New-York tribune., 1874-11-07
NEGRO DEGENERATION.
PHYSICAL AND MORAL DECLINE OF THE
SOUTHERN BLACKS.

PHYSICAL AND MORAL DECLINE OF THE
SOUTHERN BLACKS.
UNFORTUNATE FEATURES OF THE RECONSTRUCTION
ACTs-THE BALLOT NOT SOURCE OF SECURITY
TO THE NEGRO-THE MARKED DETERIORATION OF
THE RACR-A GLOOMY OUTLOOK FOR sOMR OF
THE wHITEs-wHAT MAY HAPPEN II RELIEF
DOES NOT CoME-REAsoNs FOR HOPEFUINEss.
lFRoN THE SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT OF THE TRIBUNE
MONTGOMERY Ala, Nov. 1.-The condition OF
Southern affairs which have described in former
letter-the destruction of capital, the impoverish-
ment of the people, the changed relations which the
two races bore to each other at the close of the
the new and unfamiliar duties that both were called
upon to PERFORM the Generalization Of labor, and,
in Short the sudden and violent revolution that had
taken place in the legal status Of and in the
financial condition of the other-called for calm,
deliberate consideration by Congress of every
measure that was to affect the South. If pre)udice
and passion could have been banished from
both sections and the best men of the North ana OF
the South could have come together in common
effort to repair the damage that had been done ana
build up the States of the late Confederacy on the
new foundation, this beautiful country might nave
been saved from much of its subsequent suffering
The death of Mr.. Lincon-the best friend the Soutn
ever had and the one man in the country VINO hau
both the disposition and the power to stand between
its people and the repressve legislation that followed
made this impossible. From that time the Recon-
struction measures framed and passed, not be-
cause they would bring the greatest good to all classes
of people in the South but for the purpose OF esta
fishing the new State Governments on "RepuDn-
can basls," and of guaranteeing to the negro the
full enjoyment of the political rights
which had been conferred upon hihi'
The interests of the white people of the Sonth were
ignored the great change in their condition, thelr
prejudices which had been born in them and the
great difficulty they had in accommodating them
selves to the new order of things, were not con-
sidered. Congress was fighting battle to establish
loyal governments in the Southern States and to
secure to the colored man the rights and immun-
ties of citizen, and if the white people who had
been Rebels stood within range of its artillery, so
much the worse for them.
UNIVERSAL NEGRO SUFFRAGE A GREAT MISTAKE.
/ am not critcisng the men who devised the Re
construction measures-I believed in them when
they were enacted am merely calling attention 10
well-known facts which help to explain the present
condition of affairs in the South.
There were many features of the Reconstruction
measures that exaSperating to the white people
of the Southern States and very few that were cal
culated to allay their natural feelings of opposition
and discomfort. Universal negro suffrage, absractly
considered was a great mistake. The Republicans
of the North were unanimously of tho opinion that
it was necessary in order that the blacks might be
able to maintain their rights Experience has
shown that instead of proving to DE
weapon of Defense the ballot has beeh
the cause of nearly all the troubles that have
arisen between the two races. The avOwed object
of the Ku-Klux organizations to make the
negroes vote as the members of that orler wished
fro, ha
the present campaign the men who have had the
most to say about "outrages" are very particular
to add that they are political in their nature.
1t is not pretended to-day that any right which the
Federal Government has conferred upon the negro
is in danger except his right to vote. His life and
his property are rs safe, when political campaign
is in progress as those of the white man. Nobody
ever hears of "outrages" except just before an
election. The readers of THE TRIBUNE know how
much foundation there has been for the reports that
have originated in this State the present year but
suppose they all true, instead of being nearly
all false il would only sustain the assertion have
made that the ballot instead of serving a shield
for the protection of the blacks it was intended
to do has, more than any other one thing, invited
attack upon them
PHYSICAL INFERIoRrTY OF THE PRESENT GENERA
IIoN OF BLACKS
Suffrage has not resulted in any moral social
elevation of the negro, rather its cvlzing effect
has been more than counteracted by other influences.
Freedom and the ballot, with the opportunities for
education which they have brought, have elevated
few negroes, but the vast majority of them are IN
a worse condition to-day than they were when the
Emancipation Proclamation struck oil their CHAINS.
have often been told that Southern white civiliza-
ton was tinged with negro barbarism. think it is
oJol
of the negro such it is is solely the result of
tact with the white people Emancipation has
driven the races apart and caused the blacks to live
more by themselves; and experience has shown that
the more isolated they are the more rapidly they
lapse toward barbarism. The proof of this may be
found in the annual increase of which arise in
the inferior courts of the Cotton Belt from the
supersttions of the freedmen. "Tricking" and
Charming" are almost universally believed in by
the country negroes and by many in the cities, and
it is no uncommon thing for men and women to be
held to answer by negro magistrates for oenses of
this nature.
The rising generation Of colOred people are l am
assured by eminent physicians of this State, physi-
cally inferior to the present or the past. This Is
easily accounted for. In the days of Slavery the
value of the negroes so great that their health
was guarded with jealous than that of the
white people. negro chlId was worth from S9o 10
800 the day ii born, and annually increased in
cash value while white child good for nothing
in commercial sense except to spend money If
the negroes became sick, the most skful physi-
clans were employed, and no precaution was ever
spared to keep them physically in the best condi-
ton. Now they not only ignorant of many of
the commonest laws of heolth, but show the most
utter disregard for those which they do know. The
effect of this is seen not only in the advent
of n generation weaker than their fathers,