Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1884-11-21

| by what they do, not by what they say Your
| true friends are the men whose interests are
| identified with yours; the men who employ
| you, who pay you promptly and honestly, and
| thereby enable you to earn living for your
selves and families. If it were true that the
| Whites are the natural enemies of the Blacks,
would it not occur to you when white man
came to you to infame your prejudices
against his own race, that such man is q
traitor and therefore unworthy of confidence
Men of your intelligence ought to see that
we are all, blacks and Whites as it were, en-
barked in the same ship. We have common
country and common interests; what hurts
one, hurts the other In every community
there must be an unequal distribution of prop
erty. Industry aceumulates Idleness squan-
ders! If all the property of the country were
equally divided tomorrow, inequality would
soon arise again created by thrift on the one
hand, and prodigality on the other. Men OF
property want to employ labor. The man who
has no property wishes to get employment to
earn his bread Here Is the bond of union
D0lW60u Tie Two CldSStS ltCl ID uOPOhNNao
on the other. Land is worth little without
labor to cultivate it. Labor is of no value un-
less it can find employment. These are plain
propositions. Now let US give them practical
application. AS general rule the whites own
the lands and other property. The blacks, for
the present, constitute the principal laboring
class in the South. The wants of these classes
must necessarily bring them together, and the
sooner the better. Each has exactly what the
other wants. If there was no capital (Which is
another name for accumulated property there
could be no employment given to labor. and
the laborer must starve. If on the other hand
there were no labor to be employed, property
must lose half its value. Instead then of there
being any antagonism between property and
labor, there should be perfect harmony be-
/ week. then because each supplies the wants
| of the other.
| AS have already stated, the leaders of the
| Republican party, for party purposes, have
sought to array the blacks against the whites
| and thus keep the races apart. Their mis-
chievous falsehoods will now be made plain. II
will be seen, under the administration of Mr..
| Cley Gland, that the whites of the South have
no purpose to invade the rights of the blacks.
When the minds of the blacks are thus freed
from these apprehensions they will begin to
see that their interests are identified with those
of the men who employ them. A better state
of feeling will be established between them,
and they will live and work and vote together
because they have common interests.
But it may be said the Legislature of Vir.
ginia may deprive the blacks of the benefits Of
the Public Schools. This apprehension is as
| unfounded as all the others. 1t cannot DC
| done under the Constitution, and even if il
could, the man or the party that would attempt
such thing, would at once forfeit every claim
| to public favor and confidence.
But you have still stronger guarantee, il
the interest which the white people have il
the education of the blacks. They are now
voters. The vote Of the most ignorant tramp
white or black, counts as much on the day Of
election as that of the first gentleman in the
| land. 1t is to the interest of the white MAI
| that all the voters should be educated suff
| caently 10 caSI an 1nIellBenI vote. virtue anC
intelligence of the people are the corner
| stones of free institutions White men know
| that unless the voters who elect the law
! makers, the Governor, and indirectly, the
other officers of the government, are compe
tent to vote wisely, neither life, liberty Of
| property can be safe.
In conclusion, in future, the fortunes of the
blacks will be in their own hands. They cal
| make or mar them as they may choose. They
will have every right that white men enjoy
If they are industrious, frugal and judicious
| they will prosper, as I know most of you have
done. If, on the other hand, they are idle
| dissipated, and profigate, they viii sink in The
social scale. as white men of the same class
do. All that you can justly ask. is equality
before the law" This is now guaranteed to
you, and feel warranted in saying, that tina
guarantee will never be broken.
Very truly and respectfully yours,
ALEX. FL. III. STUART.