The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1920-06-25
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lem, which is no small one; but our
problem Is as nothing. compared to
that of the countries OF Europe. And
none of these problems equals that
which the southern states faced fifty
years ago. and which they carried
with such courage. until today the
South is once again known as one OF
the richest countries in the world.
| The Saturday Evening Post of June
10 carries splendid article which pays
| tribute to the South. This is the
wonderful story Of Atlanta, which
was literally burned to the ground, on
Sherman's march to the sea.
| Their problem was greater than any
other reconstruction problem that the
world has ever faced. There was no
country, such as America today, acting
the part OF fairy god-mother. The
South was thrown absolutely on its
own resources. Yet in fifty years it
has once more taken its place as one of
the richest and most mountaineering
sections of the richest and most for
ward-reaching country in the world.
Recently there appeared in the Chi
| cago Tribune an article written by
William E. Dodd. Professor of Ameri-
can History. University of Chicago,
in which he gives some interesting
figures which the countries of Europe
might well apply to their reconstruc-
| ton problems.
He says: The Tribune has given
some publicity to the protest of the
French minister of finance against
Secretary Houston's statement that the
South at the close of the civil war was
subjected to terms quite as severe as
Those to which the recent war has
subjected any country of Europe. -!
This raises an important question,
which all groups of our people ought
to consider at this time. At the close
of the American civil war the whole
state of Virginia lay PROSTATE. and its
great granary, the Shenandoah Valley.
a larger region than devastated Frances
had undergone a destructive invasion
that took ali of its horses. cattle and
hogs that could be seized. Almost
every barn had been burned. The mills
were destroyed. Grain that could not
be taken away was burned. The peo-
pie were left without food for them
selves. One only has to read Gen..
Sheridan's report to the war depart
ment to learn that his own statement,
that a crow that would fly over the
valley of Virginia must take it's pro-
visions with him. was true.
"Ail the way from Atlanta to mid
die North Carolina, distance of 500
miles. there was a burnt over and
broken area, where naked chimneys
stood as mute reminders Of the york OF
General Sherman
Professor Dodd says: WAS the lot
Of the South as hard and cruel as that
of France and Germany? Let a few
of the facts of our own history speak.
The South was devastated as effec-
lively as the will of man could con-
trive. Her total wealth in 1860 was
about $4,000, 900 900. She spent two
billion fighting; she lost $2.000,000,000
by the freeing of her slaves. At the
end of the war she had third as
much wealth as she had in 1860.
IKE fadarai oo~--aa1lrsvrrs iaiu an e1-
port tax upon cotton, the only great
industry the south had. 1t required
the debt contracted during the war.
due to the more well-to-do southern
ers, to be repudiated. That and the
emancipation of the slaves put all
classes upon an economic level. All
that been done to any of the peoples
Oh Europe, except ny Lie INuoSAdA lDOA-
sheviki OF their own motion?
Moreover, the South was compelled
to take upon itself the payment Of
about one third of the federal debt in
Cured in their own suppression. Ger
many has not yet been called on to
pay the debts of France and England.
Besides. the southerners were COM
PEELED to pay about a third OF the cost
of the pensions, granted to the union
soldiers. The treaty which Mr.. Keynes
thinks unprecedented for its harshness, /
does undertake to compel the Ger
mans to pay some of the cost of the
French pensions. But how modest is
French pension
AT the close OF the American civil
war the southern white people were
by military power to turn
over their affairs to their former
slaves. Legislatures, colleges and local
were placed under control
Of groups in each state, nine-tenths
Of whose members knewr: absolutely
nothing of government, of history. of
even the rudiments of education. They
heaped upon the South somewhat more
than a hundred millions of debts, for
which there was no equivalent in
goods or services OF any kind rem
iered. For ten years after the close of
the civil war. troops were maintained
in the South to enforce these condi-
tons. and the South was compelled
against her will to have her electoral i.
votes counted for her political oppo- f
nents. 1t may indeed be doubted
whether any other people of modern
times has been subjects to = harsher
terms than those of the south from
1866 to 1876.
Secretary Houston is a historian of
high standing, although he has writ
Ten only one historical work. He has
stated a fact very moderately"
Suppose the South had sat down in
sack-cloth and ashes and walled over
is lost hopes? The southern men and
women got to work. that is all. They
had no time for rancor; they had their
homes TO rebuild; their fields to till:
heir children to educate; their race
problem to solve. The fortunes of