New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1876-01-12
TRUE SOUTHERN POLICY TOWARD THE
OOLORED CITIZEN.


Looking throughout the Southern States
We form the opinion that many statesmen
who had been reared under the insttu-
ton of slavery appreciate the true policy
Of the South toward the emanclpated
masses. There has been cast upon South
ern society four millions Of people, who
come into the social and political affairs
Of the country, somewhat as immigrants
from foreign land. These four millions
have been endowed with legal and poll
teal rights by power which will guar
antee their exercise, or will at least re-
fuse their repeal. The Southern states
men accept this accession to the political
force of the South. They regard the So
cial and industrial influence of these peo-
pie, and in place Of fighting against the
inevitable and inexorable will of the whole
Union, they accommodate and adjust the
new relation according to the principles
Of justice and good temper. The reason
ing OF the ex-slaveholding statesman is
this: All people have power Of good or
evil. If they are honest, they may be the
trusted, aiders and agents of society: If
they are industrious, they create values and
render service for society. Society, then,
is interested in the religious and moral
instruction Of these people. This renders
them in every respect more valuable fell
low-citizens in peace or war. The evil
influence Of demoralized and idle popu-
lation is TO be deprecated by all who feel
an interest in the welfare Of the South.
The first duty of the South in regard to
the colored people will be to educate them
for usefulness. Develop the intellect, and
society will have the advantage of its ap-
plication to any field of service, indus
trial, literary or political. Under this
policy the two races are falling into rela-
tons of kindness, and reciprocal useful
ness, and even il our own legislative halls
these associations are very amicable.
We have, however, leading politicians
who are very intolerant Of negro rights.
In some cases they are persons who have
never belonged to the class Of large
landed proprietors, of hereditary slave
holders. Some Of them are aliens who
could never themselves have been entitled
to exercise the right of suffrage in their
own country, and who have been accus-
toned to bow to the noblemen as supe-
rior class. Then there are many Of .
class which always stood in hostile atti-
tude toward the STAKEHOLDER and to the
slaves. There is with this class jealousy
of any rival at the polls or in the work
shop. It is not only in the South that
this jealousy and hatred exists. At the
North, and especially in Philadelphia, the
antagonisms of race are as intense as pos
s;ble. No procession Of colored people
can turn out in Philadelphia without
being insulted by those who have
driven them from society and
from employment. In the agricultural
South the colored man and woman are
indispensable agents of production. In
the mechanical North they are competitors
for mechanical and mental employment.
The necessity for supply of labor COM
pels the Southern planter to stay the
hand of the Democratic candidate Who
conducts canvass with field piece, and
who drives the laborer out of the cotton
and cane field to secure his own election to
Office. The most intense White Leaguers
are compelled to import colored labor to
realize the value of their idle lands. With
all the famous inducements offered to
white immigrants, the domestic services
Of the South is still performed in greatest
part by colored people.
There is, then, pronounced difference
between the permanent population Of the
South who hold property and intend to
rear their posterity in the South, and that
mixture of violence and rapacity which
would destroy an element Of industry in
dispensable to the existence of the South.
There must be an issue between those
who have lands idle for want of labor or
which require honest and at
tentive domestics, and those who haye an
interest in neither. The issue can be as
well made upon the Democratic PROPOSE
ton to repudiate the compromise, over
throw the State government and drive the
colored voters from the polls as at any
other time. The political and social in
tolerance of the Mississippi Democracy
has demonstrated industrial consequences
of great significance. The crop reports
show great proportion of cotton I'M
picked in the fields. A late publication
states that some five hundred laboring
men assembled at Meridian, Mississippi,
to deliberate upon the advantages OF mi
grafton to some other country. Those
laborers own no land, they toll for a
living, and are treated with abuse and
violence. Naturally they would prefer
peace and safety. They can emigrate as
readily as a landless Irishman, and Missis-
sippi will lose producing force just as
England has done for the want of justice
to the poor people.
The first class statesmen to whom we
have referred are, in our opinion, wise
men, They do not wish to see the South
a Jungle of cottonwood, sweet gum and
briers They do not desire to behold
poorhouses and prisons filed with out