The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1872-10-03

inscriptions over wagons loaded with
young ladies: !" Fathers, save us from
negro husbands!" g Brothers, protect
us from negro equality !" which burn
ed negro orphan asylums, and hung
negro, women to lamp-posts: which
has destroyed negro school houses ali
through the South, and is the breath of
life In the nostrils of the demons of
the Kuklux. Applause.
{ Again, Governor Brown assails tho
reconstructed State Governments as
having been organized by carpet-bag-
gers, plunderers, and adventures,
who went down there. to steal, and re-
manned only until they were goreed:
then to return to the North with their
stolen goods. In all this there is but d
small element of truth, and for that
element nobody is responsible but the
friends of Governor Brown, North and
South. When the work of reconstruc-
ton began under the laws of Congress.
nearly all those who had been enqag.
ed In the rebellion refused to take part
in it; stood aloof, declared the action
of Congress unconstitutional, and pro-
fessed to wash their hands of the whole
business. In some States refusing even
to vote one way or the other, but in Ill
unanimously opposing reconstruction.
That necessarily threw the work of re-
construction into the hands Of the col
ored men, the few white men of the
South called .'scalawags," and those
who enligrated from the North to the
South, called "carpet-baggers.n Ifthe
nOlificioye IF tho So,,tk "a 4 - =. .IIs
stupid malice, refused h take p1ft IN
reconstruction, tbs s0rcalled acarpSt.
baSg ers z Of the Worth would have had
little to do with it, and the State gov
ernments of the South would from the
first have been in the hands of the late
rebels, the friends now of Governor
Brown. But when they stood afar OF.
and did everything In their power to
oppose, the work of reconstruotionh had
to be done by those into whose hands
it fell, or not be done at all. Doubt-
less some of these ,so-called carpet
baggers were not proper persons
Were adventures seeking their own
fortunes; but others, and the majority
of them, were true emigrants, and
would have remained in the South and
become her most valuable citizens, as
many have done anyhow, had they not
been prosecuted at every step by their
REBEL ENEMIES, STA
bounded on by Northern allies. The
new States of the Union have general
ly been filled with carpet baggers and
even Governor Brown is said to have
carpet-bagged from Kentucky into
Missouri. Our country belongs to
each citizen his rights are not circum-
scribed by State, and the howl against
carpet-baggers is craven cry which
ought never 10 pass the lips of an Amer.
lean statesman. Applause.l
That there has been corruption i'm
some Of the State governments OF the
South is undoubtedly true. 1t would
be strange ifthere had not been, when
we consider the circumstances under
which they sprang into life but that IL
has been grossly and UNANIMOUSLY ex-
aggerated for party purposes is also
true. The accounts given by Governor
Brown of taxation in the South for the
support of the State governments. and
the debts created by those govern
ments, are SO exaggerated as to excite
my profound Establishment. He saws
that these governments have increa sei
the debts Of the Southern states Qua
chiefly during the present A dminisfra-
ton, to the extent Of Sl6S. OOO ON Rmt
lest i be accused Of MISREPRESENTATION.
l will quote from his speech in this
city the following passage:
"Will it be received by you, then, as
tighten the burdens of the nennle to
learn that upon these imnnver;shad
communities there las been ina;cted
without any visible nnhIic rotnr,, o"I
principally since this NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
was inaugarated, $l6S. 600 GOO Of deht .
And in his sneech 1T Snr;nnf;o,d 10
charges that this increase ep of5s btlu w nS
in every part d theft ana rohherv hw
the scoundrels placed IN charra ~ N.
State governments. as he alleges hv tho
direct influence and connivance ~ A.
Republican party. The whole stasa.
ment, Of Governor Brown fills me viii
amazement, and / am wholly al, loss To
understand how any gentleman in liz
position dares to make snch dacjo,oS
lions. [Applause.l - s.,9'N' Il
In the first place, the men having
control of the State governments of fbe
South we've not placed there nv the al
ministration ofGeneral Grant. or the
Republican party of the nation. INIT
Were elected by the people Of those
States. =
In the next place, he oyerstates the
amount of Indebtedness CONTRACTED bv
the eleven Southern States since recon.
struction to the extent Of $37, Goa. COO
The detailed statement embraced in The
report Of the Kuklux COMMITTEES ia the
Senate, page 214, shows "Increase of
debt and all Liabilities, contingent and
prospective, since reconstruction. Sl3I.-
7l7,777,S1."
In the third place, Governor Brown
supprcsses the Important and all com
trolling fact that all of this indebted
ness, except about thirty millions Of
dollars has been contracted for the
purpose of building railroads in those
States. When they were reconstruct