Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1909-01-26
The CAUSE OF The WAR.
TC,ontinued from First Page.l

be nodded in conformity with new
conceptions that sought TO eliminate
many of the unjust and lnequltaple
customs and systems with which hu-
man endeavor had been fettered since
the dim ages of the past.
For nearly two hundred years the
people of the north and south had
| lived in more or less harmonious ac-
cord, each sharing the dangers, trlals'
ambitions and successes of the other,
until at last we find them both freely
pouring out their common blood In
| the most righteous war that mas ever
been waged-a war for the estapllsn-
ment of human liberty. But II Is
only a generation or two after tnat
until we begin to see evidences OF a
growing apart-the opening Oh d
chaSm.
Because of various influences that
7 shall not attempt to trace in detail,
the climate having much to do with
the matter no doubt, the people OF
the north drifted in the direction OF
commerce and manufactures, occu-
pations that made large acquisitions
on the intelligent labors OF their
hands and brains, and centered their
Their objective point became gold,
and more gold. Experience proved
that their negro slaves were not equal
to the requirements Of the situation
and they sold them to make slaves
of their own kind. There was no pro-
vision in their economy for arts, SCI
ences or literature other than Of a
purely commercial nature, and conse-
uuently there was but small develop
ment in the retinements of life. AS
was to be expected, however, they be-
gan to wax rich and powerful, after
which their ambitions, aims and de-
sires began to find new avenues.
Because of climate, environment,
and other influences, the people of the
south naturally took the direction OF
agriculture 1t was promising and
attractive vocation, and the southern
ers took to it readily. Their leaders
were of a race that had been familiar
with the demands of organization and
direction through generations past,
and they had no difficulty in making
profitable use of unskilled negro
slaves, quickly training them to a
high state of efficiency. Comfort
came soon, then wealth, then luxury
and then abundant opportunity to de-
velop all that was best and highest in
man-loVe for art, science, literature
and craftsmanship. Southern STU
dents went abroad to the great uni
versities and studios, and men like
Washington, jefferson, Calhoun, Clay,
Randolph and hosts of others began
to loom up as the dominating intel
lectual giants of the age.
1t was in the halls of congress, the
White House and in every department
of government that the south first
aroused the ire of the green-eyed
monster. Seeing Genius in the as
cendancy, Force was steadily but
surely filled with that envy that seems
to rise spontaneously in the breast Of
the inferior against the superior, and
in the course of time this envy took
it's natural channel into the ocean of
hatred The tariff first figured as a
bone of contention; then later on
there were appeals to the prejudices
Of the white slaves of the north
against the owners of the black slaves
of the south. First it was one pretext
and then another, until at last Genius
was crushed to helplessness in the pit
iless arms of Force.
Now, while l have told you the
cause of the war, l do not want you to
listen to any twaddle to the effect that
the fact the south lost, proved her
cause was wrong. We are told this by
some Of our northern apolOgiSts: but 1t
is too absurd for a moments consider
alton. Certainly. God is just. No one
wants to deny that; but does the fact
that a burly brute may be able to lay
PROSTATE a delicate youth prove the
righteousness of the cause Of the
brute? Working only to eternal ends,
Gods justice does not concern itself
with temporary wrongs.
While l am not prepared to claim
that negro slavery was any more
wrong than are many of the systems
of virtual slavery that still obtain in
the industrial and commercial centers
of both north and south, l freely ad-
NIT that it was a mistake. 1t was
not the cause of the war; but to a
very large extent it was the cause of
our undoing.
All the world knows of the terrible
fight we made-how though we were
outnumbered more than six to one,
we kept up the struggle for four long
years, during which time victory was
all but Won. We lost because we
were overpowered, and to Overpower
US the enemy made use of all the
available mercenaries in the world.
But again, l say that we were not
wrong. Although now, forty-four
years afterward, we of the south are
still paying a greater annual war tax
than any nation of the world ever
spent in actual hostilities; in the
meantime Genius has risen to his feet
again, and the civilization Of the
south proceeding along the same old
lines as Of old is becoming stronger
and grander than ever and Force is
now beginning to recognize a real
master who will some day establish
his dominion over the entire earth.