Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-12-15

depource him for having learned so well
and praCtiCed so faithfully the lesson
taught them by their superiors. But the
negro as free man is progressive ana
has learned that whisky is doing more 10
deteriOrate and keep back his race than all
the other evils. and has determined to take
hand in the great moral revolution, that
Will sooner or later be the means OF ele-
waiting his race out of the terrible habit OF
whisky drinking TO a higher, a grander,
and nobler plane OF manhood.
Ii has not been denied that the negro
was given whisky by the planter during
slave times, but It was given him under
certain cOnditiOns-under the very con-
dltions in fact that Samuel Ninton Casey
points out. He didn't have free access to
it as he now has, and he had no chance to
become a drunken l0afer. A certain
amount OF whisky was given him, but he
had to work, and care was taken not TO
give him enough to injure him. But
what IS the condition OF affairs at present?
At every crossroads and at out-otthe-
way places on every plantation are groR-
geries where the negroes are invited To
waste their wages. The vilest kind Of in
toXicating liquor is sold to them, which
quickly creates an appetite that cannot
he controlled, and soon makes drunken
loafers Of its victims.
Does Samuel Vinton Casey think that
in slave times the negroes were permitted
to hang around groggeries half OF their
time, or that groggeries were permitted on
plantations or in the vicinity OF themY II
he does, little inquiry will convince him
that he is mistaken. Now, however,
when negro gets his weeks wages he
makes his way as a rule to the GROCERY,
and invests in enough whisky to unfit
him for work for several days, or hangs
aboutthe place and perhaps becomes noisy
and disorderly. When he becomes so de-
graded that he would rather steal than
work for money TO get whisky he makes
raids on the cotton and corn fields of the
planters; and yet Samuel VInton Casey
thinks that his race is slandered, and the
MORNING NEWS is inconsistent because
of the statement that whisky is running
the negro as laborer,
But what does this colored man himself
say about the effects of whisky on his
race? Does he not say that the negro
has learned that whisky is doing more 10
deteriorate and keep back his race than
all the other evils" Is it not difficult to
understand what Samuel Vinton Casey
does mean? Is it probable that he him
self knows what he means? His contra
dlctiOns seem to indicate that he does
not.
Among the negroes there are not few
just such pretentious nimcompoops as he
is, and they are stumbling blocks in the
way of their race. To gain little noto-
riety they pretend to see an intention to
SANDER their race when the only
purpose is to benefit it. There is no one
who has sufficient information to form an
intelligent opinion who does not know
that, so far as the negroes are concerned,
the evil effects of whisky were intinites-
imal in slave times compared to what
they are now. In slave times whisky
was furnished the negroes in moderation,
and they were kept at their work. Now
they can get all the whisky they want as
long as they have money to purchase it,
OF can steal anything to barter for 1t.
This Samuel VintOn Casey doesn't ap.
pear to understand, that every argument
for prohibition is for the good of his race
He would rather see his race destroyed
than TO miss an opportunity to point out
that in his opinion the race is being SLAM
dered.
1t is true, that white men drink whisky.
and that under its influence they commit
horrible crimes, and become drunkards,
loafers, tramps, and Outcasts from home
and society; but what has that to do with
the statement that one of the reasons that
the prohibition sent iment is so strong in
Georgia is the demOralizlng effects Of
whisky upon the negroes? Nothing,
absolutely nothing; and if Samuel VInton
Casey will give this matter attention until
he understands it, he will see that it
hasn't. or course, it must be understood
that all the negroes do not waste their
money in whisky. Many of them in
every community are good citizens, hon
est sober and Industrious.