The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1879-08-14

| ICeicrflDS TO MT. Massey argument thai
the present Virginia does not owe the State
debt, but that the United States, having
conquered the commonwealth, is response
BILE for it, the State has the following sen.
fences: ''He knows that the Common
wealth never owned slave, and that there
fore the Common veal til, the State of Vir
ginia, lost by the war no slaves. He know,
that the negro population remains in the
State, as many, at least, in numbers, as
when the war began, and that that popula-
ton is a part of the tar.producing qceahh o,
the State"
1t is to these last words We wish to call at
of the party with which the State is identi
fed that the negro represents comparatively
no wealth, pay but little Of the tax, and are
consequently entitled to no political consd-
Grafton. Ind irectly, the negroes, to the de-
gree that they constitute the laboring class
of the State, a re the tax producers in the
State. They wn rk the tobacco fields, run
the tobacco factories, till the farms, and in
every department Of manual labor they con
stitute the essential agents OF industrial
progress. In the cotton States they are in
dispensible, and without them the great staple
of the South would be nothing. The fact that
since the war more cotton has been cult
waited and marke ted than ever before in the
same period OF time, and more wealth
created for the South ern people than ever
befoTe,ls the most cnnv ineing proof that this
labor class is the so URGE of nearly all the
taX-paying ability the South possesses. The
increase in the aggregate of the cotton pro-
duction is a convinc ing argument, too, that
the negroes are not the idle, thriftIess people
they are represented to be. W ere it SO, the
results we have mentioned would not exist.
1t is true, there are many who are worthless,
but the negroes constitute, emphaticalIy, the
labor class of the South, and if they were
the trfling vagabonds they are painted,
devastation and want would reign where
prosperity and wealt h abound
Let the people of the South recognize the
facts as they exst,and encourage this useful
and indispensable population to habits of
economy and ap plication, and aid them in
their aspirations for a higher condition of
civil cation. instead Of denouncirg and pro-
scribng the m because they wish to enjoy
and exercise the rights and privileges the
laws guaran tees to them. For two hundred
years he has served in ignorance and degra-
dation the white race-silled the fields and
ipflu cfrfo
the ruling class to.educate their children
and surround thems elves with comforts and
luxuries. Now, when step forward is made
in his conditi on-when the light of knowl-
edge and the truths of religion are opened
to his min and heart, it is the duty of the
white people to lend him all the aid they
can, and to verlook and condone many of
the short com ings and false conclusions of
which he may be guilty. Not only to rec
ognlze them as Taxpayers, through their
labor. but to co needle to them all the polit
Cal rights which the cardinal law of the
nation secures to them. We believe the
suffrage restric ton in the Constitution of
Virginia, designed pri marily to strike at the
poor negro, is Wrong in public policy, wrong
in principle. and clearly in violation of both
the letter and spirit OF the National Consti-
tuition. as well as the solemn pledge of Vir-
GINA. Its enactment was a species of
political jugglery and duplicity that no brave
people should have countenanced; nor do
we believe the people of Virginia would
ever have saxcti oned it, but for the
desperate devices and deceptive methods OF
partzan leaders, by WHICH passion was
innamed and reason sQbordlnated.
The negro is entitled to the kindly feeling |
and considerate indulgence of the South, for
he was true to them and theirs IN their
direst need, He is conservative in his
instincts and Tenderness, and so long as he
only asks what the law guarantees to him,
no right or privilege should be abridged that
Is calculated to stimulate his pride, elevate
his manhood, and cultivate his understand
ing Of the duties and obligations of citizen
ship. Gf