The Daily state journal. [volume] (Alexandria, Va.) 1868-1874, 1873-04-25
FRIDAY EvEG. APRIL 25, 1873.

THE DISPATCH would play most
adroitly upon the prejudices Of the more
ignorant of its own party, in propounding
certain inquiries to The JOURNAL on the
subject of negroes holding office in this
city, and elsewhere in the state. Our posi-
ton has been repeatedly stated, and
more frequently in reply to The Dispatch
than to any other journal in the state. In
our reply to its article Of to-day, we will
endeavor to make ourself so entirely I'M
derstood that no further inquiry on this
head need be pushed, at least for the pre-
sent. After quoting paragraph from
our yesterdays issue, our contemporary
says:
THE STATE JOURNAL knows that in Richm ond
there is only one ward in which the Radicals
have q majority. At the last popular election
for councilmen this ward elected four negroes
and but one white man. One fact such as this
outweighs all the theories of The STATE jour
NAL.
But this fact is chicken of its own par
ty Matching, and at least one gentle
men connected with The Dispatch PROM
nentlY aided in setting the ''fowl'' which
did the Matching. 1t so gerrymanderod
the city as to make the ward in question
largely colored one, giving as "a
reason therefor that the Conservatives
preferred to have one ward represented
in the city council by negroes than by pestif-
erous carpet-baggers. How the fact, as
stated by our neighbor, outweighs any
theory ever advanced by us, is decidedly
the conundrum Of the season. We have
painfully racked our wits over it, and are
compelled. after not less than three hours
close cogitation, to "give it up" We
positively cannot excogitate it, although
esteemed by our friends especially good"
at conundrums. uaa
But The Dispatch follows us up, in the
conundrum line, with the following close
paragraph:
Again: The election of a Radical council,
mayor, and other officials in this city, would re
suit in putting number of negroes upon the
police force of Richmond and would thus place
the negro over the white man. 1t would by no
means conduce to good order thus TO elevate the
negro,yet it would certainly follow Radical sue
cess here. So also we should have a Radical
deputy sergeant; and possibly fifty negroes in
various positions of one sort and another. We
refer The Journal to the case of Petersburg
This paragraph is full of meat, and ap-
parently of an indigestible sort, in the
estimation of The Dispatch. But we pro-
pose to cook it on a Conservative gridiron,
and see how our neighbor relishes its fla
vor. But we will first remark that we do
not see how the placing of negro on the
police force of the city elevates him over
the white man, any more than the appoint
ment of a negro as door-keeper to the
General Assembly places him over the
white members of that deliberative body.
The difficulty with The Dispatch is, that
it regards the latter position more
nseziat one than the former, and, hence,
ifs sensibilities are not at all shocked
by having the one office filled by negro,
while they would be excrutiatingly over
come by having the other so filled. This is
altogether a matter of prejudice and false
education. The one position is just as in
trinsically mental as the other, the only
difference being that the one officer more
directly serves the public than the other.
But let us grill The Dispatches steak on
its own gridiron. The Conservative city
council of Richmond has, on more than one
occasion, filled the Office of councilman.
by the election Of a negro in place
of a white man. The Conservative party
in several counties in the state ran
negroes four years ago, on the "Walker
ticket" in the hope of getting colored
Conservative members of the General AS
sembly. The Conservative party gerry
wandered the city Of Richmond less than
four years ago, to get negro councilmen in
the place of white men, in the management
of our city government. The Conserva-
tive party has repeatedly addressed itself to
the prejudlces of the negro to get his vote
on election day, and would do so again
and over and over again-if his general
intelligence did not stand in the way of
Conservative success in that direction.
The Dispatch refers to the case of Peters
burg as an evidence that the Republican
party seeks to place the negro over the
white man. The fact that that city has. in
part, colored police, is, in our judgment,
no evidence that the party seeks anything
of the sort. Does the fact that the Con-
sentative party in this city places a very
large relative proportion of Irishmen on
the police force, show any purpose on its
part to place Irishmen over Americans in
this country? We should make ourself
very ridiculous in preierring any such
charge as this, or in considering ourselves
degraded by having an intelligent and
Irishman placed "over" us
as a policeman, in the sense of The
Dispatches article. In point of fact,
he is not placed over as at all, but only
over rascals, knaves. villains, cut-purses.
etc., without regard to race, color. or
previous condition." We intend no dis
respect to Irishmen in this comparison.
as they make some of the best and most
OIL L.