The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1919-01-09
THE LOST CAUSE SPIRIT


Sioux City Journal.-Those Ameri,
cans who are sincerely in favor OF
extending the hand of mercy to the
German people could profit by a study
Of the after results of the American
civil war and the rancor and hatred
which remained in the souls of the
people Of the defeated confedercy for
a half century after the curtain was
rung down on its existence. 1t Is ar
gued that the German people cannot
be exterminated and that they must
live in the world beside the nations
which have conquered them. 1t is
conceded that their conduct for a half
century before the war and during the
war is obnoxious to the principles Of
humanity and civilization. But it is
argued that they must be ~regenerated
and converted into ideal citizens.
The southern states were inhabited
conceptions of individualistic morality.
True. their adherence to the policy
of slavery at first seems to belle this
statement, but they looked upon the
negro as an inferior race then and
they do the same now. They believed
the colored race was better under the
system OF slavery than it would be II
thrown on its own responsibility, and
if the surface of their views on this
subject is scratched very deep, the
same belief will be found among them
today. They believed in the right of
the state to secede. that it was great
er than the nation of which it became
a part on it's own volition and they
hold as tenacinusly to that doctrine
now as they did in the days of Cal
houn and Toombs and Benjamin.
The south went to war to maintain
those principles. They suffered all
the horrors OF starvation and inva-
sion and defeat. But they conducted
the war according to the rules of ma
lions and within the limitations of
law. They were men of higher ideals
and better qualified to adjust them
selves and their views to the condi-
tons following defeat than the Ger
mans are. Yet among the generation
which lived through the struggle and
the generation which came after it,
the unconquered even If suppressed
spirit of the old south flames and
burns. The man who wore the gray
is just as proud of that uniform to-
day as are the men who wore the blue.
On Confederate Decoration day ora
tors laud the valor and praise the
achievements OF the leaders and sol
diers of the south more ~passionately
than northern orators do those Of the
union. The birthdays of Gen. Lee and
Jefferson Davis are kept rs reverent-
ly in the south nov as that Of Lin
cola in the north is. Southern peo-
pie bear without murmur the taxes i'm
posed on them by the states to pay
the pensions of the survivors of the
lost cause end their dependents. In
all the states which seeded pension
bureaus are maintained for this pur-
pose. Fifty years have not unrooted
the old spirit Of a conquered people
ideals far surprising those of
They have not been regen-
How much more impossible
will IL be to regenerate Germany?
1t would be better for Germany and
for the world IL a policy is pur-
sued toward that nation so intolerant
Of the things bred in the national soul
that only by the drastic method of
self eradication they can dare hope to
as a nation. This course will
them to be self elevating.
When they fail to keep within the
proper bounds they should be chas-
tised so severely that fear will keep
them on the upward road. The Ger
mind is not capable of assimilat.
ing benevolence. 1t is trained to obey
because of fear. This adult genera
ton and the generation of children
who learn the story of the defeat Of
the empire from the lips Of those who
had part in the lost Struggle will hold
to their old ideals. They will be as
firm as the people of the south were.
though the latter were inspired by
principle while the Germans are in
49, A--FA-A- III LEL