--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Steele, Charles F. collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 23 number: 1 published: 1919-11 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Steele, Charles F., "Southern Sketches," *Improvement Era* 23, no. 1 (November 1919): 45–48.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2301unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera2301unse start_page: 45 end_page: 48 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1919-11) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2301unse publication_year: 1919 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1919, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Southern Sketches Southern Sketches By Charles F. Steele I—The New South — "There was a South of slavery and secession that South is dead. — There is a South of union and freedom that South, thank God, is living, breathing, growing every hour." Benjamin H. Hill, in a speech in Tam- many Hall, 1866. What Benjamin H. Hill said in 1866 is truer still in 1919. The South of slavery days is indeed dead; the New South is ris- ing resplendent on the wings of the morning. Her destiny is unfolding gloriously like the petals of a beautiful flower. On February 12, 1895, before the Lincoln Union of Chicago, that distinguished southern journalist and gentleman, Mr. Henry Watterson, who enlisted in the Confederate army as a private and in 1861 became editor of the Rebel at Chattanooga, spoke the heart of the South when he said in an eloquent address on Lincoln "Where did Shakespeare get his genius? Where did Mozart get his music? Whose hands smote the lyre of the Scottish ploughman, and stayed the life of the German priest? God, God, and God alone; and as sure as these were raised up by God, inspired by God, so was Abraham Lincoln; a thousand years hence, no drama, no tragedy, no epic poem will be filled with greater wonder or be followed by mankind with a deeper feeling, than that which tells the story of his life and death." The old order in the South is rapidly passing. The veterans who wore the gray in that fratricidal struggle of '61 are now almost all passed to their final rest. Their ranks each year grow thinner and the little mounds of earth covering the honored bones of patriots who fought with conspicuous valor for what they believed to be their just and sovereign rights, each year increase. More flowers are required on Memorial Day and 46 IMPROVEMENT ERA more tears sprinkle newly-made graves. Yes, the boys who wore the Gray are passing, and with them passes the last vestige of the Old South — the South of Secession and Slavery. Every old Southern city and town has two unmistakable reminders of the old days. First, there stand sprinkled among modern bungalows the beautiful old colonial mansions fronted with great, white pillars and surrounded by spacious grounds. Second, there invariably stands on some conspicuous and cen- tral spot, a monument of marble or granite surmounted by a Confederate soldier. These two links are never lacking, and it is well, for it seems to connect, somehow, the old and the new, the past and the present. While the memory of the Confederate dead will ever be — cherished in the hearts of their children a just and natural — passion indeed there are others who now occupy the center of the stage —the Dixie boys who fought so valiantly for Amer- ica and the world in the late European war. They will continue to do so. The lapse of time brings many changes. The thrilling strains of "Dixie," and the strains of the noble hymn, "The Star Spangled Banner," are received with equal fervor in Dixie. What the South did to help win the war is too well known to need repetition here. It is a matter of history. Some time ago I was in Washington, and while there I had the pleasure of hearing John Temple Graves, the noted journalist, speak in behalf of the Salvation Army drive. It was at a time when the East was lagging in that most worthy campaign. In his speech, Mr. Graves announced that the South had already gone "over the top," and paid an eloquent tribute to the fine record of the southern people who poured out their all so willingly in the common cause. What Mr. Graves said was true. In not one instance did the South fall down. The effect of the war on the sentiment of the southern people toward the North is very pronounced. The results have been highly gratifying. It knit the two more closely together than any other one thing. Thousands of northern soldiers went South to the military camps, met hospitable southern parents and attractive southern daughters. Charmed by the beauty, affability, and culture of the Dixie girls, thousands of the boys found wives. It was a perfectly natural consequence. Southern girls saw in those husky, clean-cut, northern fellows the very best type of husband. The same thing reversed happened in the North. Thousands of chivalrous, southern boys married north- ern girls, carrying their wives back to their sunny southern homes. SOUTHERN SKETCHES 47 This intermarriage of northern and southern beauty and chivalry is bound to have a wholesome effect on our national life. Travel between north and south will become more general. The ties of family love will intensify the social relations as no other power possibly could. A new and lively mutual interest will be stimulated in both sections of the country. The South is expanding economically. It offers unusual advantages in all branches of commerce and industry. It is filling up fast, but still needs population. The agricultural pos- sibilities of the Southland are only beginning to be realized. What the future has in store for that country I contemplate with wonder and amazement. The next ten years of normal growth will witness remarkable development in Dixie. About 20 per cent of the corn crop of the United States this year will be produced in the nine southern states east of the Mississippi river and south of the Ohio and Potomac rivers. An average yield of corn per acre is from 35 to 50 bushels. Some well-cultivated fields yield as high as 100 bushels. The De- partment of Agriculture estimated the corn crop of the South in 1917 as 676,000,000 bushels, an increase of 181,000,000 or about 37 per cent over the crop of 1916. One of the most valuable assets of the South is its climate. While they have hot days, one never hears of sunstroke. Pros- trations from heat rarely occur. The mildness of the climate and length of the season make two or more crops a year possible. Cotton reigns as king in the South. Dixie stands supreme in the production of this staple. Nor does it merely produce cotton. The textile industry is growing by leaps and bounds. In the twelve months ending July 31, 1917, the report of the United States Census Bureau shows that mills of the cotton states consumed 3,901,413 bales, while the mills of all other states consumed 2,899,775 bales. In 1880, it might be interest- ingly added, these same states consumed for manufacturing pur- poses only 373,885 bales. The southern corporations, of course, represent millions of northern money. In fact, the manufactures of the South have been largely built up by northern capital. As in the North, these textile companies have interested themselves in the welfare of their employes. Steps looking to the creation of a more pleas- environment have been taken. Villages are ant and healthful built close to the mills. Experts in welfare work are em- ployed, many permanently. The work includes plots for gardens, playgrounds, common schools, hospitals, nurseries, science church and Y. M. C. A. activities, classes in domestic clubs, swimming pools, etc. Special care for the girls, athletic the sanitary conditions of the villages, with the result i* given to 48 IMPROVEMENT ERA that the modern mill village is often a model of cleanliness. Live stock breeding in the South has taken on new life the past few years. The federal and state authorities and the great transportation companies are uniting in building up this highly important industry. Winter feeding is always a substantia] item of expense in handling live stock. The item is practically negligible in the South, owing to the mild winters. Excellent progress is being made in the breeding of high-grade stock. Poultry is also forging to the front. In Tennessee, around Thanksgiving Day, trains known as "Turkey Specials" leave pome of the chief centers for New York and other large eastern cities. Other important southern crops are truck garden stuff, sweet potatoes, peanuts, apples, peaches, melons, peas, etc. Truck farmers ship their products north. Norfolk, Va., is the largest trucking district in the South. In 1917 the shipments were valued at over $7,000,000. Charleston, S. C, district ship- ments amounts to from $3,000,000 to $4,000,000 worth of pro- duce annually. This district is a heavy producer of early Irish potatoes and cabbages. Southern cities are now modern in every respect. None there are that cannot boast of one or more skyscrapers. Manu- facturing is rapidly on the increase. The export and import trade of the great southern ports, New Orleans, Mobile, Charles- ton, Savannah, Brunswick, and Jacksonville is increasing yearly, docking facilities being built to cope with the expanding busi- ness. In 1917 the value of Savannah's water-borne commerce was $478,215,950. Mention should be made of the enormous iron and steel in- dustry of the South. The annual pig iron output is now about 7,000,000 tons. The United States steel corporation has under construction new plants in the Birmingham district to cost $11,000,000. Electrical steel furnaces are being successfully operated in Anniston, Alabama. Such, in brief, is the New South as I saw it. And such was the South seen in vision by Henry W. Grady, that peerless Southern orator who, in 1886, before the New England Club of New York, said: "The New South is enamoured of her new work. Her soul is stirred with the breath of a new life. The light of a grander day is falling fair on her face. She is thrilling with the con- sciousness of growing power and prosperity. As she stands up- right, full-stalwart and equal among the people of the earth, breathing the keen air and looking out upon the expanded hori- zon, she understands that her emancipation came because through the inscrutable wisdom of God, her honest purpose was crossed and her brave armies beaten."