Wyandot County Republican. [volume] (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1869-1903, 1869-05-13
A Fair Field and Free Fight for
the FreeGulan

4 u .
and Trust Company amount at this
time to S1.15O429. or fraction
over seventy six dollars to each
depositor. A Southern correspond
ent of the New York Commercial
Advertiser is of the opinion that
were the freedmen to deposit the
gold, silver and currency they have
boarded away, the aggregate would
reach not less than S2O,00O.OOO.
This, ofcourse, is loose estimate,
and there are no data by which to
test its accuracy. But it is the
general testimony that the negroes.
demoralized by the war. and their
transition from bondage to freedom.
are rapidly resuming their old
habits of industry. and are learning
to husband their earnings. The
complaints of their idleness, shift
lessness, and hecdlessness are
dying away. The planters, too,
hegin to perceive that the induce
ment of fair wages promptly paid
is more potent than 1.-The physical
stimulus which. it was asserted al,
the close of the war, was ilnper
ativelv essential to induce the negrr
to take up the hoe and go to work
| There IRE doul,tleS IS thousands
among them who are, as q CORES
p ,ndent asserted, absolutely worth :
less" But anon the races #
men where is one to be found Of
which the same may not he said
So many predictions have hee,
made by theorists who believe tie
negro's normal condition to he tia
of slavery, and disappointed b.
actual experiment, it is time they
should be modest and wait for til,
developments Of the future. The
freedmen have not lapsed into bar
barism. nor have they become, t.,
any large extent. paupers and
6urdens upon the State, nor have
they shown a stronger repugnancs
to labor than any other race wou d
re likely to exhibit if put in the
same condition. On the contrary,
they have manifested a desire for
education that has surprised those
Who believed them capable of ac
1niring it. Comparatively few are
paniers and beggars, and when the,
'ave been treated kindly and pai,i
promptly they have labored with
as much steadinesS ard industry .s
any other class of men.
We insist only that they shall
have q fair chance, and tHa5 nu
greater obstacles shall he put in tlie
way Of their advancement than arr
opposed to the advancems ut o,
a. Y class Of men. Let them hav,
the protection Of equal laws, afford
them the white mans orportunit.
to acquire property, give them
equally with the whites, tree schools
for their children, open to them tn,
avenues Of trade and commerce, att
if they aspire to become lawyers
doctors, divines, or seek to enter
any of the professions, do rot bai
The door in their faces. In short
put before them the same oppurti.
mites and inducements to be indus
,rious, to accumulate property. t.,
acquire education, to accomplish
themselves in specialties, that art
before every white boy and man il
this Country, and then if they f;ii.
the responsibility will be theirs
Unless that is done, it can be justl,
claimed ny them, that an inpartla
sest of their capacity had not beef
had.
We do not plead for special ad
vantages and privileges for them
but We do Insist, before judgment i
passed, that there shall ue fai
trial-nothing more, and nothin,
less. This, we believe, will b'
needed To them in the Southern
Sta es sooner than in the anti-sia
. very Commonwealth. " lille th'
negro was slave there. he wa
treated as slave, and legislation
shaped Of course by those who has
an interest in keeping him in tha
condition., denied TO him all thing
: that might have tendency to ren
der him discontented with his con
> dition. But being free. the sam
interests that combined to max
him useful as slave, Will comhln
10 increase his usefulness as II Cit
zen. The Southern whites hav
only to lie convinced that he ha
the capacity to become suinethln
better than u chattel, and they WI
unite to assist him in his progres
. and Improvement, for it will be
4 their social, industrial, aud perlap
their political interest to do SO.
In the South the relations of tn
two classes have been revolution
lzed by the war. In the North the
have been but slightly modiie,
> Here is a lrejudice of race, not {
caste, as in the South, and the bon
b Of tnat prejudice remains unbrokel
Hence the conviction that the fai
R. est opportunity for the develol
ment oil the negro will ultimatel
be given in the States where he w;
but recently held us slave, bl
:. treated with less prejudice Oh rae
and color than i'll the free Nortl
There is, o-day, for instance, MOI
. unrelenting opposition to negr
suffrage in indiana and Ohio, tina
=, in conservative Virginia or Demo
ne cratic .Mississippi-Cin. Comme,
n cial, 9Th.
10 .MY son hold up your head an
r tell me who was the stronge