New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1874-11-02
ALABAMA.
CONSERVATIVE VICTORY CONSIDERED
CERTAIN.

prprTRIICANS SUCCEED-lHE fNAtb ioocE hrfi
ALIVE BY THE oFFICE-HoIDERs' PARTY-AN IN
CREASE IN THE DEMOCRATIC NEGRO VOTE Ex-
prcrrp-A POSSIBILITY THAT THE CoNsERvA-
r,vr MAJORITY WILL EXCEED TEN THOUSAND
40 GAIN LIKELY FOR EITHER SIDE IN THE
CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION.
,xno> THE SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT OF THE TRIBUNE.
MoxrconERY, Ala. Oct. 2s-The political cam
,,.;,n now closing in Alabama has been of the
most bitterly contested aud intensely exciting in
the recent history of the State The Democratic and
Conservative party which, as everybody will
admit. comprises almost all the wealth and
intelligence of the State, entered the canvass
actuated by very much the same spirit evinced by
The boy who said he had got to catch the woodcbuck
because there was nothing at home to eat they felt
that il was absolutely necessary for them to carry
the election this year to save themselves from ruin
and bankruptcy. 1t is easy task to convey to the
Northern mind any idea of the intensity of the
interest which the people of this State feel in this
campaign. In an Eastern Middle State, the
voters may be thoroughly aroused; they may crowd
political meetings and parade the streets and the
greatest efforts may be made to bring out the last
man at the election, but business may proceed as
usual, merchants may make their customary pur-
cbases farmers prepare for the next years work,
and man who should talk of selling out and
moving away if his party should be defeated would
THE PATIENCE OF THE WHITES EXHAUSTED.
And yet this is just the state of feeling that exists
among thousands of the citizens of Alabama to-day.
i have just returned from Mobile once, since the
close of the war; the busiest city of the South, but
now duler and deader than any other town have
visited this year. from st. Paul to the Gulf and from
the Atlantic coast to the Missouri River. know
that Mobile is apparently decline; that the rail
roads are diverting her trade to New-Orleans,
Charleston, and Savannah, and that under the most
favorable circumstances business there would be
dull But these general causes do not affect the
trade of that city now any more than they did last
year, and do not wholly account for the pres
emit stagDation. Take one single branch
Of business that OF life insurance: 1t is
Me universal testimony of the officers of
The companies there with whom have talked, that
she number of policies they have issued during Sep
TENDER and October this year. is less than half as
great that of the months last year, in spite
of the panic of 1S73 and in spite of the fact that the
crops in the section where their agents have been at
work fully equal to those of lastyear The same
is true of every other branch of business the sales
of the provision dealers very small the receipts
of cOlt0 light and there is noticeable everywhere
disposition to do nothing until after election. If
we can't get rid of this rule of ignorance and dis
honesty. shall light out" was remark made to
me by Mobile merchant the other day, and it eX-
pressed the purpose of hundreds more throughout
the State.
STATES FORMERLY DISTURBED NOW PROSPEROUS
CONSERVATIVE RULE.
l am not sure that the people of this State do not
lay too much stress upon the political complexion of
their Government, and that the present general
stagnatiOn is not in measure the result of their
dependency; but there is one fact that cannot be
ignored and that is that other Southern States
which formerly i'm had COn1i tiOn
than Alabama. are prosperous under Democratic
rule. remember that, in 1872, could hardly find
young man in North Carolina, from Cherokee to
Currituck, who was sure that he would remain IN
the State if the Radicals retained undsputed CONTROL
and that now the Old North State is of the most
quiet. orderly and prosperous in the Union. One OF
the North Carolina delegates to the late Outrage
Convention at Chattanooga announced publicly that
he had heard of political persecution there for
two years, and that any man, white or black Repub-
lean or Democrat, was safe 10 hold and express
his opinions there as he would be in Massachusetts,
THE RACE ISSUE MADE BY THE REPUBLICANS.
The Republicans of this State accuse the Demo
Gratis Of introducing the race issue" into this cam
paign. have now been in Alabama q month and
in constant communication with the politicians of
both parties, so that believe l have been able to
catch the spirit of the campaign it is conducted
on both sides, and ara not obliged to take the
assertions of either party in regard to It,
Tie result of my observation is the con-
Illusion that while the race issue is prOmi-
nent, the Republicans than the Demo
Gratis are responsible for il. The few white
leaders and the influential colOred politicians
never fail to improve opportunity to arouse the
prejudces of the negroes against the white people
One of their most effective arguments is that q
Democratic success must result in slavery again for
the blacks and for their wives and children Their
orators dwell on the wrongs of slavery they tell
their audiences that they and their ancestors have
made all the wealth they see around them; that it
is now time that they begin to enjoy of it, and
that the only way to their rights is to vote
solidly for the Radical ticket. This race issue"
was made when the negroes first began TO vote and
has been kept up by the Republicans ever since.
The white people have attempted repeatedly to
break it down, both in National and local politics,
but have always signally failed. One of the rea-
SONS for this have already explained in previous
letter No matter how great the conlidencea negro
NAV have in his white neighbor it is almost impos
tiblc for him 10 break away from the political
chains which blud him TO his race. We all remem-
Der the intensity of the Union feeling throughout
tic North daring the war, and how uncomfortable,
not to say dangerous, it was for an avOwed Secs
soais to 1--we in most Of the States north of Masons
And Dixon's Line-well, the negroes of the South
took upon one of their number who deserts the
Radical party very much as an intensely loyal COM
munity in New-England, New-York, or Penusylva-
MIA did upon man who sympathized with the Con-
foderacy between 1860 and 1865.
an INCREASED DEMOCRATIC NEGRO VOTE, AND WHY.
One of the most notable attempts TO break down
the race line in the politics of the South was that OF