ON TO RICHMOND

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 203, 22 May 1920, Page 8

ON TO RICHMOND

VIRGINIA AND ITS PEOPLE

- AMERICAN AND BRITON

NEED FOR BETTER UNDERSTANDING

[By Dit. Gibb.l

"On to Richmond!" Wasn't that the ery-of .the-Yankees when, Virginia having with, a. number of other Southern States seceded from the Union, the meu of tho North set out to bring them, to reason. Richmond was tho capital of tho Confederation, and little doubt was entertained that it would soon fall into the hands of the Northern armies, and the conflict end ore it had well begun. It.took, as all the world knows, four or five dreadful years to effect its capture and bring peace again to tho distracted country. 'Richmond, then, as one might expect is .replete with historical associations, and relating not only to the Civil War. but also to the War of Independence. It is the city of Washington as well as of Leo and Davis, and it enshrines manjfold memorials of the great men who. at these and other periods, have, helped to-shape its history.. . .. Richmond is situated-on the James River, SO .miles up from Hampton Roads, into which the James empties itself. The threo hours' journey by rail would havo been delightful but for tho fatiguing temperature of the. cars, a drawback' to .the pleasure of American travel of which

I snoke in a former article. The scenery is very fine. 'Tho contours of the landscape are charming,-'and' I never remember tojiave seen in an equal tract of country so many trees. -We complain, and not without reason, in Now Zealand ,of the devastation, of our beautiful native bush, but in this part of Virginia one wondered where tho .crops were grown. Cultivated fields or even .pastoral tracts were few and, far between. 1 learned on inquiry that, whatever, may be the' explanation, little cultivation is.'attempted in this region. . Indian corn seemed to be the only cereal, and cotton and tobacco are not grown at all.

The railway carriages aro not unliko our own, but there is only one class of car. I was interested to see how they disposed; of men of negro blood. In tramways in the cities the.negro nlust sit on. certain seats reserved for him at the end of the car; on the railways he has: a carriage to himself. Woe bo to the black man who dares to attempt sitting, with tho white. The Jim Crow laws are a very solid reality in Virginia, and the further South you go the more stringent' and drastic is the separation of the two races. To one familiar with'thn equal and impartial attitude of New Zealand laws to the white man and the Maori the.sihiation was strange and unpleasing. But the problem of black and whito is for the United States a problem of most serious moment. I have had' little sympathy hitherto with.the cry of a white Australia or a white New Zealand. We hnve the highest authority for tho statement, that God hath made of one blood

all nation of men, and the idea of a perfected humanity forbids the' contemptuous..barring out of men whose skins aro not white from the lands the white man occupies.. It is certainly a startling fact that Jesns Christ,"the supreme creative personality of human history, would Jiayo: tcpay in New Zealand a PqIL tax before being permitted to. land on, our .shores. -And'yet-as I listened to.--.Hie .sentiments expressed, by decent Americans towards the negro, and noted tho.-difficulties of the existing situation, I began to wonder whether my contention was really sound. Thoughtful, peoplein'the States are uneasy about the future of the coloured people. Some there....are who , think that prohibiten, which'.;'.if'is hoped! willsolve so many problems, will at. least help in solving this-'problem, too. ; The enmity of the whites to the blacks was from time to time-Intensified by tho-crimes the Hacks committed under' the influence of liquor, tout, on.,the other hand/ with drink .no longer, befuddling their minds, the blacks wilFeome.'; it- is said, to a clearer con-, cep.tion of their rights, and already they, arc combining and demanding industrial and social betterment. These be difficultand; anxious times for all the civilised nations of the onrth, and unquestionably they United States has its own full share of trouble.

Richmond is a considerable city of 188,000 inhabitants, of whom. 105,000 are white. Many of the streets are wide, with fine buildings, attractive shops, and an enormous traffic, mostly. motor-cars. There is much" of great interest for tho visitor—statues of, famous citizens, monuments .of the war. of '.Independence and the Civil Wiir, the capitol where the Confederate Legislature sat, during the latter. But as interesting, at least tome, was the life of to-day— a life pulsing with energy, and though, ,of courße, in all essentials the same as life.with ourselves, yet with features and l 'characteristics all its own: .The American' is empbaticalb/not a Britisher in any.point of view. A type of feature'has been evolved which marks off both men and women from the distinctively .British type. It should be t00,., that the people of tin Southern States differ almost "as Much in this.respect from the people of tho'North as they differ from. us. Tho South is indeed no longer the languid South of the pre-Civil War times. The Yankees have succeeded in infecting the Southerners with tho microbe of their own restless energy. . The South owes much to the North and the Southerners know it, yet they do not love the Northerners greatly. While motoring round the city and its environs I asked the driver, an intelligent youth of about twenty years of ago: "Do you like tho folk away up North?" : The »-oply, "No, sir," was so prompt and decisivo that I followed up the question with another: "What! Do you still' hate the Yankees?" '. .''Yes, sir," .was the answer,and in a tone that 6poke .volumes. • . ,

If the .American of this region differs from ris in features he differs from us equally in speech. His is. not tho twang with which we are.most familiar —tho twang of the Yankee. It is a twang, I suppose,' but it is much softer and more pleasing. But it ■is really difficult'to, follow. Again and again I had to. get people to repeat what they •had said before I could inako out their .meaning. It is said that the, American accent resembles much more closely tho 'English accent of the 17th century than dojs the accent of tho Englishman of to-day. Perhaps this is so, but a 6tranger finds it difficult to understand. I listened for a while to the men engaged in placing coal from ■ barges on board the steamer, and m most cases the orders given and tho replies mado might have been spoken in Chinese for anything that I coiild make of them. It is a people of a strange speech.

But they aro a kind and courteous people. They aro no doubt out for tho dollar—who isn't?—but nothing could exceed, tho kindness shown to strangers. Ask ' a direction or information of any relevant sort, and'' tho person appealed to will' go' to a, jrreflt deal of trouble to oblige you. •Everywhere one met with courtesy and kindness—in streets and shops and Tailway'stations. It is a grateful memory.

Every lover of mankind is profoundly interested in tho tightening of tho bonds of friendship between American and Britain. The unity of theso two is an indispensable condition of the peace of the world. Conflict between thorn, boforo the great war, would have beon fratricidal; iiow it would be. tho delirium of madness and of hell. And everyone who has a ■particle of wisdom and .the right spirit will do his utmost, howover narrow his sphere and limited his opportunity, to l promote-kindly feelings between the two. This is not always done. Very often it| is hot'dono at all. I havo listened to a good deal.of talk recently nboirt the 'Americans which, wore I a citizen of the great. Republic, would havo made my blood boil. Why will so many Englishmen . and womou—l mean English, not colonials, not oven. Scots—pose as so sn- I porior to all the rest of the world ?_ I cannot, indeed, conceive of an Englishman with the Puritan strain in tho Mood..behaving himself in tho fashion flffltJttseVhfi) raakffiitmj v%7iii«nfc''6f <Ei\£\ lislmuin, rankle in thc-vmMs fiobJonly-' 'of;' Americans, birt; also' of.'tlielipeoples ;pf Europe, of our present. Allies tbo 'Frdnch'.Tas well as'others'.'"'But" there; are■ too many wlio still retain thoposo, This is not.a' small matter: it is in reality a matter of tremendous moment to _ the jrorld'a poaco. Not tbo most bellicose

of rulers, or tortuous of diplomats will induce the peoples of tlio earth to fight,, if they caro for and respect one another. But if they contemn and despise one another— there's the matrix of war, tho emotion's upon which the war lord?'in overy country can play. Surely it is tho imperative duty of eacli and all of us as wo have opportunity. tt> conciliate, and make friends of the-pcopli of the great Western land. Steady cooperation and mutual respect between us and them are tho primary requisites of the peace of the world, and the establishment of the kingdom of God among m«n.