West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1881-03-19
VOL. ".
LESSON OF THE LATE NEGRO EN-
ODUS TO NORTHERN STATES.


n Letter that should be Read BY
EvcrybOdy--lt ~ Sensible and
Conclusive.
To THR EDITOR OF THE SUN-Sir: In
view of the recent movement of black
people from the Southern To the North
ern States, and the probable continuance
OF the movement in years to come, tho
attention OF the public Is again called TO
the dangers that will certainly arise.
II is part of the political history of
our times that the.scheme of the so-called
Exodus had its origin in the brains OF
white Republicans. The movement WAS
inaugurated tor the avowed purpose of
overcoming the Democratic majority In
Indiana by the votes of black paupers
brought from the Southern States.
Thinly veiled::Hnder the insincere and
bypocritical speeches made by the direc-
tors Of the scheme, there. stood revealed
10 all thinking men one OF the most
wicked plans ever conceived and at
tempted TO be carried out. In this move
ment turks a grave danger to our demo
cratic institutions. If Gen. Grant had
been nominated by the Republican party
in $780, last year would have witnessed
the full-grown plan in successfuls opera
tion. The nomination of Garfield rem
dered resort TO the plan unnecessary at
that time. But it is Wells known that the
schemes of the Imperialists were not killed
At Chicago.
No man can foretel the outcome of an
apparently innocent political movement
The seed thrown broadcast may fall on
strong soil, and the crop produced be far
beyond thcsabilitv of the Isowers to har-
vest. When speaking or thinking of the
movement known. as the Ex pdus, the
average voter does not seek the primary
motive. He sees the black men or hears
their pitiful storY, and in most cases be
. lieves il. That'is enough The black
men are pictured on his mind as poor
docile creatures wSo have been hunted
from their homes by brutal white Leaguers
and other political scoundrels, who in.
dulge in the undemocratic sport of beat
ing their employees 10 make them vote in
accordance with their views, instead of
adopting the mois highly civilized meth
cd employed by the Republican mill
owners of the North, of ..discharging the
men who will not vote as desired and
sending the proscriptlve list 10 other man
ufacturers, SO as to prevent their obtain
ing employment at other points.
The political speakers of the Republi-
can party told and retold from thousands
of platforms the dreadful tales of woe
that were manufactured at the North
about the treatment the negroes of the
South have had to endure. Such blacks
az have been lured TO the North by the
agents of the Republican party have been
represented as being political refugees
from the land of murder, hate, and the
shot gun. The spirit of slavery Is de-
clsred to be haunting the Southern States
and, in,dreadful disguises, to be riding
about the country O. nights, seeking to
politically enslave the offspring of the
slaves of the days before the war, by
scourging their free bodies with whips,
and where the cOlored martyrs are firm in
their political faith, of using the more
potent argument of shooting revolver
bullets through or bird shot into them. 1t
IS said that these negroes have fed from a
land strswn with black corpses by the
cowardly white men to the brave, hospita-
BILE North, the land of free speech and q
free ballot.
These speeches, delivered in many
States and in almost countless numbers,
had queer air of similarity about them.
1t is hardly possible that a hundred men,
widely separated, thinking on the same
subject, should construct almost the same
speech, The suspicion that the speeches
were originally one speech, written for
the use of the Republican orators, and by
them altered to suit their different styles
OF delivery, grew 10 be certainty in
many mems minds before the campaign
was over. AS this suspicion grew into a
certainty, the motive for these speeches
gradually revealed itself, until it 10
strongly suspected that they we're really
Intended to prepare the Northern people
for the arrival Of many thousands Of
negroes from the South; that a sympathy
for and a tolerance Of the exiles was to be
created, In order 10 pave the way for the
events that the Stalwarts hope the future
will besr.
The practical working Of the Exodus,
stripped Of al sentiments, Is this The
negroes we're induced TO leave their work
in the South by fraudulent statements
made by political and railroad agents who
promised, among other things, social
equality. They poured into Kansas by
the thousand They hOcked % al towns
larger than Eastern cross-Toad villages,
and there they live in comparative idle
ness. They poured into the capital Of
the State iu an ever-increasing stream Of
poverty y-stricksn humanity. Barracks
were built for their use. They live At the
expense Of the public not by direct
appropriations from tho public purse. but
by the charity Of the nation, solicited by
the tribe known a. philsnthropists. They
are, in effect, supported by CHARITY. To
mar they voted The Republican ticket At
the late election.