The Portland daily press., 1879-05-28
SENATOR BUTLER'S VIEWS.

He Thinks the Appropriation Bills Should
be Passed-The Negro Exodus Pro-
nounced Blessing.
New YORK, May Ex-senator Butler of
South Carolina thinks that after Mr.. Hayes
vetoes the Legislative bill the Democratic ma
jority ought to pass the political features as a
sedarate measure. Let him veto that, and
then pass the appropriation bills, pure and
simple. and go home, and we ought to do this
within the next two weeks. He does not be-
heve In withholding appropriations from the
army. He says: Let the army be kept in its
legitimate and proper sphere, and if it should
be used to influence elections or dominate over
the civil power in time Of peace, punish the
man who perverts the law, and not the army,
which simply obeys the orders of its superiors.
Ii we cannot get the right man this time we
must try again. Arraign him before the bar of
public opinion, and the people will be very apt
to render proper verdict. There is strong
undercurrent of conservatism running through
the masses of the American people, South and
North, and we should do nothing harsh or ex-
ira constitutional to shock or frighten that ele-
ment, but should try and reach it through the
avenues of reason and argument. The people
are tired of foolishness on both sides, and they
want straightforward, practical craftsmanship.
They want to be let alone to pursue their
peaceful business avocations in their own way
and the man or party who diverts them from
such paths will suffer the consequences.
He believes that the negro exodus originated
IN Washington, and was inspired by Republic
can politicians. 1t will not be disastrous to the
South, but will be a blessing to the South if it
continues long enough to take North two or
three hundred thousand negroes, and the ne
groes themselves will be benefited by the
change. trust that hundred thousand
may leave South Carolina. Their places would
be supplied with white labor, while in Missis-
sippi and Louisiana, in the alluvial malarial
regions, the places of those who have left or
may leave will be supplied by negroes from
turn will be supplied by white settlers We
have too much cheap negro labor in the South
1t is is demoralizing to the intelligent white
labor, and we cannot prosper and improve and
develop rapidly until this superfvous cheap la
Dor is transferred to fields where it will be viz
taliZed by contact with the more vigorous
white labor of the North Our people depend
too much on negro labor. 1t is, perhaps, the
best labor for cotton crops, and for that very
reason is hurtful to the South. We want a
population and labor that can cultivate some
thing else, diversity our industries, somebody
who will grow at the same time fruit or vege-
tables OR hops, or raise live animals, or erect
factories and neat cottages and fences. The
worst enemies to the negroes in the South are
not the landowners, but the shop-keepers who
manage to absorb all the negro earns. The
best thing for the negro race would be its grad
ual distribution through the North, where they
would have the fostering care and guidance of
the whites, and the negro can stand the North
ern climate as well as anybody. Senator But
Ter believes that upon the whole a gradual in
terchange and exchange of populations be-
tween the sections would exercise salutary
and beneficial influence upon the country.