The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1885-10-17
A SURE DEFENSE.

/
! The course of Senator Sherman in
reviving the sectional issue need moi
alarm anybody who has the interests
of the South at heart, even should the
Republicans succeed in carrying Ohio
| for it is as certain as anything can be
that the Republican party would 60 to
perfect Waterloo, ii It should dare
to 60 before the country Mt large with
the "bloody shirt" as banner. The
great State of New York would surely
paralyze any party which should dare
to propose the restoration of sscarpet-
bag'' rule. Mr.. Blaine attempted to
raise this unsavory issue In the last
Presidential campaign, and forthwith
saw the White House fade into the
dim and unattainable distance. When
the Republicans loudly proclaim the
existence of certain crying evils in the
South, they are asked why they did
not remedy those alleged evils during
their long term of power and for this
question they can find no answer.
The truth is that the New South af-
fords an unique example of society
completely reorganized and regener-
ated, of prosperity restored, of harmony
prevailing between two races confront
ing each other in new relations, and all
accomplished within the short space of
twenty years. Such organic changes
have passed over many European
countries, but the results have always
been felt In centuries of internecine
strife, hatred of race for race, and gem
eral social unrest. France won and
deserved the admiration of the world
for the courage, industry and mastery
of resource which she displayed after
the close Of the disastrous German
war but, although France sustained
frightful losses in men. money and
territory, the fountains of her wealth
were untouched, her soil was lust as
fertile as before, and her social system
was mistaken. On the other hand.
our civil war swept away an institu.
ton which no Southern man now re.
grets, but which was the cornerstone
of the South's industrial and social
fabric. An iititeraSo loce was given
the ballot, and universal suffrage, in
its most dangerous form, was put upon
its trial. The result was carnival of
corruption which threatened the very
existence of our civilization, and no In
telligent man, who ia not blinded by
partisan frenzy or political ambition,
will deplore the end of that era Of
wholesale public plumber.
Out of all these trials the South has
come forth triumphant and with
loyalty to the Union unimpaired. And
in its restored and marvellous pros
perity the South finds sure defense
against the assaults of the irreconcil-
able wing of the Republican party, for
that prosperity not only gives tho f1e
to the assertions of reactionaries like
the Senator from Ohio, but it also ar
rays against them the business men of
the North, to whom the trade of the
South is of great and swiftly growing
Importance. The world is not inclined
to assafl those who are prosperous and
have favOrs to confer rather than to
ask; and Mr.. Sherman will find that
to attack the prosperous and steadily
advancing South of today is very
different thing from making war on
the poor and painfully struggling
South of 1876.
The truth is that no part of our coun.
try is more loyal to the Union than the
section which Senator Sherman would
remand to the condition of anarchy
from which, after Titanic struggle,
it has been rescued. The South asks
no special favor from the general gov.
eminent, and Southern men only ask
that no discrimination be made against
them in the choice of governmental
officials. The South has entered upon
the highway of prosperity,-a pros
perty based upon the union of all the
industries which go to make UP great
society ; and no politician nor any po-
litical party, can hope to arrest this
onward march.-N. O. Times Demo.