The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-02-07

and hear so much he had never seen.
heard or dreamt of in the, old time; the,
great improvements on the one hand ana
the changes in manners and customs on
the other hand he could come to no other
conclusion than that he had resurrected
in the wrong country.
In the old time South there were rich
people and poor people, slave owners ard
mons slave owners, but not that exclusive
ness seen and felt now. Neighhors were
neighbors; and rich mans neighbours,
who helped him to shuck corn or to roll
logs, were invited to his feasts, and made
to feel that they were as welcome as #
they owned land and negroes, however
poor they might be. Money lid not mak3
the man, but true manhood and woman
Aood stood for themselves and were at :,
premium. Hence, not unfrequently,
wealthy young men found wives in tanlil-
les that owned but few, if any, slaves;
beautiful and healthy daughters educated
in the school of experience and common
sense and good wives and sensible moth
9rs, indeed, they became. And often
times the daughters of rich parents ac
cepted the hands of working men, though
oronzed and hard with tom. rather thdn
whose parents were wealthy.
| ne-d not tell the reader that money
stands for everything in rnese days, ana
that. in society at least, the question Is
not whether the young man is sober, in
lustrious and moral; but how much mon
ev has he? And so, too, the Young man
does not enquire what are the younS
G rls mental, moral, social ana dome@t.-
qualities: but what is her daddy worth?
II does not make any great difference
now what a man has been or has done; ~
Knows that If he can make money ne
IAN soon buy a place in society, and that
so-called Christian parents will be only
TOO glad to match their daughters with
him: and though coarse and vulgar, ard
stepped in the sinfulness OF this world
his money will more than cover his null
titude of sins.
Money is everything Eow-respectatil
ity, morality, social political and even
ecclesiastical standing Commercialism u,
seen and felt in everything and every
where. Even mans opinion is rated
according to the size of his bank account:
and everybody knows how transcendentaI
ly high moneyed man stands In the
church, especially if h donates literally
makes no difference how many poor men
he has oppressed, how many have been
impoverished. by him, IN the accumuls-
tion of his great wealth, if he is libera!
now and then, with his blood money, he
Is looked up to and praised by man who
are preaching-or ought to be preaching
against the sin of covetousnoss, and those
hardhearted methods which make million
aires at the expense of the Woodworking
POOR. Yes, commercialism-love Of wealln
is even getting into the church.
This was not so in the old time South
Why and how this great change? We
know that UP North, ever since they
sold their slaves to the Southern people
and became rich on negro money, they
have been trying to ape the aristocracy
of the old world; and that during the war,
not being satisfied with the fortunes they
had made by this sale Of their negroes
to Southern people, they became army
contractors and swindled Uncle Sam out
of enough to swell their negro money
into making themselves millionaires and
that being done they dethroned manhood
and womanhood and enthroned the dollar
Is it true that the South--tht old time
high-mlnded, honest conservative South is
trying to ape New England as New Eng
land is aping the commercialism of old