The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-07-05
The Ability of the South.

the New" delivered few weeks ago at
the commencement Of the Alabama
Polytechnic Institute by Mr.. RICHARD
H. EpMoNps of Baltimore, he referred to
the heavy" white mans burden which
must be borne by the Southern people,
because OF the heritage left by slavery,
and incidentally he called attention to
fact the importance Of which we have
never before seen recognized so fully.
To the South" said Mr.. EDMoNDs,
slavery was a curse without one re-
deeming feature. II enslaved the white
man more than the black man. 1t was
the direct cause Of vast emigration
which drained the South Of million or
more of strong, sturdy people, who sought
to escape from competition with negro
labor and in this loss by emigration
and the loss by war the negro has, in
deed, been to the South the white mans
burden to an extent which no other
people has known
In support of this generalization Mr..
EDMoNps cited the facts that in 1880 there
were ESQ., 900 Southern-born white people
living elsewhere in the Union, in the
Northern and Western States, and in
1900 the number had increased to 800
900. As partial offset to this loss by
emigration, 100000 white people from
other parts of the Union were living in
the South in 1860, and according to the
last census their number in 1900 was
$50, 1000.
This loss of white population to the
South has been relatively very large, and
it has not been made up by foreign immi-
grafton During the period from 1920
to 1900 there came to the United States
through immigration the great number
of about twenty million foreigners. but
very little of this alien stream entered
the Southern States. Therefore those
States are now the one remaining seat of
distinctively American population.
In the whole eleven States Of the old
Southern Confederacy, with total popu-
lation Of about nineteen millions, there
were in 1900 only about $4,000 people Of
foreign nativity and more than one
half Of these were in the single State Of
Texas; yet even there they were less than
9 per cent. of the total population. In
the State Of Georgia, with population
Of 2,2l8, 1871, the foreign were only II, 4O3;
in Mississippi, with l,55l,270, they were
only 1881; in North Carolina, with $685.
$40, only 4,492; in South Carolina, with
1910, 318, only 5,52s.
That Is. the South has received from
foreign immigration only small num-
Der of whites in the way of an offset TO
its loss Of 100000 by white emigra-
tion--a loss equal to about one-tenth Of
it's total white population in 1900 Mean
time on Manhattan Island only about
one-sixth Of the inhabitants are Of native
birth and parentage, and very large
part Of these are grandchildren Of for
eigners. OF the foreign-born alone there
are now in New York at least four times
as many as there were in 1900 in all the
States Of the old Confederacy.
OF the 737,477 native whites of native
parentage in New York in 1900. only 1877
| 45S were born elsewhere than in the State
of New York, and of these the greatest
number from any group of outside States,
with the exception of New England and
the neighboring New Jersey and Pennsyl-
vania, were from the South-23549. The
New England States furnished 1852;
the Western States only 2O,224
It may be said, too, that the profess
sional and commercial importance of
the Southerners in New York exceeds
that of the emigrants from any other part
of the Union, unless it be New England.
In law, medicine and the Church our
Southern-born inhabitants have won
distinction, and in business they hold a
foremost place. Our indebtedness to
the intellectual vigor OF the South is
great and obvious; and generally the
emigration thence to other parts Of
the Union has been remarkable for
the high quality of ability it brought
Mr.. EDMoNDs is justified in saying
that measured by whatever standard
you may, whether by mere numbers or
by material accomplishments, whether
in the past or the present the South
has given to the upbulding OF the
Nation far more in numbers, in en-
ergy, in brain and Drawn, than it
has received from other sections" But
that this loss from the Souths capt.
tai Of ability has not prevented it from
making astonishing progress during the
last generation is proved by few sta
tistics we gather from the address Of
Mr.. EDMoNps:
Between 1880 and 1900 the value Of southern
farm property Increased by ~ per cent. against
81 per cent for the whole Union: OF farm products,
nearly 100 per cent, though the Increase In popu-
Iaton was only ~ per cent. Its capital Invested In
anutacturing Increased $40 per cent, against n
gain for the whole Union Of 252 per cent and the
value OF the manufactured products. $40 per cent,
against only ~, Tor the whole Union. From a