Bristol news. [volume] (Bristol, Va. & Tenn.) 1867-189?, 1874-10-20
The Civil Rights Bill in tie
South

] fdliAih wi W. AthC N>AiiNiAa-
uati Commercial writes from Mont
gomery, Ala, as follows concerning
| the feeling towards the civil-rights
| Till in the southern States:
III the northern part OF tie STATE,
I the other day, WAS talking to = Re-
/ publican acquaintance of mine no
lel-keeper. aud q man have known
! for five years. have personal
knowledge that he is republican. and
has voted that ticket for years; bu',
like every white AlabanIiaa. lie il
bitter in his denunciaiions of tie
civil rights bill. / asked him what
| he proposed to do in referen To his
hotel business if that bill became Z
law end this Is hi. exact answer:
II that bill passed and niger at
tempts to eat dinner in my hotel, he
will take supper in hell.n
Why would you kill him." !
asked.
Il certainly should" he replied
No niger shall eat al my table, if ]
am keeping hotel +"
Now, if a southern Republican cher.
ishes such an antipathy 10 the negroes,
what can we expect OF the southern
| Democrats?
In talking to me about civil rights
a young man in this city used this
language 'Tf [ was seated with nv
sister at hotel table, and q niggeI
should sit down To the same table,
would kin him, if knew ! would be
hung in five minutes, and" he con-
tinued, looking at me, you would
too
i told him / certainly should not.
What! not kill Niger for sitting
down TO the table where you and your
| wife or sister were ?"
No"
lie contemplated me with some as.
constituent, and doubtless concluded
that 1 wasn't much white man after
all.
Not long ago I overheard a couple Of
white men specul4ting to the effects
of the Civil-rights bill. One said TO the
| were taking dinner at the hotel
and a negro should sit down to the
same table. What would you do?'
4 would kill him in two seconds
What would be the result?'
4 would probajlJ be arrested by the
! civil authOflIies.'
| w uab tltU =
A mob of white men would rescue
me- from the authoTities."
What won d fDllow%
The local authorities, being power
less. would have TO call upon the Gen.
eral Government for troops
What then p
Very likely a conGict between the
mob and the troops
DO you see any possibility. then, o.
| the civIl-rights bill becoming a law
without resulting in bloody coli
sions, in which the General Govern
ment will be drawn imp
/ do not. IF that bill becomes a Law
it will be the death kDcII OF the Amer
lean Government. 1t can only be en-
forced by the bayOnet, and the attemp
Will speedily lead 10 change in til,
| form Of our government
merely give these as specimens o
the talk one hears in the South con
tinualIy. The northern people do no
seem 10 comprehend how deep-rooteC
and immoyable the prejudice agains
the negro here is or rather, against tht
so-calied eqality rs conteml lated in tin
civil rights bill.
This prejudice is absurd, but it i
the part Of wisdom to recognize it as
fact, and respect it accordingly
Pounding at it with the battering ran
of law only intensifies and strengthen
it.
Senator Sherman, in some Of his re-
cent speeches i'm Ohio, says that tn
civil-TgEts bill is necessary to Civ
the negro educational facilities.
have much respect for the senator, bu
he never made a greater mistake in hi
life than to ell terrain and express sucl
an idea. So far from giving the ne
grOes any educational facilities, it viii
take away all that hS has in the South
In nearly every southern State, Their
is now a system of free schools for bot
races, supported, of course, in til
main, by the white tax payers. lie
the civil-rights bill pass in the shsp
that Senator Sherman voted for it, AM
every free school will instantly b
= wiped out in every southern state, eX
cept South Carolina, and Mississippi
This is the universal feeling amon
the whites. Their Indignation will
find vent in destroying all the fire
schools, both for whites and Blacks
No law can prevent them from duin
llllSi anu my Will w lls 4NbI one Elt
, gro in twenty, is able to educate hi
: own children, aud if deprived of tn
free schools they must grow in ignor
ance.
, l have talked with the school all
: thorities and the Governors of most G
the southern States on this subject
and | know what the feeling is, all
what the programme will be if tn
; civil-rights bill becomes a law. B.
voting for that bill Senator Sherman
: struck a blow at the educationa
interest Of the blacks land whites, toe
for that matter) which will prove ia
tai unless Congress or the veto Of tn
President kills this most destructlv
measure, | beg of him to consider tn
lifelong prejudices existing here, an
and respect them for the black man
sake, If not for the white.