The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1884-11-20

northern states have practically no
colored population. 1t is therefore ev-
ident that the white men in those
southern states, by usurping and all
sorbirg the rights of the colored men,
are eXerting just double the political
power of white men in the northern
states. l submit, my friends, that
such condition of affairs, is eXtraor-
dinary, unjust and derogatory to the
manhood of the north. Even those
who are indirectly opposed to negro
| suffrage, will not deny that if the
presidential electors are assigned to
the south, by reason of the negro pop
ulat1on, that population ought to be
permitted free suffrage in the election.
To deny that clear proposition is to
affirm that southern white man is
entitled to double the political power
of white man ih the northern lake
states; it is to affirm that confederate
soldier shall WELD twice the influence
in the nation that a union soldier can,
a d that a perpetual and con-
| stantly increasing superiority eha'l he
conceded to the southern white man
in the government Of the Union. If
that be quietly conceded in this gene
ration, it will harden into custom un-
til badge OF iaferiority will attach
to the northern white man as odiOuSly
| as ever Norman neble stamped upon
Saxon churl. This subject is one of
deep interest to the laboripg men of
the north. With the southern demOc-
racy triumphant in their states and in
the nation, the negro will be
compelled to work for just such
wages as the whites may de-
sire; wages which will amount, as did
the supplies of slaves to bare sub
five 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 reconstruc-
tion that wages in the south must |
be raised to a jnst recon- |
pence of the laborer, or the wages in |
the north ruinously lowered and the |
party have steadily worked for the
former result. The reverse influ-
ence will now be set in motion, and
that condition of affairs produced
which, years ago, Mr.. Lincoln warned
the free laboriDg men of the north
will prove hostile to their indepeld-
ence and will inevitably lead to ru-
inOus reduction Of wages. A mere
difference OF the color of the skin
will suffice to maintain an en-
tirely different standard of wages
in contiguous and adjacent
states, and the voluntary will be COM
PEELED to yeild to the involuntary.
So completely have the colored men
in the south been already deprived, by
the democratic party OF their consti-
tutional and legal rights as citizens of
the United States, that they regard
the advent of that party to national
power as the signal for their re-en-
slavement, and are affrighted
because they think all le-
gal protection for them is
gone. Few persons in the north
realize how completely the chiefs of
the rebellion WELD the political pow
er which has trlumphed in the late
election. 1t is portentious fact that
the senator's who come from the states
of the late confederacy all-and L
mean all, without single exception
have personally participated in the
rebellion with the national govern
ment. 1t is a still more significant
1dCU IudO III GlOoC OtdtCS DO lll1A WIZ |
was loyal to the Union, no matter
how strong democrat he may be, to-
daV, has the slightest chance Of politi-
cal promotion. The one great avenue
to honor in that section is a record of
jealous service in the war against the
government. 1t is certainly an as
founding fact that the section IN
which friendship for the union in the
day of its trial and agony is still
political disqualification should be
called now to rule over the union. A.
this takes place during the lifetime of
the generation that fought the war,
and elevates to the practical command
of the American government the
identical men who organized for its
destruction, and plunged us into
the bloodiest contest OF modern times.
l have spoken of the south as
placed by the late election in posses
sion of the government, and L mean
all that my words imply. The south
furnishes nearly three-fourths of the
electoral votes that defeated the re-
publican party, and they will step to
the commands of the democrats as un-
challenged and as unrestrained as
they held the same position for
thilty years before the war.
Gentlemen, there cannot be political
inequality among the citizens of free
republic. There cannot be minority
of white men in the north. Patriot
ism, self-respect, pride. protection for
person and safety for country, all cry
out against it. The very thought of
it Stirs the blood of men who inherit
equality from the Pilgrims who first
stood on Plymouth Rock, and
from the liberty loving patriots
who came to the Delaware
with William Penn. 1t becomes
primal question of American man
hood. 1t demands hearing and
settlement, and that settlement will
vindicate the equality of American
citizens in all their personal and civil
rights. 1t will at least establish the
equality of white men under the
national government, and will give to
the northern man who fonght to pre-
serve the union as large a voice in
its government as may be exercised by
the southern man who fought to de-
stroy the Union. The contest just clos
ed utterlydwarfs the fortunes and fate
of the candidates, whether success
fully OF unsuccesstully. Purposely, 1
may say distinctly, l have discussed
the issue, and in consequence of that
contest, without reference to my own
defeat; without the remotest reference
to the gentleman who is elevated to the
presidency. Towardsl him personally,
1 have no cause for the slightest i'll
will, and it is with cordiality 1 ex-
press the wish that his official career
may prove gratifying to himself and
beneficial to the country, and that his
administration may overcome the en-
barrassment which the peculiar source
of its power imposes on it from the
hour of It's BIRTH"
GORMAN,