Knoxville journal. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1874-1986, 1875-02-11
What Is It All ANOuti

What Is II All ADouti
While the country is drifting into
an acrimonious political agitation,
the end OF which puzzles and con-
founds wise statesmen--who were
hopeful NIL through the compromise
Troubles Of 1850, the fierce struggle
between freedom and slavery for the
! possession Of Kansas and Nebraska,
as well as during our terrible war for
the Union--it is we'll to bear con-
stantly in mind the tchy and nhere-
fore fall this terrible commotion. 1t
all turns on single point--that of an
enforced legal inequality of men. All
OF the talk Of ".he oppression OF the
noble people Of the South" !" "mili-
tary despotism and Interference, the
denEnciation of carpet-baggers III OF
the riff-raT OF weak kneed Republi-
ean and Democratic speeches--is sim
! ply a mass of irrelevant slush--the
merest froth and scum on the great
! deep current which moves ever on
beneath the surface. lfto-day there
were i'm the South q concessisn OF the
equal legal rights of men as men, the
agitation would be quieted instanta-
neously. No man OF the Republican
party has ever contended for the en-.
/ forcement OF social equality OF the
! blacks and whites, for that Is ques-
tion which every man regulates for
| himself But what the White Leagues
OF the South ard their Democratic
abettors In the North demand at this
! timo--what u limited number OF
! place-hunting nopubIicans are will
! ing to concede--is, That the laws OF
the country shall continue to give TO
I the white race position OF legal
observation-disclosures over the col
ored rnce. That IL all this great agi-
tation Is about, when you get at the
kernel OF tho whole business. That
is what the Republican party con
! tends for--tllat Is the issue which
everybody thought the war had set
/ tied for all time The question now
before the American people Is simply
this: Shall all rhe fruits Of the war
be- wiped out by fraud, intimidation,
and VIOLENCE Is this the entertain.
nsent to whic., the country Is invited,
after all our struggles to perpetuate
the government, and our more than
paternal kindness TO the worse than
prodigals who sought to destroy h?
The issue IL just IN. well defined to.
day as ID WINS wlIen Alexander III.
Stephens declared in 1861 that human
slavery was the cornerstone Of the
new confrderacy There IL a fixed
and clearly defined determination on
the part or representative Democrats
i'm the South to break down and over
turn the last vestige of the results OF
the war. They intend to win back
on the floor Of Congress aH that they
lost from 1860 TO 'G5, and the great
danger to the country to-day IL, that
Northern deiHagogurs, with their
eyes fixed upon the Presidency, VIII
become az conpletely subservient to
the South M that brood OF reptiles
was previous 10 1860! There has
been gradual encr0achment upon
the enfranchised race by the noble
people OF the South ever since they
commenced taking part In politics
after the war. In some parts of the
South coIared men have been sold
into limited periods of scrvitude for
alleged crimes? What Is this, but
the firss step in the direction Of max
ing lhat again their permanent con-
dition ? Their intimidation from the
polls places them entirely at tho
mercy OF their old masters, In whom
rankles spirit Of hate as bitter and
envenomed as hell itself. Shall We
abandon this Aruggle, or shall We
| still contend through veal or woe for
! the legal equality Of all men? Shall