St. Landry democrat., 1879-12-27
sT,. LANDRY DEMOCEsAT.
Exodus Inquiries.
IN. 0. Picayune.l


mittees to inquire into the causes and |
nthar matters connected with the So |
called negro exodus from the South,. is
cmnently proper and polite. Inns
whole subject has been so mlstlficd by |
partisan discussions as to its origin and |
it's character, it has been so exaggerated |
on one side and 50 belittled on the other,
it has been so variously described ana
explained that the world at large have
found it not only difficult, but impossl-
bic to form any intelligent Judgment
concerning it. Newspapers have sent
tlleir correspondents into the afflicted
districts; and these have told many
different and contradictory stores.
The white people i'll the same neigh
borhoods have written letters abound
ing in explanations, which might eX-
plain, if they were consistent and uni
form in their tenor. But this they are
not Enterprisng correspondents have
interviewed the negroes on the plan
tations, on the river bank, on board the
steamboats,, in st. Louis, i'll Kansas,
and have succeeded only i'll discovering
that the fugitives were obeylnS some
secret impulse which they either re-
garded as mystery, lneNpllcable even
to themselves, or which they preferred
to keep hidden from all inquirers. 1t
may NC tiluu d vi NbI-iNE
men may have the same difficulty in
getting ut the truth. They may not
succeed in penetrating the mysterious
arcana of the negro mind, to reach his
real motives, but they may do mnch
toward exposing the conspiracy OF the
Republican leaders to convert the move
meut to their own benefit, if such a con-
spiracy exists, and to show whether OF
not it has been stimulated by the agents
of railway corporations, or by persons
whose object is profit and plunder.
Finally they can get at the truth OF
the charge which has been SO literally
made that the white people of the rural
districts throughout the South have
excited the desire for emigration by
practicing systematic cruelty toward
She negro, and by deprivilg them of
political rights. The slunder that the
white people have made themselves
responsible for the negro exodus by
personal cruelty to the blacks, has been
circulated throughout the world to that
extent that in Europe it is accepted by
many reasonably intelligent people as
an unduestioned fact. The English an
ti-slavery society, which, like the Amer
lean anti-slavery society never wearics
III the work OF enthusiastic calumnyand
Jealous slander, is just bow engaged in
holding up the Southern people to the
gaze Of the world as monsters of cruelty,
a model of amiable phiIantrophy. The
London Times publishes letter fur
nished by Mr.. Allen, secretary of the
British and Foreign Anti-Slayery So
ciety, which contains this para graph:
An English lady, who is devOting herself to
the relief Of the suffering negroes in Kansas,
writes, under date the 20th October, that every
6HV hIin tjuIu of increasing nlJnl hers fleeing
from outrage, robbery and wrong, and that
many have seen their relations and friends
dress, as the laws Of the Southern States nflict
no punishment on the white man for robbiny
or cruelty treating Il cOlored man.
The same lady then tells of the cut
ting off of the arms of returned refu-
gees, which she describes as the favorite
process Of the Southern planters to work
a cure for the exodus fever, naively re-
marking, however, that the effect of
this feroci0us and atroclous conduct ig
to make the negroes more than ever
anxious to get away. Now it is not
unjust to the lady to say that she is as
great liar as some of the Republican |
papers, which is as much as to say that |
Saphira was model of truth in com
parison, and that Mr.. Allen, the Secre- |
tary, etc, is as great a fool as can be |
found in any idiot asylum in the world.
But the liars and fools appear to be
having it pretty much their own way
with large class Of public opinion in
reference to this subject. But, little,
thus far, has been done to dissuade the |
world of the consequences Of their false
hood and folly. To be sure the exodus
movement has subsidized in all the dis
tricts which it ravaged year ago; but |
it has broken out in other places, and
in others still it is emminent. 1t is de-
sirable and eXpedient that the southern
people should be relieved of the asper-
sionS which have been cast upon them
in this connection, and that it should |
be shown, as it can be, that the Southern
white people are no more justly Charge
able with cruelty because Of the negro
exodus, than the English people on ae-
count Of the Irish exodEs or the New
England people on account of the vast
emigration Of working people from East
to West during the years between 1873
and 1878. " I'LL Il. ...
This can be accomplished by means
of a congressional injury; and, at the
same time, it may be shown that Re-
publican partisans are just now work
ing up the business in North Carolina
and elsewhere, in order to enable their
friends to steal the vote of Indiana by
means OF imported negroes.
EXTRACTED WITHOUT PA1N.-Dr.
Preston is a dentist Of Wayland, N. Y,
who does not confine his interest in the
artificial teeth he makes to his tempo
rary and professional creation of them.
After they. have learned to live from
hand to MOUTH he has habit of ask
ing about them, fondling them, and
guarding them against threat
ening defects. Some time ago he made
a set of Teeth for the Rev. w. w. Holt,
of Bloods," whatever that may be.