Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1867-04-10
The Democracy after the Negro.

the Dem ocracy OF the United States have been
after the negro, with firearms. bowie-knives, and
blood hounds, to prevent him from escaping from
slavery. Facts will yet be adduced and hied on
record, to show that slavery in the Southern
States of the Union was the most inhuman. beast
ly and degrading system of bondage ever known
in the history Of the world. This entire system
was a natural out growth of so-called American
Democracy. The Democratic party leaders of
the country taught their adherents to hate and
brutali,e the negro as slave. This has been
their chief stock in trade through more political
campaigns than we can remember; and their
standing and most prominent argument against
their opponents of late years has been that they
were the snigger party" the the 'wooliy heads,
the black Republicans" The great Republican
organization, however disI egardng this senseless
abuse of its adversaries, moved steadfast'y for
ward to the accomplishment of its purpose, until
victory, overwhelming and glorious, perched
upon its banuers-its crowuiug achievement: being
in preventing the Union being destroyed by the
traitorous cohorts of slavery. The rebellion hav-
ing changed the status of the negro. and now tha
impartial suffrage is on the eve Of becoming
fixed fact, the Democratic politicians, and Demo
cratic newspapers. are preparing, in hot haste, TO
take advantage of the situation. The New York
World, which furnishes the brains and the ideas
for the rest of its party, recently devoted more
than entire page to = laudatory notice of the
negroe. of New York, and negroes generally. fol-
lowing up its elaborate discussion by political
editorial commenting and fully endorsing its
descriptive article. The World particularly
compares the negro with the Erish, and declares
that in ell essentials they better citizens
That all may see that we do not misrepresent, we
quote the exact language of the Word. In the
following extract the World asserts the affinity
between negro men and Irish women:
"Itisa q som ewhat markable fact that. although
between an lrisbman and black man an antip-
athy is presumed to exist yet between tbs Irish
women and the negro there exists q decided a1fH-
tky. In majority of cases of miscegenation, the
parties are black on one side and Irish on the
bother. As general rule, also, miscegenators
m brace tn low est specimen Of each though
in many cases precisely the reverse statement
holds true"
Next in the following extract. the Void asserts
that the negroes are cleaner than their white
neig ghb bors Of the wards and localities, which
wards and localities the great Irish centres
in New York:
s'But there is one fact concerning the personnel
of the black man and woman which Is not gen.
orally known or believed. but which Is, neyerthe-
less a truth tha practical experience will teach
any disinerested observer of the IN atter-the fact
that the blacks as a class, are. in their personal
habits more tidy and clean than the lower or
corresponding class of whites. Ofcourse, negroes
in tn Five Poi ats dirty-very dirty-but
the whites in the same locality and to great
er degree. liz certain portions of the Fifth and
Eighth wards, in Thorn pon street and Laurens
street and in other sections of the city great filth
accompanies great Poverty among the blacks as
among all other human beings but taken as
whole, our staten ent keeps good. In Amity Lane,
for instance. in the houses where the negroes
live, though everything is poor everything is
clean while ID any houses in Sullivan street would
In the West iocaities It is found that the great
| est filth abounds where the low blacks miscege-
| nate and live with the yet lower whites; in
certain portions of Laurens street and numerous
| other neigh borhoods. This may not be very
| fattering fact-but it is fact neverthsless-and
| this statement may possibly serve to dissipate
| the popular notion of the odor of the negro it
IN be positively stated that he, in this respect,
is like the white-a free negro being free from it.
| and foul one cursed by il.
Then, in the following extract. the World claims
that the negroes are less addicted to crime than
the white people of the localities in which they
! live: 90
| "A. race the negroes of New York, consider
| ed from police point OF view, are better class
/ of citizens than the lower grades of whites. AS
just remarked. negro or negress Is brought be-
fore the courts occasionally for theft occasionally
| rarely for drunkenness or murder. But as
class the negroes give the police comparatively
little trouble This is the almost universal testi-
mcny of patromen, sergeants, captains and super
| ntendants and we publish it as at least
| approximation to the truth. The reason of this
| may be that the negro is naturally a weak and
inofensive being that the blacks have: as yet.
! had opened to them eomperatively few avenues
| OF crime the cause may be, as the admirers
| of the negro claim, that he is by nature more
| pure and worldly than the white (Which latter
| idea is "dou btful,' exceedingly y Atany rate
the fact is as we have recorded few "colored"
criminals have, however, rendered themselves
notorious to the police
| It will be seen from the above extracts that the
/ Democracy are still after the negro. The black
man free. in the estimation of the New York
| Worid, is q better, cleaner, reliable,
! faithful, true, virtuous, sober and industrious
| man than the Irishman. Shades of the Democ
racy so long upheld by the Irish, hear it not.
| A SPECK OF WAR-The New York Her.
| AIDS correspondence, dated February 2Sth,
says Turkey is concentrating her hosts of