The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1874-09-25

nc UeHdhus OF the lnpractlcabteS who
clamor for mixed schools have no such
grounds for their support, either in prin,
ciple or policy, as the claims of the color<
ed race to equal suffrage and the other
civil and political rights which have been
conferred upon them There is no simi-i
larity in principle between the supposed |
determinations of the
SCHOOL LAWS OF TENNESSEE
and other Southern State and those real
determinations in the matter of testify
ing in the courts, voting and holding of
fee, which the law has already removed,
and which exists to the prejudice of the
cOlOred people exclusively The separ-
ate school provision is a restriction upon
both races; the denial of the right to tes-
tify in courts, vote, and hold Offices was q
discrimination against the colored race
in the political interests of the white
race. In the opinion of the white Re-
publicans of Tennessee our school law
transgresses no republican principle and
makss no discrimination against any race
or people If there are States in the
Union where the cOlored people do not
enjoy equally the benefits of a school
system supported by public taxation, let
congress rectify the wrong. But if the
tial benefit in the matter of education,
they should abandon the idea of mixed
schools where there is no race discrimi~
nation, and insist upon provision guar
anteeing to them equal benefits in every
State. This position can be sustained by
every argument that could be urged IN
behalf of their right to testify in the
courts, to vote and hold Office, and is sus
tanned by the cardinal doctrines Of Repub
licanism. As basis for the settlement of
this question the representative Repub>
licans of the white race from the South
made this proposition during the last
session of congress. And IN doing so
they foretOld the disasters which have
come upon the party from a different
policy. This very equitable proposition
did not receive even respectful considera-
ton. 1t was scornfully rejected by the
boOtblacks, BARRIERS, pastry>cooks, barr
tenders and thieves in congress from the
cotton States. Tennessee gave only eight
thousand majority against Grant. when
there was no canvass of the State foF him
or any effort in his behalf If onestanth
the effort made to secure Indiana or Ohio
had been made for Grant in Tennessee,
there is no doubt he would have carried
the State by a good majority. Yet the
DEM cracy have just carried the State by
fifty or sixty thousand majority. But
even this large majority does not express
the bitter hostility with which
THE CIVIL RIGHTS BILL
is regarded by the entire white popula-
ton of the State. 1t is no exqggeration
to say that the very name "Rsrublican"
is become odiOus with thousands of the
adherepts of that party, because of this
attempt t. compel the co-education Of
the races: To a proper appreciation Of
the full significance of the election in
Tennessee, it IS neces sary to state that,
with few exceptions, the candidates of
the Republican party declared against
the civil rights bill and at the same time
received most of the cOlored votes.
Yet there were many thousands Of white
Republicans who voted the Democratic
ticket as against candidates of their own
party who agreed with them on this
question because a Republican senate
had passed the bill Had the Republican
candidates in our late election declared
for the civil rights bill, the Democrat
majority would not have been less than
two hundred thousand The masses Of
the North, and even some leaders in con-
| gress, are so ignorant of the condition Of
affairs in the Southern States as to sup
! pose that there are no loyal and Repub>
| lican people in those States except the
/ negroes and few white leaders. This
| IS true of South Carolina, Mississippi,
and Florida, with n few exceptions, but
| is wholly untrue of the other Southern
! States. Tennessee furnished thirty FIVE
! thousand white men To the Union army,
and has seyenty-ive thousand white Re
| publican adheren:s without the civil
rights bill. Kentucky, Missouri, and
| other southern border States are In like
| condition. AS matter of policy, to say
nothing of principle, it were better for
! the Republican party to reject mixed
! schools and do without the cUlored vote
| than establish them in the South and
| have that vote. The crime Of ultra party
measures pass ed into laws by congress
has been committed before. Made blind
by too long possession of majority ID
| congress and in its greed for power, the
DEMOCRATIC PARTY
passed the fugitive slave law, OutragiDg
t the moral convictions of the Northern re
| pie Now, certain Republican leaders,
! ignorant or Indifferent as to consequences,
propose as n party measure that which
| the whole white people of the South re-
! gard with adherence as an effort to de-
| grade them, while there Is no necessity
or occasion for it in the protection Of The
| blacks In thesr civil and political rights.
! You truly say that they, the white Re
! publicans of the South ''are better Judges
! of what is practicable and needed by
| their section than any member coming
| from the other section" ] cannot re.
frain from expressing my thanks for the
! generous sentiments contained in your
] a. ~ r -
| publication. Your letter has been re-
publish ed all over the South, and Its
| publication has dons good Such exe
pressions from the representative Repub~
! iicans Of your section will do much to
allay the bitter sectional feelings and
! prejudices engendered by the agitation of
this question. The white people of the
South of all Parti's do not feel that the
full protection Of the African race in
their civil and political rights require
legislation for compulsory social inter-
course. They do not believe that those
who urge it do Sc from an intelligent re-
gard for the welfare of the eolored peo-
pie. But the Republicans regard it as
the result of Ignorance of the needs Of
tn ir section or heartless sel6shness and
demagOgism in political leaders. And
the other party look upon it as a deliber-
ate attempt to degrade aud blast their
section from premeditated malice Let
the motive be what it may, the result is
the same. The effect Is the destruction
of the Republican party in the South,
and the certain injury Of the colored
people. 1t is time the responsible, rep
resentatiye loyal men Of the South were
consulted with reference to measures
operating upon their section. This civil
rights bill IS as empha5ically sectional as