Democratic Sentinel, Volume 4, Number 15, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 May 1880 — IN THE SOUTHLAND. [ARTICLE]

IN THE SOUTHLAND.

A Tour of Observation Through Dixie What a Delpaian Saw. and Haw It Aficcfed Him. (Fiom .he Delphi Time?.) Oar well known fellow-citizen, Vine Holt, Esq., returned a few days since from an extended tour through the South. Knowing that Mr. Holt is a gentleman of keen and intelligent observation, who forms his opinions and freely expresses them, unbiased by prejudice or partisan prejudpment, the Times commissioner sought and obtained an interview with nim. Mr. Holt expressed himself freely and pointedly, and left upon the mind of the interviewer an impression that he had learned during the tour much of the thoughts and actions, hopes and fears of the southern people. Leaving Delphi the first of March, Mr. Holt visited successively Washington, Richmond, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Savannah, Macon, Atlanta, Chattanooga, Nashville and Louisville. Hisj impressions of Washington, its people and their ways, was not favorable. It seemed to him that the active corruption, chicanery and scouudrelism of the American people finds its natural centre at the capital. The impression created thus at the outset of his journey was discouraging, and it was with feelings of misgiving and the hope for possible relief that lie entered the land of the “Ku Elux, “bulldosers” and “niggerkillers.” Arriving at Richmond, he found abundant reason to change his views, and at once began to revise the opinion of the Southern people which had for years been instilled into his mind. He had been into the city but a few hours when a prominent citizen introduced himself, and, after conversation upon the needs and desires of the southern people, they visited the Legislature, then in session, where he was introduced Jto many members. All unitedin the declaration that th® people of the South required and welcomed Northern immigration; that there was no feeling of bitterness be tween the races; that each was necessary to the well-being of the other, and that the interests of the whole people and the prosperity of the country demanded that there should be no more animosity. What the South needs, and what she must have, is the development of her natural resources. This can only be secured through the agency of Northern capital ami Northern genius. For this reason,Northern immigration is not only welcomed but solicited. In these views, the intelligent negroes, of whom there are many, fully coincided with the whites. From Richmond Mr. Holt went to Philadelphia, and from thence by water, to Savannah, Georgia. Landing there he was at once struck with the cordial hospitality and almost burdensome attentions paid to Northern visitors, and the unanimity of the expressions of good feeling. Everywhere at the hotels Mr. 11. registered as from the North, and everywhere, upqn the street, in business houses and public assemblages, he met with the most cordial welcome.

From Savannah he went by rail to Atlanta, over the route pursued by Sherman in his famous “march to the the sea. ’ The country traversed is recovering but slowly from the ravages of war, but its naturally fine resources are being gradually but surely and permanently developed, and in a few years, under the influence of capital an.'.l energy, will be made to add i s share to the prosperity of the South. Atlanta is ti living monument to the benificence of energy and genius. Her manufactories are numerous and kept busy l.y the demands of home and foreign trade. ,Tho capitalists of the “Georgia Queen” are main ly Northerners, and their lips, no less than their success, give the lie to the oft-repeated assertion that immigrants from the North are socially and politically ostracised. The practice heretofore in vogue of shipping from the South the raw cotton, to be re turned from the factories of New England for consumption in the land of its production, is an absurdity. This the Southern people have learned, and with the aid of Northern capital and energy have established manufactories which indicate the progress and add to the prosperity and independence of her people. Mr. Holt’s visit to Chattanooga was peculiarly gratifying, as here, to a greater extent than elsewhere, is illustrated the natural independence of the South, when aided by capital and skilled labor from the North. There Is perhaps not a country in the world so rich in natural resources as Eastern lennessce and Northern Geoigia and Alabama. The best qualities of iron ore and coal, as well as timber, exist in quantities practically inexhaustible. These advantages Chattanooga has not been slow to take the benefit of, and that which at the close of tiie war was an inconsequential ■village has grown and prospered until it has become prominent among the manufacturing cities of the country. As i, railroad center, the advantages possessed by Chattanooga are unsurpassed She is the natural distributing point for shipments from the North to the great Southeast, and returning is the point through which must pass the Southern supplies of the North.

At Nashville, Mr. Holt found the prevailing feeling of the South bursting forth in an exuberance of patriotism, the occasion being the celebration of the centennial of Tennessee’s capital. Representatives were present by the hundred from all parts of the North and South, and all were welcomed with a cordiality and impartiality tnat should put to shame the carping sectionalists who seek to thrive upon the misfortunes of a di- , Upon le “ving Nashille Mi. H. closed his experiences wiih the distinctively Southern people, rejuvenated and with revised views upon the aims and ambitions of the residents of Dixie. Mr. Holt declares that the sections he visited were noticeably quiet and peaceful. He saw less drunkenness in big entire trip from Savannah to Louisville than was witnessed in the city of Delphi on Sunday last. This is not very complimentary to Delphi, but it is the truth nevertheless. In reply to the direct question regarding his views upon the issue of sectionalism, and the persistent attempt made to create the impression that the Southern people are but quiescent in their hat-ed of the Union, Mi. Holt said a more palpable slander or a more deliberate misrepresentation was never penned by a cons- . cienceless timeserver er voiced by Prin «e of Falsehood. He talked with all classes of people, white and black, citizens “to th* manor born” ond immigrants from the North, and he found that they had been most outrageously misrepresented and villifled If a man go South and conduct himself properly, giving evidence of a t 0 c ?, Qle a £ ood citizen, he ill be cordially welcomed and aided in every way. As to the endeavor to make it appear that there is a concerted attempt by the Southam pee-

pie to illegally control the elections, he asserted that he saw no evidence of such being the case, nor could he hear of any such attempts from conversations with people of all classes and political creeds. Of course employers control to a greater or less extent the votes of their employes, but such a policy does not exist to a greater degrt e than it does in t' e North—to as large an extent as it does here in Delphi. One law of ar- • publican government—a law as immutable as the decrees of the Medes and Persians is becoming more fu - ly recognized every day. It is that the intelligence of the country will control the government This is a natural law, and when it is violated, as it sometimes is, the whole people suffer. The people of the South have suffered by the predominance of ignorance, and now, when the intellig mee is again in the ascendancy they a e experiencing universal prosper.t/. There is absolutely no violence < r intimidation attempted, and there is no more need of governmental espionage over the elections in Georgia, Vii« ginia or Tennessee than there is in New York or Pennsylvania. In fact, not as much; for the elections are today in the South a more fitting reflex of the views of the people than they have been in New York and Pennsylvania for years. The negroes, tha' is the worthy c ass o| colored peop'<» are happy and contented. They are v»ell treated, and they have discrimination enough to perceive, that what is best for the white people is best for those who are, and fur years must remain, dependent upon them. “I never,” said Mr. Holt, “in my experience of neatly.seventy years, mingled with a more affable, generous, whole-soul-ed people than those whom I met in the South. Of polities I heard but little, except when I would myself introduce the subject. The talk was a l ‘business.’ Universally the Southern people are anxious for quietness, tnd the accretion of capital wl ich will develop their resources and enable them to recuperate from the pitiable cond - tion in which they were left by tne war. I was surprised at the little interest taken in political movements. As I have said they a wholly devoted to business, and are more anxious for the building of railroads, factories, etc., than they are for the success of this or that aspirant for political preferment. They are to day, as a peo pie, as loyal and patriotic as arc the people of the North. They staked their all upon the Lsue of the w; r, and, having been defeated, are coi - tent to abide the result, The excel - tioris can be counted upon the fingers, and they are as cordially detested by their people as they are by she most ultra irreconcilable cf the North.— The charge that the Southern people are disloyal ami discontented is an assertion which there is not a scintilla of evidence to sustain.”

Mr. Holt expresses himself pointedly as disgusted with the whole system of the politics in vogue in this country. The masses of the peonle are used as tools by unscrupulous political tricksters, who seek to fatten upon the misfortunes of the country. When the men learn to think for themselves; to throw aside t .e s< p’listry •nd special pleading of selfish knaves and examine the questions presented from the standpoint of intelligence and reason, the n j tion wil ! be better and happier Our people will then understand each other more thoroughly and be better prepared to appreciate the unselfish patriotism which burns within the breast of eveiy honest man, be he a resident of the North or South. There can be, says our traveler, no excuse for the aspersions east upon the Southern people except the feeling which is fathered and fostered by a desire to profit by the perpetuation of a sectional feeling. Sectionalism, whether fostered by Southern irreconcilables. or Northern egitators, is unpatriotic to the verge of overt treason Mr. Holt is an old citizen of Delp hi —<t gentleman in whose impartial judgment all have confidence. A lift - long Republican, his words should and will have weight with the men of his party who have been blinded by sectional prejudice. We ask that our people shall give his words careful attention, and heed the lesson they teach. Democratic Central CcmmittncHanging Grove—David Gray, John Lefler, Leroy E. Nolaud. Gillam—John IL Pruitt. Joseph G. Hunt, John Tillett. Walker—Michael Zlck, Joel F. Spriggs, Frank Hershman. Barkley—F. M. Parker. John G. Culp. William M. Barkley. Rensselaer—Wm. Meyer, Thos. J. McCoy, J. 11. Loughridge. Marion—C. D. Nowels, A. K. Yeoman, George Hoover, Henry Fisher. Jo'-dan —JayLamson, Wm. Washburn, Robert Michaels. Newton—Lucius Strong; James Yeoman. L. K. Yeoman. Keener—James Bennett, Albert Brooks. Art. Whitson. Kankakee—T. M. Jones, Alfred Glazebrook. G. W. Cantwell. Wheatfield—Lewis Rich, John Heil, JamesE. McNeil. Carpenter Jas. M. Plunkett. Ed. W. Culp. Wm. Rich. A. M. Greene. Remington—O. B. Mclntire, Marlon G. Trough. Reuben R. Pettit. Milroy—Washington Scott, J. B. Owens, Chas. Loshbaugh. Union—Geo. W. Cascv, M. P. Coiner, Michael Brusnahan. Jas. W. McEwen. Rensselaer, honorary member. 11. A. BARKLEY, Chairman. Dani.-18. Milleh. Secretary.