The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-07-18
SIEST.A IN SAVANNAH.

ful, old fashioned Southern city. with its
innumerable parks and public squares, Its
open spaces carpeted with rich grass and
shaded by venerable trees. IL is siesta-not
only physical but political siesta. The
broad streets are not crowded with the
vehicles of traffic. The correepondingly
spacious sidewalks are not choked with
hurrying. b~ustling. perspiring humanity
Savannah takes life easily. h weather
never oppressively warm as in New Orleans,
Montgomery, Washington and New York
lends itself to leisure and elaboration.
Pedestrians do not jostle each other as they
pass. There is room enough for all, and
every possible disposition TO use II without
offence TO others. Savannah 10 prosperous
enough. There are no sharp extremes OF
poverty and wealth, no headlong haste TO
get rich, nor yet any visible tendency to
sbject want; neither Haunting opulence
nor pitiable squalor. Savannah people do
not meanly toady the fortunate nor mesnly
scorn the hapless. This is a simple, gra-
cious. dignifed old city. inhabited by self
respecting. wholesome minded folk.
There are social barriers and distinctions,
but the standards are not furnished by
Bradstreet or the banks. Savannah is by
uO tucdnb pIOkTebblNt, " you 10 " NNSoi
and i'll hammered. Its habits OF courtesy
constitute an almost pathetic anachron-
ism. Its ideals are picturesque survivals
Of a half forgotten age. But the inhabi-
tants are content. They know each other.
| high and low; the climate suits them, the
| customs are OF their own making; night and
| day salt breezes blow alike upon the rich
and poor, unobstructed by closely huddled
L-ENls-- 49, .s.aAka into mara
tunnels. II il a city Of wide expanses and
many vacant spaces. OF healthful. cooling
winds and pleasant refugees from heat and
noise. 1t is siesta-peace. human kindness
and pure atmosphere.
But because IL maintains a tranquil mood
and clings 10 ways Of quiet and elaboration.
Savannah is not indifferent to the outside
world OF careless OF the passions. excite
ments and anxieties that agitate more
| peevish communities. Savannah knows all
about those tempestuous reformers, Theo-
dore Roosevelt. William Jennings Bryan.
Hoke smith and others. There is no neces-
sary concurrence Of physical and ntellec
tual alacrity. and Savannah. resting coolly
in the shade Of her primeval oaks, is quite
as competent 20 form correct conclusions
as New Orleans or Atlanta swarming and
sweating in the stress of Sa-
vannah does not want 10 be reformed. puri-
| fed or otherwise exalted TO a higher moral
plane. With it's traditions, it's customs
and its ideals it is entirely content. All
that the people in this town ask Ia 10 be
let alone by a%lien-and therefore ignorant
doctrinaires. and permission to attend to
their own affairs without assistance at
strange hands. They know. or think they
know, how to manage Savannah much
better than does Mr.. Bryan OF Nebraska
or even the Inspired 0ne himself--in plain
words, Theodore Roosevelt of Long Island,
New York-and they believe that IL only
these two prophets of perfection could be.
so to speak, choked of efectually, they
might look forward with reasonable conf
denoe 70 a tranquil future. They have. for
example, no wish to hear from President
Roosevelt the true philosophy of hfe--how
to regulate their daily conduct. 10 rear their
families, to adjust their ideals OF honor,
decency and manhood, to behave them
selves generally in public or in private. Even
the parable OF the Rough Rider Colonel
scaling the heights Of San u nine years
ago does not move them to special fervor.
The history of Georgia is rich in instances
of v~alorous achievement, and here. as else
where throughout the United States, per-
sonal courage is too much a matter of course
to call for wondering miner As re-
CARDS William j. Bryan. Savannah ia
altogether unresponsive. Neither the man
himself nor his methods. nor his philoso-
phies, appeal 10 the conscience or the judg-
ment Of these quiet folk. They are con-
sentative. Mr.. Bryan impresses them I'M
pleasantly as a noisy and disturbing per-
son preaching incendiary doctrines and
intent wholly upon his own profit and exal-
tation. They do not follow him. They
never have perceived his wisdom or his
usefulness. They repudiate his leadership
and even go so far IA to question his ca
pacity. AS an alternative. should 1t be
forced upon them. they would think twice
about Tom Watson, who Ia at least a neigh
Dor and a Southerner. and as to the inferi-
ority of whose literary and Intellectual en-
dowments they are by nc means convinced.
Mr.. Bryan, in fact. afiicts and bores them.
They see in him a noisily impertinent per-
son who undertakes to lecture and for whose
wisdom they have no respect.
But il is siesta in Savannah, Bryan ia
considered here very much as the grass
I hopper ia in Kansas. and they take him
az an undeserved rebuke by Providence.
They class him with the mosquito and the
boil weevil-something unkindly injected
into their routine and mysteriously equipped
for u-npleasantness. They would like to be
rid Of him. but they do not know how TO
manage it.. II any other candidate were
offered them-no matter ~who-they would
emerge from their lethargy and boom that
candidate without asking a single question.
; Savannah does not squander it's energies and
enthusiasts. hut II is extremely capable Of
high emotion under proper stimulus.
For instance. should the name Of such a
map as Augustus o. Bacon of Georgia or
Cha les A. Culberson Of Texas be seriously
mentioned. under circumstances w%arranting
the belief that something was actually to
come Of the overture, Savannah would
promptly develop a genuine vehemence Of
fervor. For the present, however. they
are p~essimistio in this town. In a general
way they rather expect Hoke Smith to
supplant Bryan in the affections Of the
multitude. and this prospect they hail with
honest satisfaction. since they regard Smith
as a clever opportunist and not at all as a
dangerous fanatic. When the present ami