The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1905-05-12
The South Not Indictable.

IT. AA0@Ae DuoA1CSo l1dit, AlSUOI ld4.
man OF letters ard professor of history
in Harvard University, cheerfully un-
dertakes a task that staggered the
migaty intellect IF Edmund Burke. He
indicts a whole people. In the indie
dependent DIR. Hart condemns the
south for s~lugglsnness, scantiness of
uncertainty of labor. race antagonism,
ignorance, lack of educational facili-
ties, exclusiveness of the 5000 old fam
lilies en- d race mixture.
Such an assault as that of Dr.. Hart,
directed against a vast population. is
much discussed and with no little
warmth in many instances. In truth
it is hardly worth that attention. When
the United States reached the point Of
being able to laugh at the slurs of for
eign writer's on the Union it marked
the beginning Of the period of real
national independence And in this
case though many replies come up from
the south with something of the odor
Of the bottomless pit about them the
general feeling is enc o. contempt for
such a caricaturc of that section as
DIR. Hart has drawn.
For nothing appeals more strongly TO
American pride Of country and pas
sion OF achievement than the progress
made by the south in forty years, or
since the close of the Civil war. 1t is
without parallel In history, and in IL
self is the annihilating answer to The
Indictment of all such writer's as DR..
Hart. Whenever disparaging state
ment3 OF the kind he has printed are
given notice at all it is the opinion
of The News that the briefest recital
of what the south has accomplished IN
the last o III decades in material and
intellectual directions is at nee the
best and the most instructive wav to
overcome assertions essentially false
however we'll intentioned.
Henry w. Grady, in the most elo-
quent speech nat ever fell from
American lips, described the condition
of the south in the first hour of de-
feat III terms as profoundly truthful! as
they we're passionately sympathetic. In
brief, the south then lay under a curse
of poverty and generalization deeper
than civilized man ever knew before
and all the more intense from contrast
with the easy abundance of genera
tons preceding The furnace blast of
war. Make comparison any way you
please between the south of 1865 IN
the south of 1905, and DR.. Hart is an
sWered in a fashion to refute him ut
terly. The test Of a peoples quality
is never found merely in the position
it holds at a particular moment. It's
starting point, its direction of move
ment and the distance it has made are
. even more weight than that in form
ing a sound judgment of the question
of general achievement.
Take a few details as illustrative OF
the entire argument for the genuine
! advancement of the south since the
close of the war. In thirty years, to
take the latest figures available, he
population of that section has increas-
ed by II, OO0, 200. The increase in num-
Der of farms is 951, 200, the acreage
of improved lands is doubled, the as
sessed valuation stands at twice he
figures of the earlier epoch, and the
! accumulation Of wealth is risen to
$3.50, 900 900 annually. The cotton crop
alone is worth the sum of 1925, OOO,O 0 a
year. The assessed valuation exceeds
six billions.
In manufactures the south has out
stripped the world in recent years in
the progress it has made, especially IN
the manufacture Of cotton. The price
of iron in world markets is established
by the cost of southern production, be-
| cause it is cheapest and most easily
handled in that region. South Carolina
already rivals Massachusetts, in cotton
mill output, and must soon surpass her
completely. Georgia and Alabama are
hot on the industrial track of Pennsyl-
vania, and in Texas there is limit
neither to the pace at which she is
| rushing forward ,ldustrially and COM
merclally nor to the resources OF her
enormous domain.
But even more remarkable than her
material progress is the advance OF the.
south in the department of education
since her business men got on their
feet and became able to turn their
attention to schooling the rising gen
Grafton. Many Of the ablest northern
educators who have visited all parts
of the south testify to the excellence
of the school system of every state
for Doth white and black children. Pro-
fessor Sheath of Yale, is a typical ex-
ample of a mind trained to northern
! methods and results, and yet warmly
enthusiastic over the admirable WORT
he finds going IN in the south, and
! especially in the higher institutions of
learning.
1t is possible IN a brief newspaper
article to touch on this subject Of
southern development only on the most
general terms. The News has given
it careful attention for many years
and feels qualified by study at first
hand to oppose the conclusions of Pro
! fessor Hart, squarely and without COM
promise. The south is stronger than
ever in every way She is dealing with
! tremendous problems in a thoroughly
rational way, and needs but to be un-
derstood in the rest of the United