The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1884-03-01

1t Is WONDERFUL WIN WndC pcrSiSeeuCy
the Republican ed tors are hammering
away 1t the .sSouthern outrage" busi-
ness. They have apparently seized upon
this as the basis of their campaign
work, and are determined to put it for
ward as the chief argument of their
canvass. Nothing more strongly illus
trates the weakness of their cause than
the resurrection of this thoroughly dead
issue. 1t was worked for all it was
worth in 1876. and yet the doubtful
States of New York. New jersey, Con-
necticut and Indiana went Democratic,
and with sufficiently large majorities to
settle once for all the failure of such an
issue to make Republican voters. The
people of this country will not be led by
the nose by scheming Republican poll
ticians, and this is plain to everybody.
The Republican editors, however, pro-
fess not to know it. and are now busy
at work trying to create public senti-
ment calculated TO provoke hostility be-
tween the sections upon the ground of
the antipathy of the white people of the
South toward the negro. This will GER
tainly fail, for the simple reason that
the voters of the North have now other
and more important questions to con-
slider than the political status OF the
negro. After the war, when the South
was in chaotic condition, there might
have been some reason why benevolent
people would take lively interest in
the negro from a natural desire to pro-
tect him from the passions which the
war had produced; but after twenty
years of peace, and with all these pas
SONS allayed, and the interminglng
which common interests has made nee
essary, no such sentimental feeling ex-
lists. and no hiring of the Northern heart
is needed The negro has made
trouble enough in this country already,
and the peace of the Nation requires
that this disturbing element be taken
out of politics. There is no doubt that
the people of the North agree with this
sentiment, and will so declare if this
subject is again forced into prominence.
The man who would deliberately re-
open such an exciting topic and parade
before the public eye the exaggerated
evidences of Southern hostility to the
negro, simply to stimulate the falling
fortunes of political party, is no fl end
of peace and good government, and has
not at heart the welfare of his country.
He is simply fomenter of strifes and
discords, and deserves no place in the
considerations of patriotic people The
issues of the time are thoroughly and
intensely practical. They have to do
with the material development of in
dustr'al activities and the advancement
of the people who contribute to the
wealth and progress of the Nation.
Whether labor shall have better protec-
ton against the organized expressions
| of capital and whether the burdens of
taxat on shall be lightened so that pa
tient toilers shall be able to live toler-
ably and decentiy and not dig and delve
for their masters like so many slaves
these are the questions of the houl
transcending far the sentimental love
for the negro, and above and beyond
such clap-trap as our Republican
friends would put forward for public
consideration The laboring millions
of the country. whose wants and need:
have for years been overlooked by
senseless clamors for negro rights. arr
not likely to grow enthusiastic ovel
better and stronger claims to Nationa
interest cannot get an audience, denied
them by the very men who now clamdl
for negro sympathy. The cry of til,
skilled workman in the factory and il
the shop has never had an answering
response from these Republican enthu
siasts except to give the capitalist NOR,
opportunity to double his dividends
and it is not at ali likely that the for
gotten laborer will rend his shirt owe
negro difficulties in the South while hi
own claim to public attention has neve
been needed. And yet it is to thi
class that these howls for sympathy ar
addressed. 4 ai =
The negro has had more care an,
more public sympathy and attention
than the white man The whole fore
and power of the Government has beef
exerted in his behalf. Congress has de
clared itself to be his friend, and Re
| publican craftsmanship has exhauste'
itself devising ways and means for hi
benefit and advantage. He has no res
son to complain and no amount of pc
/ litical ciamor will secure him turtle
attention If in following the fortune
Of men who were willing to disorganiz'
all social laws and customs and ruiz
anything and everything just so tina
their selfish ambition might prosper
negroes found themselves in ,antagon
ism to the well-being of the, State an,
the interests of her citizens. and in
volved themselves in trouble. the indus
tr;ous mechanic who minds his bushes
and seeks by patient labor to advanc
himself, need not be called on to espous
such quarrel. and certainly not t
take issue against the race of whic
he lis part. The thousands q
ide, shiftless negroes in the South, VIII
neglect their work to turn politicians
and stand about the polling places pral
ing of rights of which they know moth
ing. and spending their timc encoul
aging idleness among others, these ar
not worth the attention of thinkin
people, and yet it is this class who ar
always getting into trouble and fror
which the election riots come. 1t