Year: 1878

From the n. \. Timesl


Laziness in the s5uth.


There is a large class Of people in the


Southern States who take kind Of mel


ancholy pleasure in bewailing 'the days


that are gone" and in talking about the


departed prosperity Of "our people. -


While doing so, however, they make alb


solutely no effort to better the condition


OF which they complain. In other parts


OF the country, when from one cause or


another a man worthy Of the name loses


his fortune and is cast out upon the world
I without means OF support he bravely


faces the difficulty. and by hook or crook


tries to win back the position he has lost.


He may succeed or he may fail, but he


makes the effort all the same He works,


his wife works, his children work. and


laboring together. they hope on until


fortune smiles again. Nor do such men


and women stop to ask questions regard.
ing the character Of the work which they


may be called upon to do. IL is enough


for them to know that by il they. can


honestly earn their bread. Such is not


the case in the South There Is no use
/ trying TO conceal the fact that the ma


jority Of the people Of the cotton States


are constitutionally lazy. They do not


like TO work. and thtir disinclination to


help themselves is in most cases the real


secret OF their poverty and the poverty


OF the section of country in which they
live. OF course, there are exceptions TO


this general rule-noble exceptions-in


the persons Of men and women who. born


and reared in affluence, surrounded in


their youth by every luxury that money


could buy or a score Of trained body
ants supply, have. nevertheless. when
called upon to do so, put their hands to
the pillow, and by downright hard work


made new homes for themselves and their
families.


But unfortunately, these ore the e..
ceptions. The majority Of the white peo-
pie. young and old. in all parts u the
South, are lazy. without thrift push. en-.
ergy, or enterprise. Accustomed all their
lives TO have their work done for them,
they cannot or will not realize that the
time when "a master could do what he
liked with his own has departed never
to return again and refusing to be rec
onciled to the new order Of things. re.
fusing to keep pace with the progress Of
the age. they sit by the way side OF life.
idly waiting for others to help them. and
wondering why shey are constantly be-
ing left behind in the great race for pros
..erity. Deny IL or not as they will. the
men and women born in the cotton
States are, as a class, afflicted with a lazi
ness which is almost a disease. This may
be accounted for by. the climate, their
former habits Of life, or the system Of
slavery under which they passed their
childhood OF youth butthe fact remains.
they are lazy in every vein, fibre, and
nerve. indolent and adverse to work -
From core TO cuticle the average South. |
erner abhors what people in the West |
and North call honest work. lie will |
live by all sorts ofdevices. but he will do /
no manual labor. He will be preacher /
without a church. a doctor without pa.
tients. a lawyer without brief, a civil /
engineer with never a call 70 survey a |
tow-path; he will make an attempt at
editing a village newspaper be may. on
a push, try to teach a school or attend a
store, but be seldom takes his coat off /
like a man and wins success by deserving
and working for it.


There is no reason why any intelligent.
able bodied man in any Of the cotton
States, properly so called, should be with
out ample means to supply every neces-
sary OF life. With a soil that needs only
TO be tickled TO bring forth fruit with
vast mineral wealth undeveloped. with a
climate that Is as a rule, everything that
can be desired, the men Of the South
need only work to be well to do; but
hey will not, and, Of course. they are
poor and growing poorer. In she days OF
Republican rule they were ever ready TO
attribute their condition to "the thieving
and il was no uncommon
hing to hear able-bodied young men di
ating to admiring political assemblages
lpon the want. the hunger, even, which
lis mother was suffering because of "the
'obber Radicals" And to such expires
lions the embryo Southern statesmen
,ould gEe utterance without being dis.
,raced, without being asked how, as long
Is they had breath IN their bodies, they
,ould sit quietly by and see their mothers
ufering from hunger2 The community
with them because the men
md women who composed il had been /
aught to regard manual labor as a dis |
race and because il was fashionable 10 !
Ibuse "the carpet baggers' aud blame {
the Radicals" for every real or imagina. /
y III. But the rule OF the carpet bagger {
5 at an end, the Republican party exists
10 more in all the South, the day Of re
has come, the color line is
indeed broken down, and still the young |
men OF tine South do not appear to be {
altogether happy. They still complain I
If poverty. they still mourn for toe days
hat are gone, they still talk about the !
that used to be, but still they
make no effort to bring back to their
country "the flush times before the war"
They can no longer blame the carpet
)aggers" for their misfortunes, and IL j.
10 longer possible for them to conceal
he fact that their poverty is due in
great measure 10 their laziness. In Gcor-
,ia; in Alabama. in Louisiana, in all the
Black Belt Of the cotton States, there are
thousands Of negroes who, in spite OF
many obstacles, support large families
md save money by cultiyating small
patches Of land. The idle white men Of
he South can at least do as much. But
hey must go 70 work. They might as
we'll make up their minds first as last
hat they will gain more by honest in
lustry than by political speech making.
he organization Of emigration boards, or
for Government subsidies.