The comet. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1877-1882, 1880-09-04

uclVOfs 10 slleld his failure behind tn
paItry complaint that his side had not IL tu
and fair opportunity to be heard Such
! charge in the face of the facts is only pucl
| lie and petulant. Admitting that the mum
Der of witnesses called by the minority @
lhe committee was less than that calle
by the majority, an examination of tn
record will show that in actual amount 0
testimony attcntiyely and patiently heard
far more than One-half was from Witnesse
who ayoWcd their republican sentiment
and affiliations. The printed testimon,
amounts to l,oGS pages; of that the Demo
Gratis occupy only 3GS pages, the Republi
cans ,152 pages, the Grcenbackers So, anC
the railroad men II.
Eleven OF the witnesses which the minor
Nity called, poured forth into this recor,
over five hundred pages of their twaddle
and whatever of deficiency existed was
amply made up by another species of state
ments which will strike the future cXami
ncr of this record with surprise, but vii
not be, | presume, embodied among tn,
valuable results of his researches. They
consist of certain very dogmatic assertions
made by some of the gentlemen of the com
mittee who seemed to have supposed they
were appointed to state facts and not TO in.
quire into them. Under the form of an
intcrrOgatory there were assertions of 4
very positive character, to which the AS.
sent of the witness was invited or his
denial challenged. The "fucts" thus sIlg.
geSted are indeed the most startling and
striking in the book and nothing which
any witness testified TO, cqualed the state
mcnt that forms the pregnant suggestions
Of the questions which the honorable Sena.
tors put to the witnesses.
But so far as the real testimony is con
sidcrcd no one can read it with close at
tention without coming so the conclusion
that there was nothing in the condition Of
the States from which this emigration pro-
Cccdcd to produce such II result as driving
its labor from the cmpl0yments in which it
was so actively and prottabIy engaged, ana
nothing in the condition of the States to
which this current of emigration moved
that invited such an influx of labor there :;
upon the contrary, that there was much IN
the pressure of labor upon employment in
these States last mentioned, and the cOnSc-
quCnt depression Of wages and want of en-
ployment, to discourage and repcl such
influx, and even TO roll il back to the local
ity from which it started 1t also, sir, dis
closes, beyond any question or cavil, that
the emigration itself was in Il large meas
ure one of those instances becoming very
frequent in mod0rn times, of powerful
combinations entered into lOr the agran-
dzcment and enrichment of their prOjcc-
tors, which by the magnitude of their
operations can cOntravcnc for time the
natural laws and economic principles
which govern the production and distribu-
ton of a country's wcalth-combnation
that never fail to result in mischief and
disaster, as this one did, to all except those
for whose benefit they were formed. The
proof sir, which the Senator from Indiana
has brought together upon this subject, is
absolutely impregnable and stands un-
shaken by the angry rhetoric of the Scna-
tor from Minnesota, which, in dashing
against it, has only foamcd out its own
There is no doubt about the fact that the
testimony which has been adduced is con-
5radictory. Gentlemen can bring wit
lesscs here who will swear whatever is
wanted for the benefit of their party. 1t is
lOt the first instance in which the records
If investigating committees are made the
channel through which falschood and SLAM
Ter and calumny throughout that section
'mpty all their kennels Of pollution upon
he floor of the Senate.
But, sir no man can read this testimony
Without coming to the conclusion beyond
IOubt that this exodus, SO called, or migra-
ion of twenty-five thousand people Ito put
at the biggest figure that they state)--an /
XOduS from Il country of four million /
Jacks, no one | say can come to the con-
lusion that it was caused by any de-
land for this labor either in Kansas or
indiana or by any oppression and suffering
+ laborers in the States from which they
re coming.
| shall not 20 over the testimony on one
idc or the other of these two theories. |
id not rise for that purpose. 1 rise to-
ay, Mr.. President, to call the attention of
enatOrs, and, if necessary, of the whole
eOplc, to the testimony of men who are
OF brought before Investigating commit
'es, men who are neither Republicans nor
'cmocrats, men who give their testimony
OF with avieW to presidential election or
party results in this country.
! will take first the views of an intclli-
cnt Englishman, member of the British
who has had great experience
| the administration of affairs in his own
Iuntry; and who having travelled through
lie United States, published for the edili-
ltiOn of his own cOlIRtrymen the result of
IS observations RpOn the relations of the
ack and white races here as compared
it'll the relations of the same classes in
C British colonies. In his work entitled
'hite and Black; Visit to the United
ates, Sir George Campbell says:
was, as have there stated, led to look particu- ,
ly into the relations between the lack and white
res in the Southern States, for the sake Of the les
rs that might lie learned brurng M our HIan-
eni-nt Of British possessions where white and I
lCk races are lnlcflhllHltI
do not hear speak
Said Sir George
our great dependency, India, where our system Il
b en- 10 rule both races by 4 government $
pwcdly absolute and dcspctc. In regard tu :
1t system am oI those To be Judged rather t
IN to judge others
n the course ol my tour have had opportunities !,
with many men ul many classes (and :,
ite Hs much one sidr ol p0liti as the other) A.
u have had the greatest experience oi the blacks y
yaIous aspeclsrtucItiUna industrial, political, "
other.
lie did not conline his attention 10 the
Elements of political adventurcrs and !;
thirds, and thus violated some of the
acedents so faithfully followed in many !,
icstigatiOns heretofore. II
am indebted to them for information given 10 E
with freedom, franknrss, and libcrIlity Tor "
th cannot be- sufficiently grateful.
lie goes on to say: !,
have visited not only the towns but the rural ID
iricts oi four of the principal States formerly a
namely, Virginia, North Carolina 0l
The very State that is now the subject y
this Investigation In
TIA Carolina, and Georgia; and it s0 happened ca
/ | was ia south Carolina on the lay uf the late "
eral election. i have seen and coHyeTsed with d'
negroes in their homes an'I in their fields, ia Ia
Ories, in 'hurches, and in political meetings. 10
Jow let us see what he said about it.
IR. TELLER. When did he travel
Ough the South? A
lR. LAMAR. In 1879. He was pre- cx
lted from going through Mississippi and ca
uisiana by the yellow fever. After some th
rOductory remarks he makes this state ail
mt: "'
iter the war the SOutherns accepted the sit
ion as few but Americans can accept defeat bI
, instead Of throwing up their hands and crying 10
ieaven sought To make the best Of the lands that ..
aimed to them. Ii seemed not impossible that, ,i
property in slaves being written of as lost, the ~ ~
might be as cheaply aud effectively cultivated lu
hired labor II the negroes could he got 10 work or
ny rate, il a necessity 10 get II cultivated so
chow. The negroes, the other hand, found aU
they must work or starve; and the feeling he es
en- them and their former masters leing As ! | 40
G said, not mfrendly, the matter was Arranged y. ~
ne way or another. :.
Icre is what he SAYS upon the subject of M
labor relation of the two races to each ~
er: co
n snail farms, where black men work in small ii,
ibefs in company with and under the mne- Of
e control Of their employers, they DO eXoecd- ~,
y well alsn when they work On their own ac- " -
nj they do very we'll u is only where they co
employed in large numbeIs under insufficient ~
srvision As on very large farms. that they are su
10 take Il easy aud idle away their time, l. an
case with most such races. be
OF only "a
avs Sir George Campbell di
le Hegro labor excellent, but also there is among