The Anderson daily intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson, S.C.) 1914-1915, 1914-12-10
"A Beggar Race Can
Never Be a Great Race"

honor and. integrtty-det5rmlne to
suppress the politician whose work
encourages a spirit of beggary. hut ii
must make certain that the weak
kneed begging element in it's popu!a-
tion shall not be posed before the
world as I'm the slightest degree rep
| resentatiye of the real manhood Of the
| South. An old cotton grower. man
of the old but ever living school Of
honor and honesty, in beratins the
tendency of some farmers to refuse
to sell cotton and pay their debts,
| said to the writer: why, / have sold
| cotton at cents a pound, and would
! do 1t again, or even sell my land or
| anything else, II necessary, to pay the
man who had trusted me and whose
goods had used" He is a type of
| the man who resents with bitterI ess
the beggar plea, help the South" He
is of that great body which holds
honor and honesty above price. whose
soul is made somewhat bitter and re-
sentful by having his section and him.
self misjudged by the charity balls"
and begging please tobuy cotton of $50
a paie when 1t was selling at $15 less
every bale thus sold being an en-
forced contribution to charity. Any
man might properly be urged to buy a
bale of cotton" at the market price,
but the moment the movement under
took to name 10 cents, while the mar
ket price was less, II waS doomed to
1 failure. because 1t became a charity
proposition.
| The foremost newspapers OF the
| South are vigorously fighting the
mendicant spirit among the farming
element. While they are about 1t they
will do we'll to widen their campaign
SO as to include the element, far
greater in influence. represented
among State and local school authori-
ties and faculties and officials of uni
.yersities and colleges who stand. hat
In hand before the Golfers Of 'philan-
| thropic educational endowments.
The newspapers are demanding that
the South shall fairly and squareIy
and honestly meet tho situation; that
farmers shall sell enough of their cot
ton to pay their debts and that those
who have been responsible for the
Help the South" placards shall fully
understand that they do not represent
the South, but that they do seriously
misrepresent it. Surely it would be
a bitter arraignmept Of our btsiness
sense II, after five big cotton crops
/
South could be long stampeded and
made panicky by one year of uncer-
tainty as to the sale of its cotton.
Thousands and tens of thousands of
| cotton growers, men who measure up
to the highest standard OF business
ability, men whose integrity is as
high as that of the justly famed men
OF the Old South. are abundantly able
to hold their cotton, for they are f.
nancially strong and have abundant
credit. The Southern cotton growing
industry should be judged by them.
| We would be as unwise in our judg-
msnt if we regarded the inefficient
class as typical OF this industry and
of Southern farming as we would be
II we estimated all China by the cool
les whom we occasionally see. And
yet many people vino do not know the
South make this mistake Just as many
do in their thoughts Of China. Unless
begging of outsiders for education
shall end, the impression will no long
er be mistaken one.
The whole situation simply showed
how easily the mob mind or the mob
spirit can be turned oIs way or an
other in these days. Many of the peo-
pie have been led to believe that
everything is rotten; that all success
Is based on fraud; that all corpora
| tions are controlled by robbers. And
for this regrettable condition of mind
In large part of the public many Of
the men who stand high In politics,
some in one party some in another,
are responsible. While they have de-
nounced men OF great fortunes, and,
with the aid OF species OF Journal
! lam, have eXcCriated wealth az scoun-