Wyandot County Republican. [volume] (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1869-1903, 1869-09-09

O-AOiuuO 1uC AOSAO iAOnA SS SO"oo,
to deny him competency as a wit
ness, to deprive him of proprietary
interests in real estate, to shut the
public schools in his face, to pre-
,, vent his admission to skilled in
dustries, to close the circles of all
the professions against him, and
to sum it all up-to keep him down,
to be trampled upon, despised, de-
graded, these have been labors of
love to the Democracy. The fears
Of the working classes were played
upon: the negroes would become
competitors, cheaper the price of
labor, and take the bread out of
their mouths. When time demon
strated that this was false as it was
rascally, and made it so plain that
even the unblushing demagogues no
longer dared to employ it to incite
hostility to the negroes, then the
cry was changed. 1t would never
do to allow the negro civil rights
and political privileges. Dreadful
consequences would ensue; he
would become an equal; amalga-
nation would be generally practic-
ed, and the products of it be a
mongrel race of all shades and
qualities, such as are to be found in
Mexico or the South American
States. This nonsense was talked
till girls were frightened into pro-
cessions, bearing banners praying
their husbands and brothers to pro-
tect them from the awful fate of
negro husbands; and the frame
work of labor organizations was
terrifcally shaken whenever it was
discovered that a black man had
had the audacity to adopt any pro-
fession or calling hitherto monopo
lized by the whites.
But what has this to do with De-
mocracy in California, you ask.
Precisely this: the Chinaman is the
California negro, and Democracy
there has been as Industrious in
stirring the prejudices of the igno-
rant against him, as in the Atlantic
States it has been Jealous in cult
waiting intolerance and preserving
undemocratic distinctions. To this
inscriptions policy, Democracy
owes it's aseendency in California.
The Congress just closed afforded
an excellent opportunity for the
demagogues to make use of the.
Chinese question, to frighten the
whites of the State with the idea of
an overwhelming influx of the Ce-
lestial negro, and an industrial COM
petition that would drive every
American out of the State who
could not make up his mind to stay
and starve We are used to this
sort of twaddle in Ohio, about the
free negroes who would flock across
the river if emancipated in the bor
dering. slave States. But it is not
worn out in California. Senator
Casserlv, for instance, devoted near
ly the whole of his speech, deliv-
cred in San Francisco on the 2Sth
of July, to the Chinese question in
connection with the Fifteenth
Amendment,and Senator Hendricks,
of Indiana, made it the keynote of
the speech delivered by him, in the
same city, at the great ratification
meeting Of the 21st Of August. All
Mr.. Hendricks had to do was to
strike out the word "negro" from
the old campaign speeches in In
diana, and write in the word ''Chi-
naman,'' to adopt as admirably
there as he had done here, to the
passions, the prejrdices, and the
apprehensions of the uniformed
masses. The burden of both the
speakers was that, if the Fifteenth
Amendment should be ratified, not
only the negroes, but the Asiatics,
might become citizens Of the United
States, and the word swhitc," in the
Constitution of California, lose it's
force as a bar to citizenship there
The dreadful consequences Of max
ing American citizenship attainable
to the Chinese, the value of whose
industry neither had the face to
deny, were painted in the colors
with which we are all familiar, and
the conclusion was reached that
the only way to secure California
from the impending calamity, which
would involve every white man in
the State in ruin, was to support the
Democratic ticket, aud elect Leg
islature which would vote down the
amendment and keep the white
mans Government intact.
The essential spirit of this is
Know-Nothingisr. AS the Ameri-
can party aimed to practically do
away with naturalization. and keep