Holmes County farmer. [volume] (Millersburg, Ohio) 1857-1926, 1865-07-06
About Negro suffrage ana the
Soldiers Vote

i -
BIue; There appear TO be symptoms that
the Boys in Blue aforesaid are not quite as
tractablc to home party orders and influcn-
ccs as was hoped and expected Tho B. in
b. show signs of having opinions of their
own, and not opinions merely, but a sense
OF interest not unaccompaned by some ca
pacity for Independent political gcnoralsbip.
Having been taught at pretty heavy ex-
penso, while they were in the army, that
they were important political elements, they
90 not now, they are out, feel at liberty to
forget It.. We remember suggesting to our
Republican brethren that they were fabri-
cating Tools with which they might, by and
by. cut themselves {; but the lofty scorn
with which these suggestions were received.
soon warned us of the unsafety of continu.
ing that line of remark.
:, 1t now begins to stick out that the B. in
B., with all the facilities which they have
enjoyed for personal contact with the me-
groes, have not learned to love them as
friends, to respect them as equals, or to
honor them as follow-laborers with them
selves, in the great cause of human liberty,
That education in ''the principles of the
Declaration of independence" which it was
anticipated, intimacy with the colored per-
son would confer upon the white, has not
been, in any degree, realized. We remem.
Der very well how much was predicted upon
that score, and how many were the contri-
vanccs to bring the two races together, in
the belief that mutual labors, dangers, suf-
ferings, successes and enioyments, would
beget mutual loves and friendships. The
thing has not worked as was anticipated.
The more the white soldier has seen of the
negro, whether in or out of the blue, the
less he has reished the idea of being put
upon level with him, socially or political
ly. The African is just as much pariah
now as he was before he is even more Sc.
The Boston philanthropist is very free to
associate with him-theoreticauy but the
class of which soldiers are made wants moth
ing to do with them.
The. body of productive laborcrs of the
United. Statcs--the class from which the
soldiers are taken-understan perfectly,
that to set the negro upon level with them
selves, is not to raise him, but to put them
down, Now, they are not looking down
ward, but upward !. and it is in the latter,
not IN the former direction, that they pro-
pose to travel. If they have been fighting
for country and lberty-as it is affirmed
they have-ii it is to their pcrils and sacri-
fees that the people of the north owe the
safety and comfort which they have enjoyed
during the. past four years of National peril
Il 1t IS to them that We, the people of the
North, are indebted for home, freedom,
country, wealth and security, amid the hor-
rors of war; ; if it is their bosoms that have
been the. bulwarks of our women, children,
non combatants, office holders, contractors,
pcculators and swindlers, it is right that
they should look upward. They are enti-
tied to stand by the side of those whom they
have defended; and when swinding con-
tractor or notorious treasury thief rolls in
wealth, expands with luxury, and haunts
the fnery, purchased by his ill-gottcn rich
es, III their faces, they are entitled to inquire
why it is that all the loss and labor has fall
en- to their share, and all the gain and re-
creation to his.
One hundred and sixtyfvo millions of
dollars annually, at the lowest calculations
is the sum that is intended to be drawn out
of the earnings Of this laboring class, to be
paid into the hands of this capitalist class
for all time to come. The soldier returns
home from his camp and his battle field to
find himself mortgaged He left free man;
he comes back serf; Sentenced to "two
hours additional labor per day." to pay the
cost Of his own fighting; and to pay it to
those who have been growing rich, while he
has been growing poor, Instead of rcmov-
| ing the gap between him and the class above
him, he has been making it wider Capital
Is richer than it was before, and labor is
poorer; and in this country, where money is
both power and rcspectability, the differ
ence between the old and the new condition,
is one that he will not be slow to perceive.
1t is on the cards that there is to be war
in this country, between labor and capital:
not, perhaps, war in the military, but one
in the political arena. Philanthropy is pre-
pairing for it. Philanthropy, which. of late,
meant cnmty to Southern, now means con-
servatism of Northern wealth 1t counts
upon the negro vote, on its side, to coun-
tcrbalance the vote Of the white laborcr, on
the other. The productive workman the
North, transformed, for the purpose, into a
soldier, has been employed to let loose a
scrvllc element abroad, which is now to be
used to change him and his order into o
seryile element at home. The question is
Will he permit it? If he does, he will de-
serve all the consequences.
In this aspect of the case, our Republican
contemporaries say well, when they say that
the question of negro suffrage is "the only
vital issue Of the day" 1t is the great is
sue; because it involves not merely the
right OF the negroes to vote, but the right
of white men to be. We do not say that,
to give the franchise to the negroes, will,
surely, bring the white laborcrs Of the North
to state of impotency and serfdom but
We do say that it will throw serious obsta-
cles in the way of extricating themselves
from those burdens which are inevitable
dcgredation, personal, social and political.
The Republican party lodged this issue
at Columbus, but they did not abandon it.
1t is just as much an issue now, as if it had
been declared. Tho leaders of the party can
not abandon it if they would, and would
not if they could. The question is just az
much question to be tried at the next cleo
ton, as fit had been put forth in the pro.
grammc; and a Republican victory will not
only be claimed as decision in favor of ne
gro suffrage, but it will be used as such. If
the soldiers Of Ohio do not want the negroes
to be placed upon an equality with them
selves, they had better not vote with the
Republican party.
| There is more in this matter than at first
sight appears. 1t is not every body who
knows of the secret attempts that have been
made by high leaders of that party, to in
duce prominent Democrats to drop this is
sue and let the negro come into the politi-
cal body, without opposition. The approa-
ches, of course, are upon the side of inter
est. The Democratic party has it's capital
lists and public creditors as well as the Re
publican and capital, wherever it may be
found, is conservative Of itself. We do not