The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1879-04-23
LABOR In THE SOUTH.
Shall the Yellow Take the Place Of the
- Black. Ks,
How the Negroes Have Been Deprived OF
Their Political Rights and swindlcd.
fvicksburg (Miss.l Herald, pem.l


low prices and hard times have great deal
to do with making the colored people dis
satisfied. but these are not the only causes
The negroes have been in so1ae instances
swindled, and those whose duty it was
to protect them have net done so,
as they should. They have not
been encouraged to purchase land, and
they have, in many instances, been charged
too much rent for it. They have been dealt
wi h almost wholly on the credit system,
and this has caused widespread dissat,ssac-
ton. All these things ought at once to be
promptly changed. Whenever colored
man wants to buy land, and is possessed of
money TO make a trifing payment on It, he
should be encouraged to do SO. The reasons
for this are so obvious, and we have referred
to them so often, that lit is unnecessary for
as to refer to them now. Suffice it to say.
that of all the colored people who have emil
grated, not one was a land owner,
The credit system with them should be
wholly abandoned. They are ignorant, and
as they are often swindled by bad men, no
matter how fairly their accounts are kept.
they imagine they are swindled. By this
system they are allowed, and often encour-
crops are gathered. 1t is nc uncommon
thing for negroes to work a whole year and
never have dollar OF money they can cali
their own. -
Politics also. has great deal do with
their dissatisfaction. The man who says
the negro does not prize his political rights
knows little of his nature. He is like
the boy with his first whistle. 1t is a
new thing to him, and he prizes it that
much the more. 1t is no ex-
%f,oN
political rights much more than the white
man. Negroes never fail to vote when cleo
tons are conducted fairly and peacefully;
white men often take little or no interest in
elections. 1t is, therefore, manifest that the
denial of the negro srights in some localities
has greatly added to his dissatisfaction, and
pToportionately aided the emigration move.
ment All persons should unite in securing
for these newiy-snfranchised people their
full political rights in the letter and spirit
of the constitutional amendments. When
this is done, il this labor persists in leaving
the fault will not be at the door of the
whites; SO long as it is done we will combat
the movement at g great disadvantage.
There is another view of this question tina
should be plainly presented TO our friend
il the North and Northwest. This labor is
needed in the South, but it is not needed
where it is going, aud is not wanted there.
! 1t will there enter INTO competition with the
farmers while here it is almost indispensa-
BILE to the planters.
| This movement will increase the produc-
ton in the Northwest where there is al
ready great complaint OF oyerproduction,
| and it will lessen consum ption in the South
where the Northwest and North would like
to see the consumption doubled. If it con-
tinues and proves successful in robbing the
South of its labor, he is a short-sighted fool
who does not see that it would de-
strOy her purchasing power and rob the
| North of her best customer. 1t is a move.
ment IN exactly the wrong direction. This
| labor is the best in the world to raise cotton.
sugar, rice and tobacco, but it will prove
very efectual in increasing overproduction
| in the North. The sentimentallsts of the
North engaged in aiding it will find, if they
| succeed, that they have done national in
| jury.
There ls another effect 1t will have beyond
any sort of doubt. Il will reopen the Chin
ese immigration question with ten-fold force.
California may not want the Chinese; If the
South is robbed of her labor. she will, and
what is more, she will have them. Those
who imagine that section of the Union
that produces 100000 bales of cotton,
and rice, sugar, tobacco. etc, in proper
ton, will submit to being deprived of
any material part of its labor,
are poor judges of the spirit of our people.
There is already movement on foot to call
a convention of leading men of the States
bordering the Mississippi valley to take into
consideration this matter. The largest cotton
! producers, merchants, business men of all
Sorts and men who count their wealth by
hundreds of thousands of dollars, are fully
| in favor of at once starting a'line of steamers
between New Orleans and China that will
bring millions of laborers here il necessary.
! One individual of these who has inaugurated
this counter movement, produces 10000
bales of cotton, and declares he will start
line of vessels himself, rather than want for
labor to carry on his plantation. Another
| one declares that he will GO
to China himself rather than want for
labor. Hundreds and thousands will go
| into it. Southern congressman will be re-
! quested to change front on the Chinese inn
migration question, and instead of circum.
scribing the Burlingame treaty, will be re-
quested to use all the means in their power
to secure terms more liberal and pleasing to
the Chinese If our Northern friends, who
consider it their lifelong business to inter
fere in our affairs. will leave us alone, all
| will be well. The negroes will be secured in
all their rights, and we will solve the race
I problem by an exercise OF patience, honesty
/ and justice. But if they do not leave us
\ alone and persist in enticing the labor of
the South away, and furnishing it the means
to go. they may rest assured the South will
i prove herself equal to her self-preservation.
/ Tagging the Bonds.
Il