The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1884-11-27

white men in those Southern States, by
nrsurping and absorbing the rights o.
the colored men, are exerting just double
the political power of the white men in
the Northern States.
| I submit, my friends. that such con.
dition of affairs is extraordinary, unjust
and derogatory to the manhood of the
North. Even those who are vindictively
opposed to negro suffrage will not deny
that if Presidential electors are assigned
to the South by reason of the negro
population, that population ought to be
permitted free suffrage in an election.
To deny that clear proposition is to
affirm that the Southern white man in
the Gulf States is entitled to double the
political power of the Northern white
man in the Lake States. 1t is to affirm
that the Confederate soldier shall WELD
twice the influence in the nation that
the Union soldier can, and that perpetual
and constantly increasing superiority
shall be conceded to the Southern white
man in the Government of the Union.
If that be quietly conceded in this gener.
alton it will harden into custom until the
badge of inferiority will attach to the
Northern white man as odiously as ever
Norman noble stamped it upon the Saxon
churl.
This subject is of deep interest to the
.laboring men of the North. With the
Southern Democracy triumphant in. their
States and in the Nation, the negroes
will be compelled to work for just such
wages as the whites may decree, wages
which will amount, as did the supplies
of the slaves, to a bare subsistence, equal
in cash, perhaps, to 35 cents per day, if
averaged over the entire South.
The white laborer in the North: will
soon feel the destructive effect of this
upon his own wages.
The Republicans have clearly seen
from the earliest days of reconstruction
that wages in the South must be raised
to the just recompense of the lahorer, or
wages in the North,b be ruinously lowered,
and the party has steadily worked for the
formef result. A reverse influence will
be now set in motion, and that condition
of affairs produced which years ago Mr..
Lincoln warned the free laboring men of
the North, will prove hostile 10 their
independence and will inevitably lead to
rninous reduction of wages. A mere
difference in the color of the skin will
not suffice for maintaining an entirely
different standard of wages in contiguous
and adjacent States, and the voluntary
will be compelled to yield to the inyol-
untary. 5s t-5oe
So completely have the colored men in
the South been already deprived by the
Democratic party of their constitutional
and legal rights as citizens of the United
States that they regard the advent of that
party to National power as the signal of
their re enslavement and are aftrighted
because they think all legal protection
for them is gone.
Few persons in the North realize how
completely the chiefs of tie Rebellion
WELD the political power which has
triumphed in the late election. It is a
porteptous fact that the Democratic
Senators who came from the States Of
the late Confederacy,f all, and mean all,
without single exception, personally
participated in the rebellion against the.
National Government. 1t is astill more.
significant fact that in those States no
man.who was loyal to the Union, no
matter how strong Democrat he may be.
to day, has the slightest chance of polit-
ical promotion. The one great avenue.
to honor in that section is the record of
Jealous service in the war against the
Government.
tits certainly an astounding fact that
the section in which friendship tor the
Union in the day of its trial and agony
is still political disqualification, should
be called now to rule over the Union.
All this takes place during the lifetime
of the generation that fought the war;
and eleyates into the practical command
of the American Government the iden.
.ical men who organized for its destruc'
tion and plunged us into the bloodiest
contest of modern times.
I have spoken of the South as placed
by the late election in possession of the
Government, and [ mean all that my
words imply.
The South furnished nearly three.
fourths of the electoral votes that defeat.
ed the Republican party and they will
step to the command of the Democrats
as uuchallenged and as unrestrained as
they held the same position for thirty
years before the civil war. Gentlemen,
there cannot be political inequality
among citizens of free Republic.
There cannot be a minority Of white
men in the South ruling majority of
white men in the North. Patriotism,
self.respect, State pride, protection of
person aud safety for the country, all cry
out against ii. The very thought OF it
stirs the blood of men who inherit equal.
ity from the Pilgrims who first stood on
Plymouth Rock and from the liberty
loving patriots who, came. to the Della
ware with William Penn. 1t becomes a
permanent question of American man.
hood. It demands hearing and settle
ment, and that settlement will, vindicate
the equality of american citizens IN all
personal and civil rights. 1t will, al
least, establish the equality of white men
under the. National Government, and
will give to the Northern man who
fought to preserve the Union as large O
voice in its government as may be exer.
cised by the Southern man who fought
to destroy the Union.
The contest just closed utterly; dwarfs
the fortunes and fate of candidates
whether successful or unsuccessful. Pur'
nosely. T NAV say instinctively, have
discussed the issues and consequences oi
that contest without reference to my own
defeat, without the remotest reference "a
the gentleman who is elevated to the
Presidency. Towards him, personally,
have no cause for the slightest lli.Wlll
and it is with cordiality express the
wish that his official career may prove
gratifying to himself and beneficial to
the country, and that his administration
! L yoH