The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1886-10-18
THR soUTHRRN QURaTIoN.

in many Of our preceding years has bee
debated as tho Southern question, an
which ! grieVe to say the Republics
party has been somewhat shAmed out {
the discussion Of by unworthy influence
beg to present one or two ideas upon thg
question, do It the more readily hecans
am here Rs tue quest Of this young RI
publlcans, and l want to speak 3
come facts that antedate their experiences
One ot tho most common accusations
that the Republican party got no NOR
than it deserved for forcing negro sutlrag
on the South. Now ] stand here to deuy
and call all men beyond fifty years Q
sge to attest what Isay, and | special,
call upon my friend with whom | served
years in Congress Judge Kelley to attea
the accuracy OF my narrative, When tn
Republican party approached the question
0t reconstruction there WAS not oue maj
in ten thousand that then thought ofloTC
ing suffrage upou the Colored men OF thl
South. They practically said you have
very large number OF men without eduCa
tlon, they need experience, they nse(
training, and we will readmit you into thu
Union and leave that question for you Il
solve by yourself. And In that spirit ant
10 that end We submitted to the states the
Fourteenth Amendment 10 the COnstilu
lion, think lam correct in sayiDg iha
We voted 10 bring Tennessee in upon tele'
graphic Information, That reconstruction
bill said that hereafter, instead OF being
Ci iz-ns Of the United sta,eP, btOsuse We
arp Cluzsna Of Bomo Individual State, va
= hul H. atli ~ II NIL kaku
and in virtue Of that fact be cItizsna
OF any State in which we may choose
to reside. In the next place We said,
hereis o great debt incurred. In
saving the Union, and We ought not
to leave that debt AubjsCt to the adverGo
majority in Congress. And, therefore, ita
8. credness, and Its obligation to pay 1t,
was incorporated in the amendment. And
beyond that we said here are thousands
and tens OF thousands OF men who have
been abused and bleeding, and tens oil
thousands OF others who went down to
death, and their widows and orphans
must be taken care Of, and the obligation
to pay peHalonB was embodied In that
amendment And this was also embod-
led: That the active men in the rebellion
should not be permitted to participate OF.
tiCially In the Government OF the United
States until their disabilities were re-
moved by atwo.thirds vote. A provision
was putin: You snail regulate your own
sudrage, but this condition, that II you
exclude any number OF men from the
right to vote you shall cut down your rep.
resentation 10 Congress in the sams pro.
portion as you carry on that exclusion.
We said to the South you shall come In
under these terms. We no longer submit
to the old rule which first made chattels
Of men and then saId three.hlths Of there
chattels shall bs represented in Congress.
The rebels, their hands stil drip.
ping in the blood Of Union men,
said we shall not be content with
the old three.tlEths representation. We
want to exclude the Colored men alto.
gether from participation In suffrage and
we want to count them in our representa-.
tion, aud thus get the whole fve.ftths ot
our Representation. It was then that the
Republican party gaid to the white men
Of the South, II you will go with US TO re.
construct the Union, all will be well.
DIsFRANCulsRD VOTERS IN THE soUTH.
II you reject those terms, We will call
upon The whole body Of people in the
South, and the loyal colored mAn, who in
the judgment OF the Republican Congrtss
was better voter than any rebel who
would not consent TO any form Of govern
ment. [Applause Wo forced that Issue
under that reconstruction act they came
10, but as soon aS they got possession
they trampled on everything to which
they hSd agreed, and said you can endow
these men with suffrage but we will show
you that they cannot exercise It, and from
that time to this they have put thirty.lVs
fraudulent representatives In almost every
Congress since they got Gontrol. At first
they said we will not have any coloted
representatives here. No, they didn't
say that at all; they said, ave won't have
no niggers here;" then they said, 1--WE
wont haye any white men that come from
the North, 60 that the carpet-bag.
gers all had to leave. In three
Of the Southern States the majority ol
population 10 on the part OF the coored
vote, and In many Districts OF the rsBt the
colored man largely outyotes them II he
were allowed 10 vote. j was rash enough,
few weeks ago, In q public speech in
Maine, 70 point out that the Northern
yorkingman was already, and would still
be more, day after day, and year after
year, thrown into competition and flooded
with million and q bali OF col0red men
Ia tho South; the competition against
white labor was going to be ruinous { /. II
Irepeat here that, while you pay 81 %
a day 10 men who are making pis iron In
Pennsylvania and Ohio, they are making
pig iron In Alabama and paying seventy.
iive GENTS day, aud those Large products
must meet Id the same market. The
Democratic party ls answerehlu lor IT,
They wish, on the one side, to break
down the tariff and throw the Northern
laboring man into competition with for,
eign ill.paid labor, and at-ths sane time
BY maintaining the dominance OF the
Southern Democracy, 10 bring up the
one million and half, aud coon to be two
million workers upon not more than hall
tho wages that Northern men get, In
many cases not ope.third Of II.
! was talking With distinguished
southerner from North Carolina not long
since, and, speaking OF the condition ot
the Southern laborSr, he asked pe what
thought was the average coat Of tho house,
Il yos San dignity II With that name, ip
which the great majority Of the Held
laborers Of thesouth were sheltered. And
he gave me the assurance that II wsa more
than nine dollArB laughterl; TINT the
house that covers these laborerg, who By
this uetarious political proceeding are
thrown into DIRECT CoDhiCtapd direct com
petition with Northern lGhorers, are shel
tered In houSes that do not 0ost for thell
construction moro than ten 'dollars-rol
more than the average ptiOs Ol q deDen'
plg pen OF Pennsylvania farmer. 9reaI
merriment Well We are met finally II
the columns Of such papers as the Ntu
York 7lmeS, the ElGniig POH and others o
that ilk, with "What arc you. going 10 dt
about itP" tDerslYe laughter, They
sayt "ltil tfhe, and nHT how Are you
going 10 help yourselves !"
Ny isllow'CltlEshB, there never .vSr o.
ffoIant Wong ye. whose defenders dll
dot reply with that ipsplept taunt, ! vii
tell you what Wo Rto going todp about u
We are going 10 al0ups not merely thl
opinion OF this Couutry, but 10 public opln