The state chronicle. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1883-1893, 1886-05-06

| fiuence the vote of the old negro by
| money or persuasion, who used to sing
| as Whitle has SO beautifully expressed il
! in negro dialect
Oh praise and tanks, de Lord ne come
Q set his people free
Oli Massa tink it day o doom
| But we Oh jubilee =
The danger, then, that threatens the
South Is that If the negro quits voting the
republican ticket from gratitude, and feels
| free to vote with either party, many Of
them 4 majority | fear-will sell their
/ votes to the highest bidder They viii
j thu5 become purchasablc element and
the man who has the most money will ride
INTO office by their votes Such "a state of
| affairs would be worse than the Repu bli-
! can rule Of the past NO one will deny
that Southern politics is purer when the
negro votes by blind faith than when he
values his vote only by the number of
! dollars or drinks it viii bring. Let no man
| say that | am q pessiuIst and that ! do
/ not believe in the education and elevation
| OF the negro | believe in both. Education
| Of the right kind and elevation are synon-
ymous terms. | do not shut my eyes, how
ever, blindly to facts as they exist |
would they were otherwise | would that
the negro was an intelligent voter. He
will be III time but it will be generations
before that time will come to all | am
tired and many other Democrats are tired
| OF the color line and hope to see it relegated
| to the back ground. | think it safe to say
| that it will never figure so largely in an
other campaign. But we sometimes feel
that it is better to bear the ills we
| have than to hastily make a change that
| might be rulnOua. Wp do not know and
can only anticipate to what extent the ne
| gro vote would be purchaSabe if there
! a hrpa kjnO Of Iinac bs.v
now stand. We know that now we have
honest government and IN the main every
| man, white and black, is given full justice.
| We do not know how far the negro would
be led by unscrupulous men, and while
deploring the existence of the color line
and honestly desiring to blot it out Of pol
itics, we fear that there would be more Qf
evil in large purchasable clement.
| know that there are many negroes
who would not follow or be led by bad
men, but their poverty and ignorance
and cupidity would make many of them
willin- tools in the hands OF political trick
sters and adventurers.
There are not a few men in North Caro-
lima who oppose the education of the ne
gro. They are honest in their opposition
| but their influence is not materially felt.
The fapt that the negroes are provided
with public schools of the same duration
as the whites and receive their share
of the educational fund is one evil
dence of the fact that Southern Democrats
do not desire to keep the negro in ignor
ance. The South has and is contributing
largely 20 educate the negro and has done
and is doing much for his educational adj
vancement. In North Carolina the pres
ent Superintendent of Public Instructions
is, and his predecessor was; an earne-t ad-
vocate of The education OF the negro. They
constantly met, and do now meet and op
pose the fallacy that if you educate ne
gro you spoil Il good field hand There are
nine colleges III North Carolina supported
mainly by Northern money, IL which the
nagrO is given instruction III the higher
branches. The State maintains for the ne
grocs one Normal school ten months in the
year and in four towns 1t supplies Normal
!. instruction for one month or SIX weeks IN
the year. The education of the negro is no
, longer an experiment. Progress has been
made and he interest manifested in their
education by the whites increases every
year. Only last week a distinguished
North Carolinian, a white man of high so
cal and professional position, delivered
an address at the close of the cOlored med
ical school in the city of Raleigh, and white
doctors hold chairs in the same sphpol.
, This shows more interest. The white peO-
plc of North Carolina are not only paying
more tax to-day to educate the negro than
ever before, but what is better: they are
, studying the question of negro education
more and looking into the course Of in
struotion with real interest and trying to
help the negro in his struggle for knowl-
: edge | take this to be the most encour-
aging sign of the times. | believe it will
! in few years root up the unchristan race
nraiu6iaa tb nj n al in a
! By giving the country a non sectional Ad-
ministration, Mr. Cleveland is bringing
y the two races nearer together-not in SO
. cial equality for that can never come-but
I in friendly and common interests.
! From the fact that Senator Vance anG
q Congressman Bennett, of North Carolina
have made speeches against Civil Service
. Reform it might be inferred that there are
+ no Civil Service Reformers in the State
f Such an inference would be unjust 10 III
/ because many of the people of North Caro-
lima who have informed themselves as to the
: objects Of the reform are openly and ear
+ nestly in favor of it, On the fourth o
$ March-the anniversary of Mr.. Cleyeland'
; inauguration-T published in the STAT
: CHRONICLE, of which | am editor, letter
1 from most of the counties in the State Will
Q a view to ascertaining public sentiment OF
a Civil Service Reform. This nethpd wa
4 pursued: | wrote to the Chairman of tn
v Democratic Executive Committee in ever
!. county in the State, and to a promnen
o business man in the several counties ask
" ing .'What do your people think of Civ
q Service Reform? The answers published
n all did not respond showed that of tn
= Democratic Committeeman the ratio wa
, 3 against to 2 in favor of the reform. Q
n the business men the result was still NOR
gratifying-tn6 ratio being 8 for the It
% form to / against it. The sentiment o
% Civil Service Reform is, as the abov
u shows, much divided. find that as tn
r. people learn more about it and are int1u
n enced less by politicians, they believe ]
% and advocate it mare inlelligently an
q earnestly The showing made by tn
+ STATE CHRONICLE astonished Senate
\ Vance, Mr. Bennett and those who ha
70 claimed to quote Mr.. Bennett-that IT
d the victors belong the spoiis'' was as tru
,e to-day as when uttered by Marcy, and tn
If gentleman who thought that in the Sout
m that was not Gods gospel truth had st
II his sights too high for the game, ,
r 1t is doubtless true that majority
L. the voters in North Carolina today al
d. against Civil Service Reform, but it woul
m not be fair to base a calculation op such
RS state of public sentiment. 70 show tt
ne hold of the reform and its growth woul