The state chronicle. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1883-1893, 1886-05-13
OXFORD, GA. May 5, 1886.


Cleveland Administration in the South:
OXFORD, GA, May 5, 1886.
At best one can only state his opinion,
or such part of it as he is clear about. In
this letter state mine-ra rather part of it,
it Is not yet made up aud a years expe
rience may modify it. Some things are
very clear to me; | write of them; what is
not clear pass by.
L. There is a deeper, truer Union senti-
lneut in the South than there has been in
forty years. Somehow the election of
Cleveland made it seem to the people more
as if the war was really over; in their feel
ing secession and the war are not so re-
cent. The struggle between the States is
no longer the absorbing theme, especially
with men under forty and with those who
fought through the war. The best people
are looking to the future and that future
ndissolubly National and Union. The
majority of the Southern voters have
reached voting age since 1865 and the
greater part of this majority have been
born since 1861 or were too young during
the conflict to remember it now.
Many seem to be unconscious OF the
changes i'll their own Sentlments-the
have been Il growth. Our papers discuss
the tariff, American shipping, foreign com
merce, the currency and do not agree.
They discuss the Mormon question, the
Indian question, the Chinese question, the
labor question-that is, National ques
tions. Not few are losing consciousness
of the Southern question: some are tired
of being discussed some deny that there
is a Southern question"
, AS natural result of Cleveland'S
election there is a marked Subsidence of
political heats. For twenty years the
South had struggled nightly to elect a
Democrat; now that it is done calm comes
10 US. 1t IS not apathy, or exhaustion; 1t
is near IL kin to the sort of contentment
that threatens to become Indifference The
politicians will think this statement utterly
absurd, for they are not content now that
they have their President. But they are
not the people and rarely represent the
real feeling of the people.
An exception should be made; the poll
tcians who have received appointments
under the new Administrat ion are well
content The disappointed ones are doing
little growing IN 4 quiet way; some OF
them threaten to shake the desert with
their roars unless the President finds ut
what he Was elected for The mass of the
people care little for groWls or roars; they
believe that the main business of Il Presi-
dent is to attend to the business of the
country and they have concluded that
Cleveland agrees with them. The great
body of the people are hard at work try
ing to make living and mend their for
tunes, neither expecting nor desiring Of
flee
g. The election Of Mr. Cleveland effects
the race question on all sides of it. No
tably the negro population has learned
what few of them ever knew befOre-that
they are really free Beyond all doubt
most of them SO connected their freedom
with the Republican party as to believe
that Republican defeat meant the loss of
liberty Their apprehension was natural
and to them reasonable. Now they know,
not by being told but by experience of
their own, that their freedom like the
white mans, is rooted in the Constitution
and guarded by the laws and not in any
party. Learning this must do them good
it must make them better citizens.
Without stopping to reason much about
it most white people think that the elec-
ton OF Cleveland, in a measure, removed
the menace of negro supremacy and they
feel more kindly toward the negro than
since he was set free Nothing could make
this palmer than the comment of the
Southern press on the diaboism of the
Carrollton infamy. The logic Of all these
notions and feelings does not concern this
article; I write of what is obviously the
trend of opinion and the tone of feeling.
1t seems to me inevitable that the negro
vote will never anymore be solidly Repub
lican; he knows now for himself that hi:
freedom is not in any party and he vii
vote on both sides. When the negro votes
on both sides will not the white men di
vide also? The solidarity Of the negro
vote in National elections solidified tn,
white vote and this state of things mad
the s'Solid South" When that color lin
in politics breaks on one side it is broker
on both sides
A. The breaking of the color line il
Southern politics is to be considered twice
before offering or receiving congratula
tions. To those who can see beyond th'
things under their nose the prospect EN-
phasiZes the argument for universal edu
cation and, with those who realize tn
dangers that threaten us, the urgent nee(
of government aid to common schools
An ignorant vote not solid will have bid
ders. Will it not also be for sale? Whel
half the vote is iliterate and both side
want them what is the prospect for pur
poitics2 This is not a Southern question
Southern illteracy is National llliteracy
Would God somebody's election could lea'
the whole North to realize that the Sout
is as truly in and of the Union as is tn
North. 1t may be no comfort to the Sout
but it should be warning to the North ]
the illterate Southern vote drags tn
South down the whole Union must go wit
1t. Educa ton is no more cure-all 10
the negro than for the white man, but
makes voters less purchasable, if only be
cause it raises their price
8, More Southern white people feel con
cern about negro education than ever be
fore. The opposers are very noisy an
delude strangers with the belief that the
are the majority question whether tn
majority are at this time opposed to tn
education of the negro; if so, it is an eve
decreasing majority This must be SC
for truth must conquer and a recognize
self-lnterest helps truth to a speedier cor
quest. The more thoughtful Souther
people-and in the long run the thought
tul people determine conclusions-knO'
that the negro is in the South to stay an
that to be useful-not to say, not danger
ous-he must be taught
More newspapers have favored negr