Northern Residents

This information was first published in 1888:

NORTHERN RESIDENTS. 

THE Northern man figures prominently in the population of Charlotte. Some of our largest property owners and manufacturers are Northerners. Sectional feeling does not prevail here, and the Northern man is not only welcomed, but is taken into the home circle and made to feel like he is one of us. Nearly all the Charlotte residents of Northern birth are prosperous and well to do, and have found nothing but kindness at the hands of our people.

THE VERDICT OF NORTHERN RESIDENTS 

THE northern residents of the South held a convention in Charlotte, on January 15th, 1879, and as a result of their convention they issued a pamphlet giving a great deal of information about this section of the country, for the benefit of their friends in the North. They drew up a paper setting forth the facts in regard to this section as they had found them, giving their observations up­on the capabilities of the Southern country, the agricultural, min­eral and manufacturing resources, the society and the spirit of the people. The paper was signed by every mem­ber of the convention, nearly one hundred in number, who pledged themselves "to stand upon its truth by their signatures thereto."

It is appropriate that we should here reproduce a portion of the paper —it is too voluminous to be copied entire—for it is evidence from those who have dwelt among us and have found our land a goodly one. They are all Northern born people, and after living among us until they knew us well, they met in convention and gave public expression to their views.  In their paper they say, among other things:

"We, the representatives of Northern settlers in the Southern States, and being ourselves immigrants from localities in the Northern States to the respective States following our individual signatures, in convention assembled, do call your attention to the following, feeling assured that cool judg­ment upon the facts shown will set in flow the currents of reason, and action will follow reason without prejudice. We prefer to make findings specifically and at length, and we find:

"That in the States of our former homes there exists an active prejudice against the South and its people; that this prejudice is mighty in its influence for evil on the nation; that by it and through it the conditions of the country are largely disquieted; that it is fomented and kept alive for ends ulterior to the common weal; that the real interests of the nation are kept out of sight in keep­ing alive this prejudice. That much of this prejudice, if not all of it, is due mainly to wrong information concerning (and partial and total ignorance of) the facts existing in a large portion of the South, that in the portions of the South in which we reside, the right of any man, from no matter where, to express publicly as well as privately, his opinion upon any subject and of every nature, is nowhere and in no manner restrained. That all laws are well administered and as truly enforced against the wrongdoer as in any part of any State of the Union; that any man who has so conducted himself at his former home as to win the regard of honest men and decent people, by pursuing the same course of life in the South, does gain and keep the regard and respect of all people, regardless of any question of politics or religious faith; and we further find that being a North­ern man is certainly no disadvantage; that every citizen recognizes that he is amenable to the law, and that local self government is as much required and encroachments upon these as much deplored as in any State, North, East or West. That we find, too, that persons foisted themselves upon the polity of the South, and by their conduct cast discredit upon the Northern name; that those of us who were in the army of the Union never for a moment pretended to think of denying our uniform or the old cause. The Confederate soldier has always evinced the true soldier instinct in the grasp of those who were his enemies in war; that, considering reputed outrages, if these were carefully sifted, it will be found that the complainants for like acts would have suffered at the hands of any people under like provocation; that in business relations the ex-Confederate is willing to sell his land on time to Northern men, even to people who could not get the same accommodations at the North, East or West. We find, too, that in the ramifications of business they endorse our notes and bank paper, and are not over-anxious or inquisitive on questions of extension, and they frequently say, 'It is as much our interest as yours that you should succeed, and by your success help fill the country with thrifty people.' That as neighbors they visit our firesides and welcome us to the privileges of public worship, and sympathize in our sorrows and afflictions; that they admire sturdy integrity and real prin­ciple; that their definition of what these things are corresponds with the idea of the same our neighbors of the North held in common with us. We find that we are not tabooed nor subjected to any kind of persecution for proper conduct or good Northern ideas or principles, and though differing from many of our Southern neighbors on many essential questions in politics and otherwise, we have lived and prospered here among them, they knowing these differences.

''We find that any man who has the energy to go West, with limited means, and trusts to his energy and the smiles of Providence, and who succeeds there, could take the same energy and trust and have greater certainty of success in the South. He has no grasshoppers, nor enduring ice, nor snow, nor blasting drought, nor violent winds. His wants are fewer, his hardships less. A generous soil is his, producing well, and capable of being worked in during any month of the year; fine forests of wood of various kinds, minerals of all kinds, marble, granite, sandstone, and all other building and ornamental fabrics in abundance, fine water power, and a diversified scenery. A climate always moderate, no sultry nights which leave him more exhausted than on his retiring; the noon-day sun of summer so tempered that its heat is not oppressive and rarely rising to a temperature of 98 degrees Farenheit; the winds moderate and without sharp contrasts of change. Any man, then with the pluck to make of himself a Western pioneer, can within less than ten years, in this country, where all things tend to man's good health and prosperity, surround himself with lands and stock, and have a fine income with less privation than in many portions of the Union.

"We find that a man with means enough to keep himself on a farm or in a small industry until he matures a crop, can get very liberal terms of time payment on lands at low prices from the native population, and that with a properly directed energy and industrious and sober habits he cannot fail to live very comfortably and accumulate property.

"We find that no man is ostracised for his opinions or on account of the land of his birth; but, as elsewhere, for his bad acts and dishonest failure to meet his trusts and obligations. We find, too, that it is a mistake to treat suspiciously, or to ignore the kindly offices of neighborly friendship, in all cases extended to a stranger, and that sometimes persons have repelled kindness and then complained of being let alone. The Southern native expects Northern people to have notions on politics and other topics different from his, and views with as much contempt as is elsewhere done, any man who truckles or toadies for simple gain.

"We find that to the people of the other sections of the United States, the South is an unknown land so far as relates to a knowledge of its soil, its climate, its healthfulness and its people, that it is libelled for partisan ends; and we present this document in all conscience and honor to give honest knowledge and correct wrong reports.''