The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1916-05-22
THE soUTH's AWAKENING
CONTINUED from Third Page)

i
brought about in the industry by the
freeing of the slaves. Before the war
the south was made up of three dis
tinct classes of people-the rich plant
er, the poor white trash and the ne
gro slave. But after the war the white
people were thrown on an equal foot
ing, aristocrats and common people
alike set to work with common in
terests to build up a new south, a
land that would offer employment to
all and one that would meet the needs
of this complex age. AT the close of
the civil war the warriors of gray
were only required to bear no more
arms against the United States; and
they were allowed to carry their own
war horses home with them for spring
fplowing. Never before had such mag
unanimous terms been given. This,
the first step toward the future of
! the south, helped to narrow the
breach that made the two sections
seem so isolated. Only in that honor
able defeat could the south have re-
allied her weakness. To progress
from defensive. se1f-eonscious south
land to the south of today, renais-
sance period, a period of building
tanew the south, socially, Industrious
ily adm politically, was necessary. The
southern people have not disturbed
the only good thing the carpet-bag-
gers bequeathed to them, namely, the
provision for popular education. They
have guided that sentiment until for
/ ty-five per cent. of all their public
revenues are expended upon educa-
ton. They support tWo-fold educa-
tional system, but despite this the
schools and colleges of the south COM
pare favorably with the great institu-
lions of learning in the north. Can we
doubt the fact that education is adj
that the average of illiteracy among
the white children of the southern
Estates, between the ages of ten and
twenty, has decreased from 9:5 per
cent. to 4 per cent. within fourteen
years? In this same length of time
the expenditure of money for public
schools has increased from s23, O0O, 600
ito $82,000,000, an increase of 256 per
cent. Also the value of public school
property has increased from 40,000,-
900 to $175,000,000, an increase of 337
per cent. Clearly new era in educa-
ton has begun for this section, which
wandered so long in the wilderness of
poverty and uncertainty in the years
following the destruction of war, and
Reconstruction. This is an era of
democracy in education, for democra-
Icy is upon US. A people in want and
uncertain of the means of relief have
begun to realize that the only help for
any people is to help them to help
themselves, and that this help can
come only through RICH teducation.
Agriculture remains as of old, the
absorbing economic interest of south
fern life, but the great plantations
have been supplanted by the small
farms, and the old gentry class has
moved into the towns and built them
up into cities. A new and potential
citizenship has taken possession Of
these small farms, and of late the old
affection for country life has come
back, and with it the scientific farm
ing Of today
While the south still constitutes
the most. diversified agricultural Sec
ton of the nation, she has also learn
ed to convert her raw materials into
finished products. Especially in cot
ton is this well illustrated. Cotton is
still the principal product of the
south, and in point of value is still
king among the nations crops. But
today the south manufactures more
cotton goods than any other section
of the United States AS an example
of the south's prosperity, in an adj
dress recently delivered, it was said
that the south was section of poten-
| tial possibilities. Attention was call
ed to the fact that Florida stands first
of all states in phosphate rock and
Fuller's earth; that Alabama was Sec
ond in the production of coke and
third in the production of iron ore, as
well as yielding an enormous output
of coal; that Mississippi: was one of
the leading agricultural states of the
south, and was third in the produc-
ton of lumber and oysters; that Lou
isiana had the greatest sulphur mines
in the world; it ranked fifth in the
production of oil and first in the pro-
|duction of sugar, yielding So per cent
of all the cane grown in the United
States. That it stood first in the pro-
duction of lumber. It was also added
that there are many millions of acres
of land in the states of the gulf region
awaiting immigrants and offering I'M
limited possibilities and opportunities
for development.
Has not, then, our southland a
great future In store for her? Our
revolutionary age demanded human
enthusiasm; our civil war steadfast
courage; our industrial age magma
ton and daring, and our rebuilding |
faith in education and sympathy with |