The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1880-10-30

lar credulity and supposed ignorance in rela-
ton to the condition OF business ana society
in the Southern states.
When read the lurid pictures drawn by
occasional correspondents of the Repuslican
press in the North, and oft-ntimes, i am sorry
70 say, by Cabinet Ministers, Senators, and
other party leaders, describing the southern
states as abysses of crime and rufiianlsm,
scenes of daily and nightly murder OF an IN :
nocent black population seeking shelter IN the
swamps by day and creeping back to their
cabinsat night in fear of their lives, marvel
ut the tenerity OF the bearers OF falsehood,
VIXEN the means of refutation lie so near at
hand.
Many of the REALTORS of these tales of blood
and suffering are noisy and loud professors OF
especial regard for our national credit, but
the pictures they draw, II true, would be al
most fatal to it but that is nothing II the trick
can induce ignorant and tiiiid voters to re-
tain them longer in power,
AGAINST All these malevolent and fluent
charges l place the actual condition OF the
south itself in evidence. There are many
forces at work in this broad land-forces OF
destruction and forces of conservation-and
if hatred and injustice have their disciples and
apostles, go also, thank heaven, have truth
and justice.
est, prepared for the Fortnightiy Rerie,r, and
published in separate form fnBoston, On
the Railroads of the United states, and their
Effects on Farming and Production in that
Country and Great Britain" Mr. Edward
Atkinson of Massachusetts, after q ,careful
and extended personal inspection OF the con-
dition of the Southern States, and mastery
arrangement of the statistics OF some OF their
productive industries, makes incidentally the
following refuarks: FEr
1.-THE total production of gold and silver by
the mines, mountains and rivers OF the whole
world (according toCernurchfs latest state
inent) for twenty seven years has been "a 400.
3s7 900, and the American cotton crop for the
81 SOC. 900 900 10 5000, 900 900 in gold val
ues. since 1865 an Industrial revolu-
ton has occurred in the states made
free by the war such rs never oe.ore Occur &c ho
misgovernment, fraud, political disturbance,
want of stability, sometimes violence; but
underlying tnis surface, apparently SO deeply
agitatcd, great industrial forces have been
quietly and surely working to the end indi-
Gated by the great crops of cotton, the ten last
crops marketed exceeding the ten ante-war
crops by nearly $4,000 bales, while the crop
now being marketed will be far the largest
ever grown" go
And then, he remarks, with a logic whose
force is irresistible to candid minds, and which
constitutes a complete and crushing answer
to the political lslanderers and ASSISTANTS OF
our fellow citizens of the South:
Violence and anarchy can not have been
the rule in a section that has produced greater
crops for SALE and has at the same time been
more self sustaining than ever before in its
history" ~
THE PRESENT CONDITION OF THE NEGRO.
Tue speaker also ftlcffcu 10 the DTOQUctlOu
of tobacco, rice and sugar in the South, and
to the great revenues derived from them AS
to the present industrial condition of the
South he said: But a fortnight ago [ paid a
visit to South Carolina to express my deep in
terest in the welfare of the people of that
State, and wish every man in the North
could have witnessed the assemblages that
did, and heard not merely the addresses made
to the people, but the manner in which every
allusion TO the union of the South aud the
duty of unfolding the honor and credit of
the general Governments was responded to.
There was a heartiness and sincerity that
could not misunderstood. In the professions
and meetings were large numbers of mounted
members of the red shirt clubs'-they OF
whom such blood curdling accounts are
given in Republican newspapers. They all
looked to me like plain, hearty, home spun
faruiers; resembling in eve cry respect the yeO-
manry OF the State OF Delaware or OF New
York. " .N .f.ssT
But had seen it often stated that the chief
occupation of the red shirted riders was TO
shoot and intimdate the colored voters, and
as 5 tanned the ranks of the long procession,
1 discovered scores upon scores OF these
dusxy victims of imaginery massacre riding
upon well fed horses and mules, and cheering
for Hancock and the whole Deshocratic ticket,
with AN ardor that was unmistakable. had
free and friendly talk with some of these col
ored men, and aseertained they were general
ly the owners OF the animals they were riding,
and had come, somHunS far as forty miles, to
swell the assemblagcl ID hear the speeches
They listened attentively; and TO the state
mentS OF Mr. HagOO0, the c;ln0iQatc Tor Gov
ernor, of the relative expenditures in the gov
eminent of the State, they we're especially at
tentive. r--. ~
In several instances these colored men had
forty acres Of land under cultivation; thirty
acres in cotton, ten in corn; the whole labor
was performed by the family and one mule.
The product was about twenty bales of cotton
and corn enough for the mule and the bread
for the family. House rent was nothing; fuel
nothing; clothing, in that climate, very little.
But twenty bales of cotton are worth 81 900,
chanics and laboring men in the North would
be glad to exchange the net proceeds of their
years toll with some of these colored men in
Carolina -. ef.l 3llf8-
Fellow citizens, would Hike to say much to
you on this subject, and endeavor to let you
feel, as did, how unjust and untrue are the
charges we hear made OF the oppression of the
colored people OF the south by the whites.
And sure am il any man, who was not I'M
willing to see the truth, had been at my side
during my visit to South Carolina, he would
have come away assured that industry was
the rule among the peple. and that the rela-
lions OF the races were quietly and happily
regulating themselves, and but for the devils'
work of selfish and INSCRIPTIONS politicians
there. ' ~
THE FINANCIAL QUESTION.
The speaker reviewed at much length the
financial history of the country during the
past eleven years, in the course of which he
said: -9Ta - f.agr ffflFl' I
1t has been the labor and economy of our
country. favored by Providence with weather
that permitted full crops at the time He WIS.,
tied the British Islands with deluges,l and be-
slowed unfavorable seasons upon the agricul-
ture of the continent Redemption of Treas
ury notes has been made possible by what
Horatio seymour aptly calls the statesman
ship of the plow."
Let me put the plain question to candid and
intelligent men. Is not the cotton crop of the
Southern States to- day, and has it not for years
past been, our chief item of export which en-
ables us TO maintain the balance of foreign
trade in our favor? do not omit our vast
shipments of breadstuffs in the calculation,
but do aver that but for the industry of the
southern people and the production of their
staples. the balance of trade would have been
against us steadily, and be so to day, and that
resumption would have been impossible.
And yet Northern audiences, and here in
this center of Intelligence. are taught to be-
neve the Southern States are inimical to
Northern prosperity, and that policy which
discourages their industry and alienates their
affections and sympathies is the safe, proper,
and patriotic one to be followed.
THE ELECTORAL FRAUD. fftJ.ll
A|s-. 49, -. u. n