The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1909-05-19
IGNORANT OF THE SOUTH.

A few months ago the Manufacture
er's Record. of baltimore. copied from
another southern publication en- art-
Gle written by Northern man calling
attention 20 the South as a profitable
field for investment. Recently Mr..
William r. Pritton, of New York
firm. requested the Manufacturers
Record to reprint the Northerners
letter For reasons which were prop
e. the South's great industrial paper
ignored the request, without stating
that the real reason was that ii would
cause the Record editor to get little
rough. However, another letter from
the New York firm with which Mr..
Britton is connected, compels the Re-
cord In its issue of May 18th to re-
print a portion Of the Northerner's ar
ticle. That portion is reprinted as
fellows:
THE war and reconstruction taught
the South many bitter lessons. Bit
terness, of course, was engendered
against the North, and the generation
which fought the war, accustomed to
leisure and Incidence, was unable to
become adjusted to the changed con-
ditions. But with the advent of the
Spanish-American war new era
dawned in the South. North and
south again were united in sentiment
anc on the battlefields Of Cuba, Porto
Rico and the Philippines the blue and
the gray mingled--were lost and for
gotten-and the Stars and Stripes CO.
vered with equal glory the victor and
vanquished of the old days. More
over. new geration Of men and wo-
men now rules the South, and with
the disappearance of the veterans the
bitter memories of the war are fast
disappearing, and with them slowly
are fading the distinction between the
North and South. There is another
factor%malling for a new era in the
South. and this is the rise to wealth
and influence Of the Hebrew popula-
ton. Merchants Of Semitic extraction
prosper in the South and are highly
respected. They are Industrious, and
their competition is conducive to MAX
ing the younger generation of South
erners work harder than their fathers
did,
Now see how our very highly es-
teomed baltimore contemporary was
compelled to perform a disagreeable
task in order to brush away the cob
webs of ignorance that prevail to a
much larger extent in the North than
cne would think possible. Here is the
Records reply:
"Of course, the Manufacturers Re-
cord could reprint anything like that
only for the purpose of condemning
Its ignorance and natural conse-
ouence. The Ignorance Of such writ
ers about the South is indicated in the
Tact that they do not know that in
1860 the South showed 40 per cent.
OF the total assessed value Of property
in the United states; that ii had %
per cent. Of the banking capital Of
the country; that it was producing
more than one-half OF the agricultural
output Of the entire country: that be-
tween 1850 and 1850 ii built twice rs
many miles Of railroad as the New
England and Middle States combined.
and that the growth of its manufac-
turing interests in the same decade
showed much larger percentage OF
increase than the rest of the country.
After 40 years. during which the
South has been seling to recover from
the wreck and ruin Of war and recon
suuction, it is just beginning to set
b@ck 20 the condition of business ac-
tiVity which prevailed before 1860.
Il is not yet doing rs much proper
tonatcly as it was then doing. Bat
people a. ignorant of these conditions
as Mr. Britton shows himself to be
ought not To undertake To enlighten
the public on matters of which they
know nothing, however good their in
tent"
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