The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1906-12-20
EDITo RIAL.
STILL GOING SOUTH.


1t is we'll nigh impossible to des-
cribe or even to locate precisely. the
peculiar charm of New Orleans. It
is such all odd mixture of the cen
turtles. a mixture not only of cen
turtles but of nationalities. of races
and of epochs. One is about to des-
cribe it as an old French town when
one runs up against the most up-to
date Americanisms and just as enc
revises his opinion he is carried ir-
resistibly back to ante-bellum days.
The spirit of the old South is hardly
upon one. before you go to the wharfs
and there catch a Whit of every
nation on the globe. Within the con-
fines of New Orleans. anyone, with
half an imagination can believe him.
self to be in almost any land ON earth.
Certainly it was a delight to us to
find roses blooming in the gardens,
the grass green and fresh. and palms,
palms that would be the delight of
any northern green house. growing
tall and luxuriant on every hand.
The first thing that impressed us.
strange to say were. the miles upon
miles of iron fencings and rail ngs.
No matter how humble the yard. it
is sure to be iIclosed. no matter how.
cheap the home it has Its gallery"
or porch stuck on at every available
place. We never saw SO much iron
ratings in all our life before. Veneer
able four story bricks with narrow
mall-paned. windows and the front.
from sill. to caves. decorated with
perfect frost work Of iron scroll.
Madame has relatives in New
Orleans. charming people. who show
ed us such a wealth of hospitality as
made US fairly ashamed of our cold
Northern manner. It was through
these kindly friends that we were
permitted a glimpse of southern home
life and much more intimate view
of their beautiful city than we could
otherwise have had.
An insane lack of geographical
knowledge had fostered the idea that
when we got to New Orleans we
should be some where near the Gulf
of Mexico. New Orleans is as much
of an inland town as Davenport. ex-
cept that the river channel is deep
and permits ocean going vessels to
draw up to any of the eight miles of
wharf with which the city is blessed.
Our first day we went to Canal Street.
the main artery of the city. A wide
beautiful avenue lined with splendid
stores and shops of all kinds. Here
all the street cars of the city pass il
solemn review twenty four hours each
day and one has only to stop at any
down town crossing to catch his cal
for any part of the city. We did mo-
linger on Canal Street 1t was tot
much like all, the other busy street.
of busy cities. Down at the end o:
the street we saw ships. 1t was ship
not shops we wanted to see. We stop
ped nor stayed not until we had reach
ed the water line. Little Bill almos
jumped cut of his skin when we saw
the big ships. Ships from Londol
from Liverpool. from Belfast. from
France and Italy. Big ocean steam
ers from every land on earth it seem
Ell, except the UNITED STATES.
We do not wish to run counter t
the prevailing sentiment of the prairi
states but we never saw sucn an OBJ
j ject lesson in ship subsidy as tina
was. Dozens of great boats. carryin.
the commerce of the United State
all over the world, and none of then
bearing the flag of the Brave and tn
Free. None built by American work
me. None employing American sea
men. Many of these ships that ar,
now employed almost entirely il
carrying American goods could easil.
be turned into protected cruisers il
time of wtr an their guns turned
against US.
1ucTC uOuUllcSS are SoLuc AIuS I.Cdl
boats afioat but we did not see then
and we are told that they are very
scarce. 1t would seem that while w
are protecting all other kinds of in
dustries. something could we'll b
done to protect and up-build our ship
ping industry. We do not know tina
the present ship-subsdy bill woul'
accomplish the desired result but Their
must be some way Of doing it an
our astute Congress ought to find it
But this is not describing New
Orleans or its docks, and we promise,
to leave all the "moralizing" to tn
end of the chapter. There were thu
great ships lined up at the docks
Some rising high OUT of the water
as high as good tall house. Others
settling low with the weight of tn,
train loads of cotton and sugar ant
kl.zs, Ill /.