pioneering and the worst” brings tonmind another Southerner who wrotenabout the pioneering mentality, butnwho saw it as especially characteristic ofnrural Southerners.nIn The Mind of the South, WJ.nCash described white Southerners’nfrontier-style individualism, nurturednby the frontier itself, then by the plantationnand Reconstruction. Cash drewncompelling pictures of the plantern”wholly content with his autonomynand jealously guardful that nothingnshould encroach upon it,” of the poorernwhites “as fiercely careful of theirnprerogatives of ownership, as jealous ofntheir sway over their puny domains, asnthe grandest lord,” and of the wholencrowd displaying “intense distrust of,nand, indeed, downright aversion to, anynactual exercise of authority beyond thenbarest minimum essential to the existencenof the social organism.”nIn the South, the great impedimentnto effective environmentalism or evennconservation has not been indifferencento open spaces, the wonders of nature,nand the works of God, but this ethic,nwhich says that what a’ man does withnwhat is his is no concern of yours, andncertainly nof the government’s. Southernersnsuspect that Lord Melbournenwas right when he observed that peoplenwho say something rnust be done generallyncontemplate doing somethingndamned silly — and these days it’s usuallynsomething that expands the powernof the state at the expense of individualsnand their families.n: Two generations after Cash, anothernSouthern journalist described the samenattitude, as it has persisted to the presentnday. “For all the American encroachments,”nRoy Reed wrote in thenNew York Times, the South isninhabited and given [its]ndominant tone by men — andnwomen who acquiesce in thisnmatter—who carry in theirnhearts or genes or livers or lightsnan ancient, God-credited beliefnthat a man has a right to do asnhe pleases. A right to be letnalone in whatever plain ofntriumph he has staked out andnwon for his own. A right to gonto hell or climb to the stars ornsit still and do nothing, just asnhe damn well pleases, withoutnrestraint from anybody else andnmost assuredly withoutninterference from anyngovernment anywhere.nAs Hank Williams Jr. puts it, “A countrynboy can survive.” Charlie Danielsnadds: “If you don’t like the way I’mnliving, just leave this long-haired countrynboy alone.”nNow, ordinarily I admire this attitude,neven share it to a degree. As RoynBlount said once, I wouldn’t want tonlive in a place where there aren’t bulletnholes in the road signs. But Roy Reednspelled out the distressing implications:nIt is no accident that the mostndetermined hold-outs againstnland-use legislation in thenUnited States are countrynpeople from the South. Theynwill take care of their own land,nand let the next man take carenof his. If the next man puts in anrendering plant or a junkyard,nthat is his business.nDoes it come down to a choice betweenna society where free spirits blight thenlandscape and poison each other, or onenwhere the state tells sullen but healthynserfs what they must do? I hope not,nand it’s good to see libertarians andnother anti-statists turning their attentionnDay Care: ChildnPsychology &nAdult Economicsn166 pp.n$9.95 Paperbackn$15.95 Hardcovernto this problem at last. Lord knows Inhave no answer, but if there is one, Insuspect that private organizations likenthe Nature Conservancy and DucksnUnlimited will play an important part.nLet me close with a story that illustratesnthe kind of cultural jujitsu that cannsometimes get you somewhere.nA friend of mine used to live aboutnforty miles north of here. Each deernseason his 70 acres became a free-firenzone. Scores of hunters roamed his landn(as they’d always done before he ownednit), firing high-powered rifles at justnabout anything that moved. Fearing fornthe lives of his dogs and family, henposted “No Hunting/No Trespassing”nsigns time and again, only to see thenhunters riddle them.nThen inspiration struck. He postednsigns that said “Osmond Hunt Club.nMembers Only.” An eerie calm settlednon his place, broken only by the soundnof his doorbell as a steady stream of verynpolite hunters stopped by and asked tonjoin. He says he put them all on thenwaiting list.nJohn Shehon Reed writes fromnChapel Hill, North Carolina,nwhere the road signs arendisturbingly intact.nThe Family Wage:nWork, Gender, andnChildren in thenModern Economyn138 pp.n$11.50 PaperbacknPublished by The Rockford Institute Center on the Family in Americanas part of The Family Research Series.nFor your copy please fill out order form and returnn(Please add $2.50 each tor postage & handling)nName.nD YES, please send mencopy(ies) of The Family Wage: Work, Address.nGender, and Children in the ModemnEconomy at the low price of $11.50nCity_nD YES, please send mencopy(ies) of Day Care: Child Psychol­ State. .Zip,nogy & Adult Economics.nComplete form and mail check or money order tO:nD $15.95 Hardcover D $9.95 PaperbacknThe Rockford Instituten(Please check reference)n934 North Main St.nRockford, IL 61103nnnAUGUST 1990/49n