Daily Los Angeles herald., 1878-07-13
THE SOUTH.
A Distinguished Seuthsrner's Views on the
Aspect Of Things in His Sec.ion-An H.
tsrview With Ex-Governor Joseph E.
Blown, Of Georgia.

B;own, Of Georgia.
Amongst the arrivals In Los An
geles yesterday were ex-Governol
Joseph Il. Brown, his wife ant
children and Judge Jackson, of thu
Georgia Supreme Court. We en-.
joyed the pleasure of a converse.
ton with Gov. Brown which, In
its scope, throws much light upon
the present status of things in that
section. We may remark, en- pas.
SAINT, that the Governor is gentle
man of medium height, of vener-
able and distingue appearance,
which is much increased by q snow
white beard. He Is of courtly man.
ners and of a geniality which very
pleasantly impresses his inter-
locutor. We proceed to the essen
tial portions Of our interview with
out further preface, only premis-
Ing that Mr.. Brown was Governor
OF Georgia before and during the
war, and that he has been elected
to that station, altogether, four
times. tits thus fair to assume that
no man could be u better authority
on Southern matters and senti-
ment than he.
Raporter-Cfovel nor, what is the
status of things in your section of
the country?
Gov. Brown Il think | ~ say,
decidedly, that we are recuperat-
ing. This is especially the case In
Georgia. We are beginning to
manufacture good deal. 1 think
we still commit the mistake of con.
centrating our attention too ex-
clusively on cotton. 1t Is true tn "a {
we raise good deal of the food we
consume. but we draw much of 1t
from abroad, and when the cost of
transportation to great distances il
added to the intrinsic cost of our
food we are the losers by a policy
which sacrifices everything to cot
ton. But we are improvi ng in this
respect.
Reporter-Governor, in view of
the changes rung upon the rela-
tions of the white and negro voter
of the South, by the "bloedy shirtn
fraternity OF the North, I would
like to have your idea of the pres.
ent relationship Of the old master
and the old slave of the South.
Gov. Brown-It Is emphatIeally
cordial. select the word cordial
purposely, because no other can
express it. I may add that even
our slavery of the old days was a
strictly patriarchal relationship.
or course, when slavery was In ex.
istence, there was master here
and there who abused his slaves,
Just as there were people here and
there who abused the marriage re-
lation, but the instances were rare,
and the public sentiment of the
South condemned severely the men
who were guilty of any outrages
towards the negro. Penalties were
imposed by our laws on any fla
grant inhumanity to q slave, and
it was one Of the most difficult
things in the world to get a jury to
overlook such infractions of hu.
manity. In my own law practice
L have had to defend several men
arraigned for such acts, and r
know whereof 1 speak. Putting
humanity to one side. our pecuni-
ary interests compelled US to be
humane to our slaves. My ideas
are best illustrated by the anecdote
of the negro who was set by his
master to digging q well. "Oa,
no! MASTER" said he, "if I dig that
we'll and it caves ia on me, YOU
lose a thousand dollars. You hire
a white man for seventy-five cents
a day to dig your well, and If it
falls in and kills him you don't
lose anything"
Reporter-The idea of extreme
Republicans ut the North is that
the whites drive the negroes to the
polls and compel them to vote as
they please.
Gov. Brown That is an entirely
erroneous and unjust idea. There
Is absolutely no coercion as to the |
negro vote. Ofcourse the same in
fuences are brought to bear on the
old slave that would be employed |
by employers in California, for in
stance. They would try to get as
many of their employees as possible
to vote their way, but there Is alb
solutely no coercion. The negroes,
Ia the main, are Republicans, but |
there are many Democrats, and
enthusiastic Democrats, amongst |
them, who seek to influence their |
fellows to vote the Democratic
ticket. We have an enormous
Democratic majority in Georgia
eighty thousand at the last elec-
tion-and in it was included =
considerable voluntary negro vote. |
In my city-Atlanta-we have two |
approaches to the polls, from oppo-
site directions. The whites gener-
ally approach from one direction
and the negroes from the other;
and, after depositing their ballots, |
they both depart by common
exit. The cordiality of which I |
have spoken was we'll illustrated
during the war. 1 have had as
many as hundred Georgia regi. |
ments in the field at one time, thus |
calling off nearly the whole able
bodied white population, and yet |
hardly an Instance Of a negro out
rage occurred, notwithstanding the |
fact that there were SO many de-
fencehss women.
Reporter-How do the people of |
Georgia feel towards President |
Hayes?
Gov. Brown-All the Democrats
and very many of the Republicans
feel that he was declared elected |
through the instrumentality OF
great frauds, yet they feel that he