National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1874-11-25

safe and comfortable homes the leaders
and designers of the great conspiracy to
overthrow the peace and quiet of the
country rested quietly, as indifferent Of
the results, of the prolonged Imprisonment
of their deluded victims in the peniten-
tiaries, as they were when the poor mans
blood was shed on the rich mans battle
field In short and in truth, the poor
white men of the South, known among
their superiors as ''poor white trash, !"
''piney-woods people" "wire-g grass GOO
bers" and ''clay-eat are to-day as
thoroughly blinded to their own interests
as they were when slavery existed to give
color AMI strength to the vicious 'nigger-
breeding and niger trading aristocracy. :"
Whenever the proposition is submitted
TO them to better their condition, or give
their children opportunities to rise in the
world by means of free schools and popu-
lar education, it is rejected with disdain as
a yankee" trick or an innovation upon
the customs of their beloved section.
Blind to their present needs, and willfully
neglectful of the necessities of their pos
terity, they grope in the Egyptian darkness
of selfimposed ignorance, and will not be
relieved.
How is it with the blacks? 1t is safe to
say that ten years ago not one in every
thousand of them could read or write, and
it is equally safe to say that now ten in
every hundred of them, old and young,
are able to do both. Thousands of them
who were ignorant slaves at the time of
the emancipation, or under voting age,
are now intelligent voters, capable of Sc
lecting for themselves the tickets of their
party and reading the name Of every candi-
date printed on them. They are not all as
eager as they should be, and it must be adj
mitted that numbers of them are lazy and
shiftless, but considering the meagre OPP
portunitics with which they have been
served, they have made miraculous ad-
vancement. Their women have almost all
been taken from the corn, cotton and to-
bacco fields, and their places as field hands
are either vacant or have been filed by the
males of their race. They have exchanged
the rude clothing worn by them as slaves
for comfortable habiliments, and, in brief,
have given evidence of astonishing pro-
gress from a condition of besOtted ignorance
to a condition of comparative comfort. So
true is this that even in the admittedly
Democratic States of the South the man.
ayers of that party dare not to-day adopt
an educational suffrage qualification. They
know that it would result in depriving
them of hundreds of votes from the poor
white classes, while thousands Of blacks
would be able 10 exercise the right of suf-
frage the same as they do now.
OF course it is to be expected, in view of
the foregoing comparison, that some of our
Southern Democratic friends will charge
us with attempting to exalt the freedmen
above the poor whites. But we do not fear
this. Any reasonable man, any unpreju-
diced man, will discover our object at a
glance. What we desire is that all we may
say on this and kindred subjects shall be
printed and reprinted, read and reread, in
every town and hamlet in the South, and
that it shall attract attention and comment
there as it certainly will in the North.
This done, feeling of anxiety for the fu-
ture of millions of the white race will be
aroused, and perhaps some bold, Thoughtful
leader will be able to advance proposition
for their relief-possibly scheme for COM
pulsory education. We know that in the
footsteps of intelligence follows the almost
invariable victory of Republican principles
and the success of the Republican party.
Our enemies know this too, as they knew
it before the war. Hence their desire to
keep their followers in their present pitt
ably-ignorant condition.