The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-12-08
THE NEGRO IN THE SOUTH.
Pitiable Condition of the COlOred People in
the Cotton States.

Pitiable Condition of the COlOred People in
the Cotton States.
j. b., In Cincinnati Commercial Gazette.
Northerners can have little idea of the pitable
condition of the negroes in the cotton States His
investiture with citizenship is grim farce. His
color is an impenetrable barrier to social eleva
ton. Only to-day was talking with a gentle
man who came South quarter of century ago,
and has remained here ever since. DE SAID It
was his honest opinion that so far as physical
comforts went. more than half of the negroes OF
Mississippi were in worse condition now than
they were during slavery days. Let the negro
work like an OK for starvation wages, tip his hat
to the white man, and not lntrude his presence,
then he Is "a good CITIZEN" but let him stand on
his own individuality as man. and he is IAN
impudent nigger" and let him assert his right to
q voice in the government of the State and Ma
ton, then woe be to him.
A Southern man and a Democrat startled the
people Of the North year ago by an expose, in
the Century Magazine, of the penal system of
the old slave States. Had the horrors he told
of existed in Russia or Ireland, tho papers would
have commented on them for months; but as
they belonged to the South, their narration
caused only a temporary fiutter, and then
dropped out Of sight for It is now Islander to
tell the truth about the South. England has
had her prison reformers, world renowned.
When will the American humanitarian step to
the front and arouse public indignation against
the harbarism practiced IN Southern States,
from Kentucky to the Cuff The other day. in
or five negroes in chains working on the streets.
They had committed some slight offense. One
of them was boy, certainly not twelve years OF
age chain, such as is used for fastening logs,
was fastened to one foot and around his
waist 1t was so long that it mad to be
run twice around his body and then
twisted in knot 1t must have weighed thirty
pounds. A coored boy who was passing threw
Aim an apple He leaned over painfully, picked
the apple,up said "Thank you,n and commenced
If
with his work, the rest of the Changing
were getting ahead of him in shovelipg the mud
from the street-car tracks The youthful pris-
oners clothing was torn as to indecently ex-
pose his person. In Memphis l was told that
the work house prisoners are put ON the roads
of the city, each with long bar Of iron forged
In the middle to the ankle. Mr.. Beck. the pres
ent sheriff Of this county Ia white Republican,
and one of the leading and most respected citi-
zens of Vicksburgl, tells me that when he was
elected mayor of the city, some years ago, one
of his first official acts was to order the discon-
hnuauce of the chain and ball on the legs of
prisoners working on the streets. The peniten
tiary system of Mississippi is particularly
barbarous. One man leases the entire labor of
the peDitentary, and he sub-leases it to outside
contractors. who work the unfortunate negroes
on railroads and cotton plantations Said Mr..
Beck: Il have seen gangs of colored convlcts
CHAINED together going through the streets OF
Vicksburg in the depth of winter, clad in sum
mer clothing, shivcring from cold and disease.
Ihe cold we nave mere is damp ana very Pene-
trAting; It's worse than your Northern frosts
Last winter made some investigations into
the public school system Of South Carolina. 1t
Is discredt to any State in the American
Union. That of Mississippi is worse, if posi-
bic. The white people Of Mississippi are know
ingIy letting the colored youth grow up in the
most profound ignorance This may seem
cruel charge, but it is warranted by
the facts. AS Northerners understand
the term. there is no public school
in iGc
the right to demand education from his old
masters. They owe his race pay for centuries
of unrequited toll. The negro Is here to stay,
and his right to citizenship, once given, can
never legally be taken from him. His salvation
Is education. But the public school system
exists only on paper. The Constitution of the
State makes it imperative upon every county to
keep the schools open at least four months oil
the year; the letter of the Constitution is obeyed,
but not the spirit The school houses, for the
most part, are unfit for human habitaton; the
teachers are. a rule, grossly incompetent and
are miserably underpaid, and then they are
swinded outrageously. The teachers are paid
in county scrip, warrants, that are worth 81
cents on the dollar. To-day was shown parcel
Of warrants issued by this county (Warren) that
have been outstanding since 1881, and are now
quoted at 80 cents on the dollar. And yet the
white Bourbon, whose family for ages have lived
of negro sweat whines about the ignorance of
the negro.
But hold on; the Southern Democrats say that
now Cleveland Is elected they VIII be as MN
istering angels to the colored race 1t is that
wicked Radical party that has kept the negro
race in its present deplorabe condition.
After breakfast. this morning, took a look
down the principal and the most dismal-loOking
street in Vicksburg A keen-eyed man whom
had noticedin the hotel accosted me
''How dyou like your BREAKFAST he asked,
with q smile.
l smiled and shrugged my shoulders.
stranger" he inquired, elevating his eye
brows
said yes, and elevated my eyebrows to an in
terrogation point.
''Yes," he replied.
We condoled together.
Instinctvely | almost knew he was Repub-
iican In answer to the question, he said he was.
Then we condoled together again. He told me
that lie was in New iberia, La, on the Sunday
before the presidential election, and the day af
ter the riot there Democrats had broken up
Republican meeting. and killed half dozen
colored men. They Dragged that it was too late
for the news to travel North to influence
votes there, and they had succeeded in their OBJ
ject in soaring the colored men of that part of
Louisiana from voting. My friend who was a
citizen of New Orleans, said that if the Northern
Republicans fully understood how elections were
carried on in the Southern States, Cleveland
would not be the next President.
WITH HER DEAR TERRY.