The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1909-02-05
DIssoLvINe THE SOLID SOUTH

Objection is being urged to the sol
idity of the solid south, and intima-
lions have been given out that an
effort viii be made TO disintegrate it. F..
Concerning the political phases OF the !
subject, in the light of which men
determine their party affiliations,
have nothing to say; but about the
general subject l have some reflec-
tions to offer.
And first of all l would like to in
quire why so much objection is urged
to a solid south, while nothing is said
of a solid New England? The solidity
of the latter is as obdurate and per
sistent as the solidity of the former,
and for much the same reasons doubt
less. There is no solid west ii. e.,
north and central west) because the.
west has been settled by a great. va
riety of people, and its population is
too heterogeneous to be solid. But
from the days of the colonies until
now there have been distinct types
of people in both New England and
the south, and for the most natural
reasons, therefore, they have been
solid.
For one, I believe that it is best
they should be solid. By their sOlidity
they work out for themselves the best
results, and at the same time they
thereby make the best contribution TO
the well-being of the entire country,
In a land which is filling up with null
titudes of miscellaneous peoples from
every part of the globe, it is vastly
important that in one or two sections
at least there should be some stable
forms of life and civilization.
The south especially possesses GER
tain characteristics which should be
perpetuated at all cost. They are of
the utmost value to the republic and
they must not be minimized or mOdi-
ned.
ORIGINAL Americanism
In the south is found the purest
type of what may be called original
Americanism. Among it speOple are
more men and women who trace their
descent directly TO colonial sires than
in any section of the Union. Its so
cial forms and domestic life, as well
as its architecture, tend naturally to
the colonial type, and they should
not be exchanged for any other.
Its religious life is orthodox in
creed and evangelical in spirit. The
Tariegated and eccentric ecclesiasti-
cal bodies which abound in New Eng
land have but a small and negligible
following in the south. Southern
Christianity has not been weakened
by sending forth from its roots all
sorts of isms which, like suckers,
weaken the main stem without pro-
-ducing good fruit themselves. We
have had few heresy trials, for we
have had few heretics. Our people
have accepted the Bible as the word
of God. and have relied for salvation
upon the atonement of Jesus Christ
the Lord. By consequence the south
ern churches have more nearly sue
ceeded in winning the whole pOpula-
ton of the south to Christian living
than have the churches of the other
sections of the country succeeded
with the people to whom they make
their appeals. There are more church
members i'm the south in proportion
TO population than can be found in
any other part of the United States.
In the south we also have the best
observance of the Sabbath, and in so
far as we have in any wise fallen
from grace in this important matter
our fall may be traced. TO influences
which have come in upon Us from
without. Ii we had remained more
solid with the respect to the observ-
ance Of the Sabbath, we would have
done far better than we have by fol
lowing. even for little way. modish
vice and foreign airs.
The Sober South
The south is the sOberest part OF
the United States. There are fewer
bar-rooms among us and fewer peo-
pie who want bar-rooms than are
found in England or the west. Prohi-
bition counts for more in the south
than il does in other sections of the
Union.
There are also fewer grafters and
less graft in the south than in any
other section. Pennsylvania. the land
of William Penn and pronounced sol
idarity, has shown more corruption In
the building of her capitol and the
government of the one city of Pitts
burg than has been known in all the
south i'm half a century. The southern