New-York tribune., 1904-09-18

a sSTsTES IN T-TIF. YEARS 1S5s-iS54 WITH RE
@ 6I11Sted T (Criginaiiy issued In 1850 With a
biographical sketch by Frederick Law Otmsteds
In two %'U Volumes. svo. pp. Il. 41S: III. ~ G. p.
Putnam's Sons
In republishing In mOdernized form Mr.. Ohm
sted's famous Journey in the Seaboard Slave
States the Putnarns render both the student Of
American history and the general reading pub
lie a signal service No book Of its class and
day has worn better or won more universal rec
ognition. AS a first hand source for judging the
real condition Of the ante-bellum South it has no
rivals. Helpers Impending Crisis Of the South
made more stir In its time. but 1t had more ot
the quality OF the political pamphlet and lacked
the vital charm Of Olmsted's penetrating obser-
yation and spirited narrative Helper made an
argument and OImsted drew picture. and the
picture will last when the argument has been
forgotten.
The further we get away from slavery the
greater the value Of such an authoritative tran
script OF the workings Of that peculiar insttu-
ton" Professor Trent quotes John Morley as
saying in a foOtnOte In his Life OF Gladstone;
sHThe reader who cares to understand the Amer
lean Civil War should turn to F. L. Olmsteds
Journeys and Explorations in the Cotton King
dom. QS6D and "A Journey in the SeabOard
Slave States 1850. as interesting picture Of
the South on the eve OF it's catastrophe as
Arthur Young's picture OF France on the eve OF
the Revolution" Professor Trent, himself a
SOutherner. frankly says that eve must, unless
we are welded TO partisanship. accept. however
reluctantly. his general picture OF Southern con-
ditions" In it's essentials the description given
OF life under slavery remains true and ter
ribIy pathetic" The authors study OF slavery
was dispassOnate. He sought apparently only
the facts. But his indictment whether in thu
fectlons 20 which his observations led him. far
outdoes In effectiveness the purely emotional
protest raised against the slave system in books
like Uncle Toms Cabin" Mr.. Olmsted con-
derned slavery not alone on humanitarian
grounds but on grounds OF political. Industrial
and social economy. He showed il TO be a blight
on material growth. as well as bar to social
and political progress. Slavery demOralized the
South and at the same time impoverished II
Not the blacks only. but the masses OF the
Southern whites. were sacrificed 70 perPetuats
the fortunes OF the small slavehOldins aristoc-
racy. and all the normal processes Of democratic
society-operative at the NOrth-were arrested
below the Potomac
RIr OImsted did not fOresee in 1896 the catas-
trophe soon to overtake slavery. But he feIt
that its shackles had to be stricken off from the
mere fact that the South itself could not have
borne them for another half century. One OF his
particular predictiOns-Of the downfall Of ths
aristocratic ruling class in South CarOlina-has
been strikingly realized:
+T,,CC,--,ti-eI l- hsrbarianized one hundred
wears Tread ifty yearSI hence the men whose leIt
will rule south Carolina will be. In large part, nc
descendants Ot those living IN poverty. 80
rance and the vices OF stupid and imoecfie nllnGA
Later than in Virginia the spirit OF iiN'nLi-
ness and OF personal aspiration Will perIneltc ~
people OF South Carolina: and they Will Genano
freedom equality and fraternity In the social o.
TafP viii
Fut how much will in the mean while have beea
lostI
What n verffication OF this prophecy we have
seen in the recent history OF nearly every Souto-
eTn State!
1t is to be hoped that the authors two lat7
books Of Southern travel "The Texas Journey
QS5O and The Back Country" QS6O. parts I"
which appeared in the New-YOrk and London
condensation OF all three volumes. '@The Cotton
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