Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1875-07-28
THE RANE OF SOUTHERN RECON.
STJsUCTlONs

COSTLY, the work had to be done. True,
the colored people were not the cultiva-
ted and experienced people which were
calculated to make government by
them, success they wcrc peculiarly
exposed to the deceptions OF dishonest
men, who possessed more information
men Of vaulting ambition, who
sought Office and power by false prom
ises, only to cheat and defraud tho
people when power had been gained
While. however, tho coiorcd race
lacked in cultivation, they were not
as lacking as the other race in hon
csty of purpose. IL is fact that the
colored people of The South are a do.
cile race, largely aiming to do right.
Their detects in capacity for self-gov-
ernment, did not lio in their want of
goodness of character, but in their
want of intelligence, and hence their
liability to be deceived. With all this,
however, to contend against, it be-
came a necessity, nnder the circum-
stances, toclothe them with the power,
privileges, and duties of freemen.
Why 1t became necessary, Charles
Nordhoff, who is now writing from
the South to the New York Herald
series of letters, fully explains. Mr..
Nordhoff cannot be charged with the
bias laid to Republicanism, nor the
journal to which no writes. He says,
speaking of class in the Sonth:
"They are gamblers and political
bummers; they drink whiskey and
swagger in bar-rooms, armed with re-
volvers and knives, and it was for
some years their habit, when they
needed excitement, to 'shoot q Mig
ger" They are mainly the descend
ants of the overseer and negro trader
class in the South, and naturally dis
piso honest labor and take readily to
brute force They have often sufficient
education to make political har-
rangue, and are curse to tho COM
mnnity. 1t was these wretches
that Sheridan called 'banditti.' To
have hung them by the dozen would
have been the first duty OF good
ruler in Louisiana"
To protect Themselves from such
men, the colored people had to DO in
vested with full citizenship from the
outset. No, it has not been the fault
of the dispised, ignorant colored
people that reconstruction has not
been wholly successful. The fault lies
with the class of whites described by
Mr.. Nordhofl, and that other class of
whites who are almost equally guilty,
viz: men whose natures revolted at
the commission of tho horrid deeds OF
cruelty and blood perpctrated by the
banditti, but yet who so hated tho no.
gro and the government which had
overpowercl them as traitors, that
thoy wiuEel at tho wrongs aud rnor
ders committed by the banditti, and
would not attempt to put a stop 10
them.
No! the fault is not in the plan of
reconstruction, the bsne.is with South
ern society, just as it is among French
men tho most intelligent portion will
prate about Republic and its glories,
but the simple truth is, they favor not
q Republic, a government by the whole
people; their wish Is for government
misnamed Republic, since 1t would
boa government by part of the peo-
pie, an aristocracy. Tho Democratic
party of the South to-day, to man,
arc no more Democrats than the Devil
is an angel of light. They arc opposed
to a government of the people; they
are the bittcr enemies of the inalienable
rights of man as declared in the "title
deed" Of Independence; upon this
ground thoy seeded f; upon this same
gronnd thoy fought four years as
traitors; upon this ground they have
fought reconstruction, and at the
hands of Kuklnx and White Lcaguers
tens of thousands of negroes, with
with a icw thousand whites, friends
Of the black race, have been murdered.
Itis vain to deny, that in this work of
Satan ON the part Of Southern DEM
ocracy alias aristocracy, there has been
and is all through tho same misnamed
Democracy North, sympathy with
their Southern allies. The bane to
successful reconstruction South, has
been in the action Of the white lace
the Democracy, and not with the
blacks. At this time ono Of the fruit
full means employed by the Demo-
cratic party, to put OIL the day of
peace, quiet. good order, and good
society in the South, is opposition to
the general diffusion of education.
Whenever the Democracy gain power
in any of the Southern States, from
that time the system of public schools
langnishes. Public schools sustained
by the State, existed not at all or to q
very limited extent in Southern States
In tho days Of slavery, and the Demo.
cratic party controlled by the same
ex-slave interest to-day hates public
schools. 1t is this which joins 40
heartily the Democratic party with the
religious haters of those same
schools. Death TO our Pub
lie Schools is common tie
binding them together with tho strong
bands of q malignant, nevcr-dying
hatred. To show the action Of the
democratic party south in regard to
this question of common schools, we
give tho following from tho Republic,
which journal has collected its facts
from the beat authority:
The Mobile Register of tho Let inst,
contains An able address made by cx-
State Superintendent of Public In
struction, Joseph Hodgson, before tho
schools OF Mobile and an audience of
the friends thereof. That Mr.. Hodg-
i -.