The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1882-1884, 1883-06-21

The SOCletleS were 1OISuuoSS Az
their selection of speaker, and the
sneaker vas more fortunate in the
selection of his subject. There was
no attempt at eloquence ard display.
It was a plain, deep, practical. philo'
sophie discourse, just such one as
we should expect from an able and
experienced jurist. We regret our
inability to give our readers the ad'
dress entire, but we shall make some
extracts from the Duties of Citizen
ship"
THE first duty of the men of the
present day is to elevate the tone OF
public morals, TO infuse into the PEG
pie a higher sense of political obliga'
ton. to dethrone venality, and to
teach the coming generation that they
should no more tolerate political than
personal immortality, and that man
who is not worthy ofsocial intercourse
does not deserve political elevation
We endeavored in feeble way to
set forth the same views in our last
number. It Is manifest that too lit
tie attention is given to public al
fairs by "the people,. The part
they take in public concerns is to
trust the nominations and details OF
affairs to a few, and then to complain
when things do not go to suit them.
The speaker we'll says: "La1ity in
attention to public affairs is the one
besetting sin of our people. Our
government was founded upon the
idea that, when a people have the
right to govern themselves, they will
neglect no act essential to the exer-
else of that right, but what is the
fact? From one end of the country
to the other the fact is proclaimed
that a large portion OF the intelli-
gence and higher culture o. the ma
ton I'VE dislike this wOrd), ostenta.
tiously eschew politics, and will
have nothing to do with it," This
indifference, this apathy, this crime,
is not confined to the intelligent and
cultured portion of the community
only, but it permeates every class of
society. We speak of the South now.
and not of the North, for We are not
conversant with public affairs there.
The masses of the white people here
eschew politics, public affairs-those
things that pertain togovernment.Y You
cannot induce them to attend the pr.
mary meetings ; it is with the utmost
difficulty that you can get them to the
elections. And why One reason
as potent as any other is because
of their reluctance to come in active
contact with the negro. The aged,
the respectable, the timid voter dis.
likes to come to the election, for the
same reason that he is not found on
excursion cars, at circuses and
similar places. Feeling that he dis.
likes to attend the elections, his
failure to take an interest in the pri.
mary meetings is at once understood.
When white men come to the cleo.
ton, they cannot vote unless they
see fit to push their way through a
densely packed crowd of negroes
they always crowd the polling
places, with their box at some con.
venient place, and upon it their tick.
ct, ''issuer," as they term him, who
keeps up the same racket that the
agent of side show does in selling
tickets to his exhibition of wonders,
We are not surprised at this state OF
affairs the wonder is that it is not
worse. How can we expect more
virtue, more purity, more integrity,
more honesty, in the administration
OF public affairs, when so large a pro
portion of the voting population is q
purchasable element ? Knowing this
fact, bad men aspire to places oil
honor and trust, and, when such are
elected. they do not hesitate to carry
evil designs into execution.
There is one feeling that possesses
every Anglo.Saxon who deserves the
name of man-it is a conscious su-
periority to the negro race-yes, te
any other race. Some may tell us
that tais is pride that it has no foun
dation in truth. If it is pride, we "a
herited it from an ancestry, who
emerging from the wilds of Germany
have overcome all obstacles and hay,
developed the highest type of man.
hood the world has ever seen if it i
thought to have no foundation i,
truth. look to the nations of the worl,
and see If Anglo.Saxon thought an,