The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1876-08-31
'sEbe "BlOedy Shirt"

DemOcTatlC Wr1terS ana speakers are
making, just now, great cutlery because
Republicans dare TO comment on such
murderous outrages as that pcrpeuated
at Hamburg, and aCCusettwmUf "waving
the bloody shirt for political effect. So far
from the Republicans having introduced
this sanguinary garment into the political
campaign, tlreig'opponents are solely re-
sponsible, nU only for the phrase itself,
but the acts which it so fifty character
ICES. Ever since the colored people of
the South were ernancipated from slavery,
and endowed with the rights of suffrage.
their presence in, the South has been an
eyesore to their former masters, and a
constant reminder to them of the insane
folly of which they were guilty when
they frantrcally espoused the'lost cause"
F1tis more than their chivalric spirits can
boar to see these freedmen, whom they
were wont to regard as no better than
brutes, walk up to the ballot box and dc.
post a vote, which, under Republican
administration, counts precisely as much
as the vote of white man. To know
further, that these same colored men cx-
ercise this right of suffrage intelligently,
and in opposition TO their former owners,
has tended to add bitterness to their cup.
Consequently, ut each returning election,
southern politicians have attempted either
=, to prevent the negroes from voting at all
+ or to coence them to vote as they should
c, direct. For this was the "Kukluxn Or
ganized, and for this NO the white
Leagues" and the Rifle Clubs keep up
L their organizations. With the opening
- Of each political campaign, raies are
I made upon the negroes for the purpose
E, of intimidating them, during which it is
usually contrived that those negroes who
! have become lrcognized leaders Of their
q class, are assassinated, as~werc seven of
: them in cold blood at Hamburg, and as
so many others have been in other local.
= ties. While such massacres FIJI the world
= with horror, the Republican journals
which dare to comment on them as they
.,deserye, and to hold up the authors of
'them TO public condemnation, are &C
,cused of 'waYiug the bloody shirt" for
1.-THE purpose of stimulating sectional hate.
That these outrnges are deliberately
planned, and have no other object than
,ttoypromote the political interests Of the
white Democrats, by illuminating the
9IIp4po voters, is abundantIy shown BY
dttsaGmouy taken from time to time. That
such ,outragcs are encouraged by class
.cdf white men, from whom better things
sshonld ne expected, extracts from their
newspapers certify. Here, for instance,
lis an extract from recent number of the
Magnolia Miss Herald;
If the negroes of Pike county desire to
..teontinue the. amicable relations now eX-
listing between them and the whites, to
Shave their rights respected and to pros
per, let them prove it by organizing Dem
. ocratic clubs and by voting for Tllden
and Hendricks.
A weekly newspaper, as rule, fairly
{ represents the sentiment of the colnmu-
:. nifty in which it is printed. That such
sentiments as the above appear from
week to week in the Magnolia Herald, is
sufficient evidence that it caters TO an
element which Endorses them. Here is
another sample, clipped from the etate,
o Democratic paper printed in Tennessee:
Let it be known before the election that
the farmers have agreed to spot every
leading Radical negro in the country and
ueat him as an enemy for all time to
come.
We might fill our columns with choice
extracts of this character from Southern
papers and yet Democrats will tell US
that there is no intimidation of the color
ed men at the South; that the South has
accepted the results of the war and IS
willing to concede to the colored people
all the rights conferred upon them by
the constitutional amendments. But if
such threats as are contained in the
above paragraphs do not constitute IN
intimidation, then is the E: glish language
much abused. The negroes well know
how to interpret such language, ard they
know by bloody experience that these
are no idle threats. They knew. too.
that unless they or. I,stectea 5y the
military arm of the government they dare
not vote any b.: a stlaigiit "Tilasn and