The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1879-04-28
rHF NEW ORLEANS DRMookAT MONDAY, APRIL Is, 1879.

Iurther impress to the doctrines Of religious
hate they have always preached against this
section. Their false philanthropists have
called upon the people for aid to forward this /
to place the negroes irrevocably |
beyond the limits of Louisiana, and to deprive |
the State forever Of the very largest element
In its labor population. But, though this
question seems to have been thoroughly i'm
pressed upon the minds Of people away from
home, 1t seems to have utterly failed to strike
our own people with any extraordinary force.
In fact some Of the leading men Of the mer-
camille interests OF New Orleans have rid
iculed the idea Of this movement possessing
any significance whatever, or affecting to any
extent the commerce Of this city. To these
we would respectfully suggest that such a
course will do no good. They must soon
learn to appreciate the magnitude of this
movement, as 1t is to-day appreciated all
over the country. They must know, as we do,
that Louisiana has lately lost thousands OF
her laboring population, and will lose other
thousands before this movement Is checked.
Before discovering a remedy for an
evil, 1t must needs be that its prime causes
should be first ascertained. The first causes
Of the negro exodus from Louisiana have
scarcely been even partially understood. Its
remedies have, SO far as they have been pro-
posed, been futile. The most plausible theory
Of the first origin Of the negro exodus is, tha
it was originated by political schemers The
motto OF negro domination In Louisiana was
ssrule or ruin" That domination was effect
ually terminated at the last election In this
State for State officers and the more recent
election for members of the Constitutional
Convention.
The negro politicians Of Louisiana were
then debarred from ruling; but they still
might devise some way OF running. 1t is easy
to conceive how they would seek to destroy
the interests OF the property holders and re-
spectacle men Of this State, who were always
arrayed against them, and also to understand
how, moved by the bitter malgnity of their
hate they should, In securing this end, seek
first to drive into voluntary exile and ulti-
mate starvation the ignorant and thriftless
masses they were still able to WELD. In sup
port of this theory it Is q well known fact that
many of the whilom negro leaders OF this
State have been the prime movers in this emil
grafton business. It is hardly question
that they are it's principal organizers and
agents at this day. It suggests itself to us
that they are not only stirred In their activity
In this matter by the vindictiveness resulting
from final political defeat, but that they are
now endeavoring to show their power as pre-
sent political factors They are instigated by
desire to show their purchasabie value
measured by the harm they can do, and are
willing to undo the harm when they are
offered terms by the highest political bidders
In this State The suggestions to be made
and the reflections which arise from this
latter theory must be palpable, but they are
too broad even for the wide field Of journal
istic discussion.
The idea that this was first a movement OF
national significance, founded on the utter
ances OF such wild theorists as Window of
Minnesota, must be dismissed without con-
sideration; though that it may have resulted
from preconcerted scheme Of leading Repub-
leans Of the country who thus sought to
give plausibility to their stories Of outrage,
intimidation and violence against the negro
by instigating an apparent flight Of the race
from the South, seems not too much for the
too grand for sudden execution.
Apart from all these real or fancied causes,
there is one which Is undoubtedly the main
spring of this exodus. The race Is undoubt-
eddy thriftless, as 1t is credulous. With It's
freedom it learned to look for the additional
boon of free homesteads in the finest lands OF
the South. With their acknowledgment they
were taught to expect all the spoils OF corrupt
politics In an era of political corruption. In
the largest negro parishes Of this State these
false hopes seemed to have gradually been
turned into firm convictions. There the race
held political power the longest; SO long in
fact that they seemed to have been imbued
with the idea that it belonged to them for
ever, and that they had been defrauded Of it
when the State returned to Democratic rule.
In these parishes they have received higher
wages than In almost any others In the State,
have been generally left hopelessly to theirown
political convictions. and have enjoyed further
public charities. Yet from these parishes the
main bulk of the colored emigrants have de-
parted This fact Of itself is sufficient to
prove that political persecution had nothing
to do with the movement.
Where left to itself, as the race was to a
great extent in northwest Louisiana, it has
been always thriftless. There the negroes
were able to earn a comfortable living with a
fair amount OF labor. They rarely made
half the crops they were capable OF produc-
Ing, and they lived with comparative extrava-
gance. At the end OF year after year they
found themselves little benefited by their ap-
parently shiftIess and thrift'ess mode ofliving,
and it seems thousands Of them resolved to
emigrate to q new country. More can
scarcely be said, but 1t is known that they
will have far fewer advantages and much
greater disadvantages in Kansas than they
enjoyed here. When experience will
teach the pioneer thousands this, then we
may hope for the movement to be checked,
but not before.
In conclusion, we would say that had not