The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1885-04-23

reverse the highest and lowest strata Of society,
TO place ignorance and poverty In authority
over intelligence and propsrty. Such an at-
tempt had never before succeeded in the worlds
history il could not have succeeded perma.
nently in the South without destroying civiliza-
tion. 1t was from the fnt only O question
how soon and In whhat way II should be
defeated.
Let another truth be told: the same result
would have been reached under similar condi-
tons in any Northern State. People commonly
overlook the fact that, although the negroes had
lived in the South 50 long, their admission to the
suffrage was like the sudden Incorporation into
the body polite of vast foreign element
Suppose that there had been unexpectedly dis.
tri6uted over the State Of Massachusetts,, On .
certain day sixteen years ago, a new body Of
veters. of an alien race, SO Immense that Il out.
numbered the previous wielders Of the ballot In
the proportion Of seven 10 dve, 90 igonrant that
II possessed no conception Of It's trust, and 80
inexperienced that 1t readily followed any dem.
agogue who bid for its support by eultivating
the dstrust which II naturally felt OF the former
ruling element. Suppose that the Constitution
and laws OF the State had never required either
an educational or property qualification
f)r the suffrage, 30 that there WAS no legal way
OF preventing this horde of illiterates from cast
ing ballots which they could not read. Suppose
that the men who had made the Bay State rich
and prosperous discovered all at once that the
control OF the Legislature, the administration
OF justice the fixing OF the tax rate, the apprO-
priatiOn OF the public money, the whole govern
ment OF the commonwealth, hal fallen into the
hands OF this vast aggregation Of ignorance
Suppose that there mad emerged from this mob
and had been attracted from a distant section Of
the country the worst set OF leaders that ever
brought disgrace upon representative govern
ment. Suppose that corruption and misruc
had run riot until the we'll being, and even the
very existence, of society was threatened. In
OH. a. 81. -
been put in South Carolina's place Does any
intelligent and candid man, born and bred 10
Massachusetts, doubt that the former residents
the property holders and tax-payers-would
speedily have forgotten old differences, struck
hands in defense OF their threatened interests,
and, minority though they were, have contrived
some way to put the majority under their
feet
In short, the South became "solid" because
1t had to be that is to say, so tar as States with
large negro population were concerned. The
negroes proved to be Republicans, as was ex-
pected by those who had made them voters.
Their treatment by the whites operated to
strengthen this tendency. A natural fear of
attempt al their reinstatement, cunnngly cult.
vated by their unprincipled leaders, still further
confirmed their opposition to the party which
included their old masters. Broadly speaking,
the blacks as class were Republicans. This
forced the whites rs class to be Democrats, in
feeling Of sympathy led to similar union Of
the whites, more or less complete, in States
where the black element was not dangerously
large. The hereditary drift in favor of Democ-
racy added the only other element necessary to
make the South solid"
How can this solidity be broken? Obviously
only by removing the Cause which produced it.
That cause was the massing of the negroes in one
party. The recollection of negro misrule in
South Carolina has hitherto checked an evi-
IDENTIFY strong tendency among the whites OF
that State to divide their votes, and has made
the race almost unanimous In support of the
regular Democratic ticket, although q large
element has often at heart opposed it. What
was real danger in a commonwealth where
the whites were largely outnumbered by
the blacks has been exaggerated out OF all reason
in States where the negro v0te by itself could
never threaten white dominance, aud the bug
bear has hitherto proved terrible enough to
mai ntan Democratic supremacy everywhere.
The way in which this supremacy is to be
finally Overthrown has already been foreshad-
owed. Through the last decade, when the Dem
ocrats have controlled every Southern State
certain Congressional districts have either
mained Republican or have been contested by
the two parties on equal terms Investigation
will show the very striking and significant fact
that, with two or three exceptions (like the
heavily black sections along the coast OF the two
Carolinas, where the few whites have made no
struggle for power) these Republican or doubt
tul districts have been districts which contained
scarcely any blacks. That is TO say. Republl-
can representatives have been elected by white
Southerners, without any help from black Re-
publicans Kentucky has always been consid-
cred typical Southern Democratic State; vet
in the mountain region which includes its south
eastern counties lies district which has more
often sent Republican than Democrat to the
national Capitol since the war; In this district
the white prepOnderance Is 80 pronounced that
the negroes constitute but fourteenth Of the
whole population, which shows that the whites
have divided almost equally between the two
parties. The tendency, on the other hand. Of a
large negro element TO unite the whites in the
party opposed to the blacks may be seen in the
same State of Kentucky. Nearer the heart Of
the commonwealth is Congressional district
where the negroes number nearly half as many
souls As the whites, SD that anything like such
an even division Of the whites as exists in the
mountains would give the Republicans an over
whelming majority of the voters. But, IN point
Of fact this district is always strongly Demo.
cratic, the presence of the negroes having driven
the whites together, and the proportion of the
Republican vote to the total poll does net much
exceed the proportion of the negro inhabitants
to the whole population. Moreover il the anal
ysis be carried stage farther, the surprising
discovery is made that the only two counties 10
the mountain district which contain many blacks
lin each case little over third of the whole pop
ulaton) are both Democratic although it would
take but a bare fourth of the whites to consti-
tute with the blacks a majority of their voters
SO strong is the influence of race feeling, even
in a section where, for the most part, that issue
is not raised.
The mountain country of eastern Tennessee
also contains but a small negro element and
here, too, are Congressional districts which the
Republicans either carry without difficulty or
render always doubtful The hill country of
northern Georgia has a similar population, and
here the white opponents Of the Bourbon De.
mocracy have repeatedly proved strong enough
TO elect Independents to Congress with little
help from black voters. The State of West
Virginia is still more conspicuous illustration
of TIE tendency to division among the whites
where the race issue is not brought home to
them The blacks here CO institute less than five
per cent of the entire population, which is but
trife larger than the proportion OF blacks in
New Jersey The whites divide with apparent
ly little more regard to the blacks in the South
ern than in the Northern State. and Cleveland
carried each BY plurality which did not vary
far from four thousand.
The reason why this normal and natural d.
vision OF the whites between the parties exists
in West Virginia and in the specified regions of
the other States is evidently because 10 these
parts of the South there is no fear of negro rule
II would be ridiculous to prate to the 1S2, TT
male whites in West Virginia about the danger
of their race being dominated by the 1854
blacks unless they vote the Democratic ticket,
and they vote it not according they believe or
not 10 the Democratic party. Even 10 q State
like Georgia, where the negroes stand to the
whites in the ratio of Ave to six, the whites, in
ministration by reason of the smal black popu.
la,;oo have not alwAvs been held IN the an mart