The south-western. [volume] (Shreveport, La.) 1852-1870, 1867-03-20
What Will the South Do9

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From the New York World.
/ From all shat know of the temper and views OF
the Southern people, there little risk Of error in pre-
dieting that they will take steps towards reorgans
ing their State governments under military recon-
sruction BILL 1t is needless puate the grounds
OF this opinion, for they are sufficiently we'll known
1t is for those whose local position and habitual inter
course with the Southern mind give them better OPP
portpntes of judging, decide whether the present
attitude of the South is fixed that lapse of time
nor coniuncture of shake change it. If
so, the policy of the South is simple and clear and
their advantages for parrying the intended coercion
not inconsderable But unless this immovabe and
indvsble fxty Of purpose can be counted upon with
degree of assurance amounting to certainty the
sooner new line of action is chaked out the better
for ALL In other words if the South has any
to distrus its own frness it had better yield in 1867
than at some future time.
This point is of such fundamental concern that we
trust shall be pardoned for bringing it clearly into
the foreground. The interests involved are of sneh
momentous magnitude, that it would be fatal blum
der for the Southern people mistake transient will
fulness for immovable determination If the South is
eper to accept OF negro Suffrage it it is eus to reer
ganise its State governments under Federal dctatlo
if it to ratfy the pending restoration there
manifest advantages in not posponing till auother
year what they may be brought to do at last We
far enough from advising that the South should vol
unfairly submit to hagrant in Justice and humiliang
subjugaton. On the question whether they will give
as between submission now and submission at some
future time (supposng future Submission to be posi-
I ble,1 views clear, and rest upon grounds
that to solid that should fail in our du-
ty If we withheld them.
Whatever may be the ultimate basis on which this
great controversy is settled there be advantages
in the early adoption of that basis The crippled bus
interests of the South ought to be lifted out of
the stagnation caused by the existing uncertainty To
postpone reconstruction under Siermans bill for the
sttuion, would be wise and reasonable delay. But to
postpone reconstruction the plan to adopt the
same similar plan three five years
hence would be short-sighted passionate folly. Ev-
cry year OF military government. puts back the
peraton of the South and (wha is worse) accustoms
the Federal Government aud the Northern people to
the dangerous practice of domination. The losses and
dangers thus entaled may be reasonably accepted in
the persistent pursuit of compensating ends; butno
gracously-not as hatng place at which the South
only loses tme property and quiet to enter at last
; on the same repudiaed path. AS between the Sher
man bill pure aud simple, and the Sherman bill plus
several years Of additional distraction, reasonable
people should not hesitate.
If the Southern States to reorganise under
the Sherman bill, they should do so this year, and
thereby gain the advantage of participating in the
next presidential election. II they form State
constitutions during the sumner and autumn, and pre-
sent them to Congress or acceptance at next winters
session. their sixty or seventy votes may determine
shut them out completely, and might be the means of
subecng them to four years more of radical tyranny.
If they should reorganse next year their constitutions
could not be submitted to Congress fer approval un
til after the presidential election is past. The South
has far deeper stake than any of at the North in
rescuing the Government from radical control, and
their electoral would in all probability turn the
scale We do not advise the Southern people to seize
this advantage if they feel ultimate triumph
by other means; but, unless they are unchangeably
i,.Jl I,+ l,,l
in the hand try what luck they will have in beating
the BUSH -.
As to negro suffrage, which suppose to be the
most odous feature of the scheme, the mode
Of reasoning is applicable If negro suffrage can be
permanently prevented, there is sense in fighting it;
but if the South is to concede it at last it would be bet
ter to accept it at once Whatever may be the ulti-
I mate decision, it seems tolerably certain that during
the provisional period, while the South is held under
martial law, there will be negro suffrage anyway In
every State except South Caroiua the whites out
number the blacks, and if they united they
elect all the officers. 1t is the purpose Of the radicals
to schism in the white vote, and by reiGforc
ing their part of it with the negroes, to control
the elections. If the Southern people promptly accept
the Situation, they Illustrate this desg 1t there
be negro suffrage las there will be at least dur
ing the period of military rule,j it is preferable to
make the best Of what cannot be he ped 1t is better
to welcome the negro vote and control it, than by in
efectual resistance to and exasperae the negro
nlnd thus surrender 1t political tool
hands Of the radicals
The interest of the negroes is the interest of their
section, and they easily be made to perceive it.
tax of three cents pound cotton is as bad for the
black cotton-grower as for the white. A protective
tariff raising the price of goods for the benefit of Yam
kee manufacturers tends to clohe negroes in rags as
we'll to impoverish their white neghbors. The skill
of the Southern politicians will enable them to control
the negro vote easily they have always controlled
the white vote, provided they begin in season, before
the radicals manipulate the negro mind into subservi-
encv ard nnoculate with hatred of the white ma
oty. This consideration loses its force, if negro suf
frage to be but temporary but if is to be finally
acquiesced in by the Southern people, the sooner the
better.
We do not doubt that, in the end, the Southern
people could battle the radicals by simple steady per-
sistence. But for this policy to prevail, they be
substantially unanimous. Mere perseverance without
unity will profit nothing. If the Southern people split
on this question, the dissenting minority will unite with
the negroes and with them, become ma jolity,
re0rganse the State, and get admitted to Congress.
Whether this can be permanently prevented are
no Judges and Southern ellowcitiZen are It all
depends upon whether the whole Southern people are
sound to the and intlexibly resoute If enough
of them finally yield to make with the negroes
orty, all the intermediate opposition will be loss of
time, temper, quiet and material prosperity, without
any compensating advantage. They ought either
stand firm and stand together, or else take time by
the foreocs and make the best of what cannot be
helped. If they going to blaser now and yield
by and by, they will draw upon themselves the evils
of both lines Of policy, and secure the advantages OF
neither.
INVENTOR OF GAS LlGHT.-The credit of orisina-
ting light by gas is generally supposed to belong to
the English but there doubt that they took the
hint from French source. Philippe lie Bon, rse
NOUS engineer of roads ndbEdges in France in 1885,
adopted the idea of using for the purpose Of lum-
alton the gases distilled during the combustion of
wood. He labored long time in the attempt to per-
feet his crude invention, and it was not until 1899 that
he confded his discovery to the Institute Paris. In
September 1900, he took out patent, and in 1901