Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-11-03
FINEST BLOOD
IN AMERICA
1t Flowed in the Veins of Jack
son and Lincoln-Plan to Edu-
cate the Children of
Nature"
BY WERNER JONES

duoes the most typical" American will
never be determined TO the satisfaction OF
the general public for the reason that every
! community feels that It is entitled to the
distinction.
) The Phlladelphian is convinced that that
type OF good old U. S. A. citizen seen walk.
ing down Chestnut street any fine afternoon
is the real slmon-pure American article,
the best that the best country and best city
can produce. The New Yorker is even more
certain Of his contention for Broadway,
and the Bostonan will admit Of no argu.
ment upon the superiority Of the Beacon
street type. Even doubt upon this point
to the Bostonian mind is a reflection upon
the inqulrer's intelligence. The citizen Of
Chicago, Of st. Louis. Of San Francisco and
of New orleans feels suro of his claims for
his home town, and even each small-fry
burg is 80 American as to believe its par
ticular product the best in the American
shop.
The purest American type, however, is
not to be found in the cities He is not
even known in the small towns. He does
not, in fact. know the distinction to which
he is entitled. for he is the least worldly
wise of his American fellow beings.
He is child Of nature, shut OF from his
fellow man by coves and rugged streams,
| dense forests and mountain peaks that rise
| so high that they tickle the feet OF the
| angels as southern poet has stated II.
| He is forced further aloof by a shy and
suspicious nature and above all, by wall
| OF ignorance that has denied him en-
| lightened converse and communion with
| his fellow man and has kept him and his
| section in a state of seeming hopeless
| backwardness. He has not been forgotten
| OF God, for his natural surroundings are
| inspiring and promotiVe of the kind of
! dreams that awake endeavor and inspire
| ambition. He has, however, been forgotten
| by his fellow countrymen, who, in their
! rush for advancement and ACKNOWLEDGMENT,
| have overlooked even the existence of their
physically and mentally shut-in neighbor
Of Pure Anglo-Saxon Stock
The real bona fide American Of ancient
stock is to be found in the Blue Hills OF
the Appalachian range--in the western sec
| tions of Virginia, North and South Caro-
lima, the eastern sections of Kentucky and
| Tennessee and the northern sections Of Ala
bama and Georgia He is the pure Anglo.
Saxon. direct descendant of Scotch-Iris
and English Revolutionary stock, and he
possesses today the same primitive traits
of character as his Revolutionary ancestors
Their names are simple and homely mostly
monosyllable they live from hand to mouth
on the scant product of their hillside open
patches, and they know nauEht of the en-
tightening influences of education, travel
or communion of any kind with the outside
world Their horizon is the same physi-
cally as mentally ethey know of nothing
save what the human eye can comprehend
They are the people that Charles Egbert
Craddock and John Fox have written about
and they inhabit that charmed section that
the late Senator Bob Taylor has described
in wonderful word pictures of which his
lecture, THE Fiddle and the Bow" is an
example
Since the discovery Of the real American
his case has appealed to many, and the
appeal is growing annually. There is now
general central organization with head
quarters in Washington with a national
message in behalf of the necessity Of en-
Tightening this backward people and the de-
Nclopment of their now wasted country into
second Switzerland One of the most
effective local branches Of that organiza-
ton Is to be found in Philadelphia.
Beginning but four years ago in a hum
bic way the home organization now num-
bers more than 200 members and annually
contributes a substantial sum to the edu-
cation Of the people Of the section along
Industrial and practical lines An attrac-
i've bazaar Is in progress today at the Belle
Yue-Stratford for the benefit of the move
ment. The present leaders of this earnest
band or unselhsh and patriotic workers are
Mrs, Louis Lewis, president 1924 pine
street; Mrs. William r. Headley, secretary
SES west johnson street, Germantown, and
Mrs. Mrs. Luther NJ. Chase, treasurer 600 Cres-
helm road, Germantown.
Expenditures General
The purposes Of the organization with
which the local branch is affiliated are NOT
IN IN the interest OF pet institution or an
da ihultiduai enterprise. 1t operates for the
benefit of the general work now being done
IN the Isolated section of the southern States
where the movement for a general cam.
paign Of education and redemption of botb
the people and the country is in progress,
Their expenditures are made where nrac |
tical necessities i'm the way of school enuin- |
ment are the most urgently demanded
Those interested in the splendid work re- !
port SLOW progress, but they also repoTt
much IN the way Of encouragement They |
h h.'u 'ne people eager to learr, and they
have demonstrated that the valleys and
even the mountain tops are adapted 10 chi |
tiVation. The fact is also pointed to with
hopeful pride that even without home ad- |
vantages the section in question has con- !
trlbuted to American history many illus
trious men.
Among men pointed to as representing
products Of the section are Andrew Jack
son. Abraham Lincoln, Admiral Farragut |
sam Houston and Fighting Bob Evans To |
an imperishable honor.
The general situation is further improved
by the fact that the handling of the problem |
s without the dread complication that con- |
fronts any other southern educational or |
development enterprise, in that the racial |
question does not enter. The negro does not
live In the mountain sections for two rea-
sons. One is that he is not adapted TO the |
primitive and rough conditions of mountain
existence and the other is that he is nor
allowed to live there by the natives With
natural and deep-seated antagonism To-
ward the plantation and slave-holding and
aristocratic element, the Appalachian noun |
taineer was, during the Civil War solidIv
federal in sympathy and is today as solid
ly Republican in national politics as he
was solidly Union during the conflict In
any event, he entertains no attachment.
sentimental or otherwise, for his brother I'm
black, and will not reside in the same
community with him or allow him 10 oc
cupy his place in the sun.
Such an opportunity as the movement
offers to the American public in the light on
conditions outlined would appear to cover
the entire field OF inducement to participate
in cause really worth while, for its at
tractiveness would seem equally appealing
from patriotic, sentimental or a sporting
standpoint.