the
southern people to again turn their at
tentiOn toward industrial pursuits. To
prove this he gives many statistics.
Among these are: Between 1850 and
1860 the south built 1862 miles Of rail-
road, against 4,712 miles built by the
New England and the fiddle states.
During the same period the percentage
of gain in nearly all lines of manufac-
turing was greater in the south than
in the whole country.
Then came the war between the states
and the reconstruction period, from
which this section did not begin to
rally until about 1880. when the men of
the south turned their attention to the
rebuilding of it's destroyed industries
and to q new ones to the old. From
that year to the present time rapid
g is shown by a long list OF
figures and statistics, making COM
parsons between the industrial pro-
gress of the south and other sections Of
the country.
After showing what the south has
done along this line Mr.. Edmonds takes
up the question as to who has done this
the men of the south or men from the
north and west? He shows from indis-
r4 .l-4 L - -.1 H.
the credit for the great strides the
south has taken. Among other figures
given are those showing the emigration
from the south to other sections of the
country and from these section to the
south. MIR. Edmonds closes this branch
of his argument with the following.
Thus handicapped as the south was
in 1880. starting in the depth of poverty
as contrasted with the great progress
n prosperity of the north and west.
and without any of the heavy immi-
grafton which helped to enrich the
west, h south has made a percentage
of gain greater than that of the whole
country. That this gain is mainly due
to the energy of southern people is
fully understood by those who have
studied the subject, but the world at
large mas attributed II IltlIilN 10 luS
incoming of northern and western peo-
pie. The south has never received from
outside as much as it has given 70 other
sections. In 1860 there were 924, 235
SOuthern-bOrn whites living in other
sections. They had crossed the noun
tains. and were leading pioneers in
opening up the great empire of the
west and the Pacific coast. At that
time there were living in the south only
244,071 white people not born in that
section. scarcely One-fourth as NAM
as the southern people living elsewhere.
In 1900 there were living in the south
75S,0 900 white people born elsewhere. but
there were 1,347, 600 born
whites living in other states. Thu for
every northern and western man living
in the south. the south had two living
in other sections. And these men who
went out from the south and settled in
the west and on the Pacific coast, in
New York Il elsewhere were men
of great virility and activity Their
phenomenal success in the financial and