Sentence:  The fact that he has cast over those materials the light of a skeptical mind does not make him any the less Southern , I <WSD>rather</WSD> think , for the South has been no more solid than other regions except in the political and related areas where patronage and force and intimidation and fear may produce a surface uniformity . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  to some (great or small) extent