The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-01-01

DOES THE SOUTH
LACK LEADERSHIP
Dr.. Alderman's pessi-
mistic View Approved.
THE GREATEST POETS
Poe and Timrod. Greatly Deprecated,
Put Abol The Highest Genius OF
80 New England
s. 6ls.'
CICr ~. HARRIS.

II
doubtedly President Edwin a. Alder
man struck a right note in his adj
dress 10 the Southern Society in New
York a few days ago, when ire said
that the great lack of the South now
was leadership in public affairs Per-
haps never before has this lack been
apparent The period since tire civil
war has been unfavorable for The oe-
velopment of high talent or genius IN
politics. A period of severe depres-
sion is always unfavorable. except
now and then in the case of some lie
livering Moses whom God raises up.
1t has been an age of discipline sTld
II tier struggle with poverty Of Sc
interest and half-ideas. of endeayofS
to make a living without the ordill-
airy means or capabilities. These
things strengthen the Character ana
make for righteousness. They Jay
the foundations for future genius ana
they do really develop certain killd
of intellectual leadership ana force.
DR.. Alderman is himself an eSztnlYte
Of what the Civil War and IS
sequelate have done for Norm CARP
lima. 1t is very doubtful if the
for fifty years. has produced So
perior mind or nature 10 his. A@a
DIR. Alderman is one of a group OF dif-
tinguished educators In the Old Nortii
state. who have come TO the frorfr
since 1896, fully panoplied for the
mighty contests of life, and who aft
leading The way 10 a brighter day foF
the South.
'rhe former time of POLITICAL as5
tendency of the South was a glorious
one and we all deplore its departure
1t may come again under different CON
ditions. but il will never be precisely
+ &c M
the Southern statesman will ever.
again have that sway he once enjoyed
i'm the republic. 1t is very clear M,
deed that he must compete mofes
narrowly than heretofore with TIE
statesmen of other sections. WITH
The downfall of slavery fell the OPP
portunities there were for culture
for self-command, for control over
other minds Now, if the young
Southerner gets ahead in politics ne
must do il by main strength OF char
:tcter and Inheritance anG not AZ a.
by reason of his environment. Stfhs
Cling for his bread, striving TO nlitNr
money. competing with the comma
cial instinct in all the broad land The
harmonizing, liberalizing fniiuence
must come from within their own
breast. and there are strong tempta-
lions not to let II have full play Dr.
Alderman rightly saws we lack lead
d.
by the res augusta domi. They laek
the old incentives. Are the new
ones such. as will give them power tC
grasp the machine of government
once more and give fitting direcuon
10 it? Let us hope so, even IL tiie
outlook is clouded. The trout ie
is. that the whole land is given over
~ greed except few choice spirits
mostly highly educated men VINO nave
independent fortunes and do. not need
10 strive for self The Southern au-
thor and railroad manager the South
ern manufactures and mercnanl al
coming fast to the front everywhere
in the North as we'll as at nome ~
the South. Now let the politician
broaden and tougher himself. Lee
him adapt himself TO changed con
ditions but not by any means at the
sacrifice of the truth or the flgh',
What is wanted is a newer sort o.
Calhoun, a revised up-to-date vance
For the grand men of the South II
the past-for the Macons the Jeitef-
ans. The Lowndes, the Barbours, there
was always room. There is room now
for men of like grandeur. Men of the.
new time with the same old uHaet
heroic. yirtuous, upright natures
No mercernarineSS. No t1me-SefVllls.
No trucking TO power or place. Men
are wanted. not pigmles. A lew H'eii
n
in education Leaders anu not
placeman. Statesmen and not poll
ticians. The South is not outworn.
Its womb is not barren. The future
will probably produce as great men
as the past in the old North state,
and i'm the other Southern common
wealths.
A word about poets. And first as
to the critics If our writer is on q
subject about which he is not closely
informed in a technical sense ii may
be objected that the shoe maker
should stick To his last. Literary
Judgment. / we'll know, may be whoily
ri variance with the crude opinions
I here express in the matter OF poets
and poetry Let it be so. We all
have our favorites. Mine are not al
ways those of the critics of literature.
Thus If l had shelf of fayorfte Eng
fish poetry which includes of course.
the American poets. / would put on
il something like these separate vol
umes: The short poems of Spencer:
Shakspeare's Lear. his Macbeth. his
Hamlet, his Tempest. his AS You Like
IL, his Falstaff dramas: Milton snort
Poems; Gray; selections from WORDS
worth; Keats; selections from Shelley,
Tennyson's Idylls of the Kirg; Poe;
Timrod; SCOTS Lay of the Last MIN
strel; Palgrove's Golden treasury, |
(Anthology.) My favorite poets are |
Milton. Spencer, Gray, Wordsworth. |
and Collins. with Hearts. Shelly and |
Coleridge running a close second. Dry |
den impresses me as a glorious poet |
at long intervals. His political poems I
abound in fine passages and the whole |
of AleXander's Feast is great. Col
Inns is barely inferior to Gray in |
much he has written. The |
Odes on the Passions is so embracing.
rate it in the same category with
Gray's Progress of Poesy and distinct
~ ahead of the writer's Odes on n |
Distant Prospect of Elton College. 1t /
is as noble in grace and Imagination
as anything Dryden ever wrote. Col
Inns Lines on the Poet Thomson are
likewise extremely chaste and elo-
quent. Coleridge's Ancient Mariner
is perhaps the most powerful poem |
of the wierd-antique in the English |
langage. Shelley's shorter poems OF
the first class are numerous. My fa-i