Evening journal., 1911-01-17
NEW NEWS nr YESTERDAY
- ~ -rS -rs-~fu
The Man That Was Lacking
to the COnfederaCy
By aBoIland.S
By ~BoIland."

Between the years 1875 and 1890,
when the South was represented in
Congress by as able statesmen as ever
came from that section, nearly all of
whom had served either in military or
civic capacity under the Confederacy,
there were three who were especially
identified as men Of great breadth Of
mind, and as having been among the
earliest to accept the issue of the
sword that was decided at Appomat-
tox. These three were Lucius Quintus
Cincinnatus Lamar. Of Mississippi;
General John B. Gordon, of Georgia,
and John H. Reagan, of Texas.
Mr.. Lamar, who afterwards was
placed OH the Supreme Court bench by
President Cleveland, gained great pop
ularity and widespread national ap-
proval because of his eulogy upon
Charles Sumner which he delivered in
1875 while a member of the House Of
Representatives General Gordon
aroused the kindliest sentiment
throughout the North ~ reason of the
good faith in which he accepted the
results of the war. John II. Reagan,
who had been Postmaster-General in
the Confederate cabinet, and was act
ing Secretary of the Treasury at the
time of the collapse of the Confeder-
acy, was especially distinguished be-
cause soon after the close of the war
he urged the people Of Texas to grant
civil rights to the negroes and even
go so far as to permit negroes who
could read and write to exercise the
suffrage.
IL was my good fortune to meet
Judge Reagan in the early spring OF
1884 at a time when he was taking
a brief vacation at Hampton Roads,
Virginia. IL is my recollection that
other members of Congress were with
Judge Reagan's party, and fmong
them the son of the very brilliant can
didate for President i'm 1860, John G.
Breckenridge. This son, Clifton r.
Breckenridge, was at that time a MEM
Der of Congress from an Arkansas dis
trict.
Naturally, In view of the associa-
tiOns which clustered around that as
semblage, the conversation turned
frequently upon incidents of the strug-
gle of the civil war, so much of which
was concentrated along the valley OF
the James and AppomattoX rivers. One
afternoon Judge Reagon whose atten-
ton had been fixed for a considerable
period upon the historic spot where
the Monitor and Merrimac met, said:
Il have sometimes thought that the
issue OF the war might have been
somewhat different if the South had
possessed one pre-omiently great
financier. The North produced at criti-
cal junctures throughout that struggle
very able financiers. and yet the
North did not possess resource such
as we had in our pocket. I have Won
dered whether. had there been a man
Of the South capable of handling the
cotton harvest as any one of several
great financiers of the North could
have done, we might not have carried
the issue, at least to the poirt Of COM
promise. And as l think on this mat
ter | can never understand how II
happened that Immediately after the
war was over-immediately after the
decision had been against the South
men came out of the South who pos
sessed very great financial capacity
to make large fortunes. There was r
T. Wilson, for instance; there was
Patrick T. Calhoun, and there were
several others whom could name, all
OF whom developed great strength as
men Of finance But they did that chief
~ in the North. And. curiously enough
the ablest financier the South ever has
had. Robert J. Walker of Mississippi
Secretary Of the Treasury in Folks ad-
ministration, was Northern man by
birth and early training who opposed
secession, negotiated abroad a very
important loan for the Union In the
latter part Of the war. and at the same
time did a very great deal to prevent
the success of the second Confederate
loan in Europe.
All. well, the stars in their courses
made the decision in the great strug-
gle. Perhaps It is as well. Had we
established the Confederacy. through
the presence among us of a capable
financier, our great strain and test
would unquestionably have come In
time Of peace. Perhaps It is true that
the Confederacy consisted simply OF
several of the states bound together
by rope OF sand. And II we had
gained our independence, we doubtless
should have been compelled early TO
prove, If possible. that this rope was
not of sand but of steel"
Copyright. 1911. by e. J. Edwards.
All rights reserved)
Tomorrow Mr.. Edwards Will tell OF
s,frho HTorohouf Who NprrotVIv Missed