The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-11-21
MORE THAN A RACE QUESTION.

/
Bile, that they mean much more than that
Looked into deeper, these outbreaks appear
to be the antagonisms of two distinct civili-
cations On the surface it appears to be hos
| tility to the negro race that provokes so
many barbarties against these helpless peo-
| pie, but that may not be the real cause. The
purpose to retain and perpetuate slavery en-
tered largely, but only secondarily, into the
| causes of the late war The real cause was
the indication, by the last previous election,
| that the scepter of power had passed forever,
or was about to pass, from the ruling aristo-
| Gratis of the South to the "mud-sills" of
| the laboring masses of the Northern States.
The perpetuation of slavery was merely in
cidental to this chief aim, and it
| was the cowardice and submis-
sion of the North for the preceding
half century which led these aristocrats to
believe that at bold assault these men
whom they had so long ruled would at
once capitulate, beg pardon, be forgiven
| apd .esume their normal condition-that
| of vassals They were mistaken, as the sequel
| shows
| 1t is true that in these eighteen years of
| ku-klux methods in the South the negroes
have been the chief sufferers, ii numbers
are counted; but there have been thousands
of the best OF white men slain or driven
away in the deathless hostility of the South
ern type of civilization to the Northern.
| The graphic pictures in The FOOLS Err
| randi could be reduplicated a thousand
times, and more or less in every one of the
in Virginia is only an evidence that that
| type of civilization still intends to rule
| or ruin. The whole tone of the
| Southern press speaks as contemptuously
of the white men who were lately antagoniz-
ing the Democratic party as of the negroes
| themselves, and for the same reason They
are more or less in sympathy with the party
that confronted solid South on the tented
| field and their sympathizers at home
| 1t is not difficult to foresee the ultimate
result of this policy. A South made solid by
terrorism, whether by shotguns or social and
business and political ostracism, must be
met by solid North. In other words, if
that type of civilization which was bred of
slavery and fostered by aristocracy still re-
| fuses to commngle with the type that was
born of freedom and which has been nur-
tured by the sweat of toll, then the better
civilization must at least, refuse to be die
tated to by 1t.
But there is even more than this at stake.
If the theory of local self-government
| is susceptible of such a construction as
will relegate the safety of any citizen of the
| United States to the mobs which constitute
what are called courts within the territory of
this other civilization, then it becomes a Sc
| rious question whether the nation must not
| hasten to enact civil-rights law that shall
be broader than any yet attempted law
that shall protect all men, everywhere. 1t is
not to the honor of the government that it
| will send navies and armies if need be- to
Germany or to China to protect a citizen;
| that it will make the trial for murder by an
adopted citizen, committed thousands of
miles away, the subject of diplomatic cor
respondence, yet at our very doors, in a part
of our own national domain, men may be
murdered with impunity, for no crime but
lack of sympathy with the ruling classes of
| that locality These things will not always
| be-
There is still another phase OF this ques
| ton. Does it strike any thoughtful man as
| best that section of the national territory
| shall be under such mere brutal control as
will insure solid vote for any party, by
the coercive measure known to exist in the
South? 1t does not matter whether this con-
trolling element be the identical element
that only few years ago tried its coercion
upon the nation itself, or any other If
this policy is to be continued, may be, as it
came near being only few years ago, that
a very small minority of those who are free
to vote their sentiments may make common
cause with the bulldozers intimdators and
alien spirits, and take charge of the nations
affairs. We repeat that the Southern ques-
ton is not a simple question OF races, it is
question of national life or death. A South
made solid by bullets must and will make
North solid by ballots, and that will re-
main as long as the other remains. 1t is not
of our seeking that sectional questions must
enter largely into all elections while the
South rules by terrorism.
ANNA DICKINSON will, it is said, open the
convention of the Knights of Labor at Detroit
next month with her new lecture on labor