The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-05-29
LETTERS FROM THE PEOPLE.
Matters in the South.

Matters in the South.
To the Editor OF the indianapolis Journal:
The popularity of the Southern people is their
extreme clannishness-ther adherence to what
ever is Southern without regard to its value
In every considerable town or city there will be
found u Southern Hotel" which is used as a
catchword to entice people to stop there out of
actual pride. There is the Southern Express
Company" started since the war out Of sectional
pride, and patronized because it is Southern
and the list might be greatly extended There
are no such appeals to prejudice in the North
ern States. We have no Northern express
company or Northern hotel, but we have the
National word, American Express or United
States Express companies. The sooner all such
childish distinctions are abolished from the land
the sooner we will be in fact what we are in
name. the United States Of America lone and
inseparable."
They have just had an exiting election here
for mayor and city officers and it is very anus
ing to examine the poll books ana read the
names of the voters, at least one third of
whom are Golored. The slave took the name of
his master, but the army enforced Lincoln's
emancipation proclamation, and then the freed
man chose name to suit himself and he was
not willing to accept the common names, Smith
or Jones, but he preferred to assume the name
OF some great champion of the cause of free
dom for his race We find the names of George
Washington and Thomas Jefferson recorded side
by side with Horace Greeley, Henry Ward
Beecher, William Lloyd Garrison and Wendell
Phillips, though the owners of these great names
are as black as the ace of spades and surely can
claim no relationship to their great prototypes
We have III our Office a colored boy
employed to keep the house in order
who bears the combined names of the
two most celebrated authors which ENGLAND and
America have produced-Irving Byron-and he
is proud of his nama too l often quote from
Byron to him paragraphs like these, and ask him
If he is the author whose works | am so fond Of
reading
TITS sweet to hear the watch dogs honest bark
Bay deepmouthed welcorae as we draw near home
Tis sweet to know there is eye will mark our
coming
And look brighter when we come
When Judge Monk visited the Springs, some
weeks ago, he called on me at my Office, and we
spent several hours discussing the great civil
war. the causes which led to it, and the great
actors in the drama, such as Lincoln, Grant
Sherman and many other historic characters
l noticed that Byron sat by and listened
attsntvsy to every + word hs we sa said and
'Well, this has oeen great day for me. l have
got knowledge that never had before about the
war. People down here don't talk like you
gentlemen do"
He is a great admirer of General Logan, and
when the news came that he had been reelected
a senator of the United States, Byron was per-
fectly happy
Twenty years have elapsed since the abolition
of slavery and the enfranchisement of the black
race, but the exsaveholder still affects to regard
them as a connecting link between man and the
lower animals, incapable of great learning OF
advancement Tell them that Frederick Doug
lass as an orator is uErivaled, and that he can
command larger audiences in the Northern
States than any other public speaker, and they
will look at you with smile of incredulity, as
much as to say. I'VE pity your ignorance. !"
They have known the African as a
field hand, stepped in the densest
ignorance, or engaged in mental servitude,
and they refuse to consider him capable of ad-
vancement in the scale of existence. Light
does begin to dawn i'll some localities and the
world moves. The city of Hot Springs has just
elected white Republican mayor and colored
Republican police judge, and it will not be nee
essary there to take off your hat and apologize
for the misfortune of having been born north of
the Ohio river. 1t is possible the next genera
ton may see things differently, but the great
drawback is the ignorance of the white race and
the prejudice which springs from lack of knowl-
edge have never heard of such an institution
existing in this State as public library, and 1
have made diligent inquiry and believe none
exist. Their private libraries amount to moth
ing and their schools are sadly deficient
LITTLE Rock, Ark, May "a N. l.. BUNDY.