Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-01-23
The President and Southern Ap-
pointments.

/ pointments.
The New York Tribune appears to think
that 1t would cease to be interesting TO its
readers il it did not contain an attack
every once in awhile upon the Southern
people. 1t persists m pretending to think
that there is a condition Of affairs at the
South which ought to be designated as
1.-The Southern question: 1t says that
President Cleveland has been reticent on
the Southern question" What the Iri-
b1AlC calls 1.-THE Southern question" is the
alleged Acknowledgement of Republicans
and the notification of the Fifteenth
Amendment in the Southern States. If
Republicans are not DISTINGUISHED and the
Fifteenth Amendment is not nullifed,
there is of course, no Southern ques-
ton, and no fault can be found with the
President for saying nothing about it.
What proof is there that the Republi-
cans in every part of the South did not
vote freely at the late Presidential cleo
ton, or that they are restrained in the ex-
ercise Oftheir right to vote at any election
IN any part Of the South Al the present
time; and where is the evidence that there
is any disposition to nullity the Fifteenth
Amendment: There is no such evidence
and the Tribune cannot ind any. Whites
and blacks, Democrats and Republicans,
are getting along tremendously and that
condition Of affairs VIII continue If such
newspapers as the IrtjaBc do not succeed
in stirring up iil-feehng and strife.
In support Of IS position that the Elf
teenth Amendment Is nuliied and Re-
uublicans disfranchised the Tribune is
( forced TO 60 back to the carpetbag period,
and repUbhsh stories which have little
foundation, or which have time and again
been satisfactorily explained. There was
no doubt trouble all over the South when
the rascally carpetbag gers had the South
ern States by the throat, as 1t were, and
were robbIng the people of the little that
the war had left them. The carpetbag-
gers were not choice in the means they
employed 70 accomplish their purposes
and it is not at all improbable that their
victims employed the most effective means
at their disposal to defend their rights and
protect their property.
What annoys the Tribune. however, is
the fact that some Of those who were con-
and who, on that account, increased the
ill.will of the Republican party, have been
nominated by the President for offices IN
different parts OF the South. On account
OF these nominations the Tribune insists
that the President is insincere-that he has
not lived up to that part OF his Inaugural
Address in which ne said that Sin the adj
ministration Of a government pledged to
do equal and exact justice to all men,
there should be no pretext for anxiety
touching the protection of the freedmen in
their rights, or their security in the en-
ioyment OF their privileges under the con-
stitution and its amendments"
What the Tribune wants to do is to de-
feat the confirmation of the nominations
OF men who were conspicuous in the
work Of releasing the South from Repub-
lican rule. It hates them and calls them
political criminals 1t will do them all
the harm it can because it believes that
if 1t had not been for them, and others like
them, the Republican party would still
have its grip on the South.
They ought to glory in the Tribune OPP
position, and its opposition ought to
increase the respect Of fair-minded men
for them everywhere. 1t is sale to as
same that the President hasn't nominated
any Southern man for office who isn't
honest and capable, and who hasn't an
unblemished reputation.
The fact that disappointed and defeat
ed Republican politicians have made
charges OF a political character against
some Southern appoiutees is no rea-
son why the President should not
have selected them FOR places Of
trust and responsibility, and is no
argument to prove that the President
is not acting in harmony with the views
expressed in his Inaugural Address.
That neither white nor black Republicans
are making any complaints. ought to be
accepted as evidence that Southern Re-
publicans do not think that the President
IS insincere, and, also, that what the Tn
5uitc calls "the Southern question" mas
about disappeared from politics.
The President has certainly been ex-
ceedingly kind to Southern Republican
officeholders. Comparatively few OF them
have been disturbed. In this city the
offices are still held by Republicans.