Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-10-21
JIM BLAINE'S BUNCOMBE.
NEGROES AND WAGES HIS NEW
CAMPAIGN BLIND.

Same Old Bloody Shirt with New
Bosom for n Bluff.
PITTSBURG, Oct. 20.-Mr. Blaine ad-
dressed a crowd of 10000 persons here to-
day on the subject Of the bloody shirt. He
said the cOlored men are now and have
been for ten years entering into many of
the mechanical industries. In Birming-
ham, Ala, in Chattanooga, Tenn, and in
various parts of Virginia. they are max
ing pig iron at wages Of from go to 70
cents per day. The product of their la
Dor has thus far been so small that the i'm
portant fact | am now stating has at
tracted comparatively no attention, but
II the quantity which they manufacture
attains large proportions 1t will necessa-
rily compete in the markets Of this cOun-
try with pig iron made in Pennsylvania
and OHIO and they themselves will com
pete with men here who are paid 81 80
per day,
THE RESPONSE.
"What response is to be made to that
by our workingmen who receive the bet
ter wages? The answer will be just this !:
That either the great body of working
men in the South must have Justice done
them and be fairly compensated for what
| they earn in the sweat Of their faces, or
else the wages OF every Northern laboring
man must be injuriously affected. This
statement when first made by me was met
with rldicule and derision, but when that
| great organization OF the knights Of
Labor met In national convention in Rich
| mODd, Va. the other dav under their
chief, Mr.. Powderly, whom | take to
be man of extraordinary ability and
perception prolonged cheersl, the
first thing they ran against was absolute
| unwillingness on the part of the domi-
nant white race of the South to allow the
| colored lahorers Of that region to have
any benefit OF Knights Of Labor organize
tions or from any other ORGANIZATIONS
that could protect them in theiN right to
be paid the wages which they earned.
FArkY TALE.
"By strange coincidence / received
this very morning letter from the South
on that subject. Wy correspondent gives
me an appalling feature of the South, and
in one portion of his letter saws: But after
all we are ahead of you in the North in
respect TO labor, for in a greatimanv parts
of the South we have established the
eight-hour law for the cOlored man--eignt
hours In The forenoon and eight hours in
the afternoon Universal and long con-
tinued merriment. Now, gentlemen,
! on my part that the Republicans have any
prospect of carrying a Southern state.
White men have the political power of
that country In their grip.
POOR CUFFEE.
CAT fret they said they would not let q
negro come to Congress as soon as they
got the power TO stop him. Well, the me-
groes stepped aside. Then they said they
would not let carpetbagger come 20
! Congress. Well, the carpetbagger elOped
| Laughter. Now they say that they Will
| BOT let native white man come to the
front If the cOlored men vote for him.
| LLaughteT.l That closes UP the avenues
| pretty tightly. That would speedily set-
tie the question. They have eighty-five
Representatives in Congress from the
eleven States that we're In rebellion.
With the exception, / believe, of one in
Virginia from a white constituency and
one in Tennessee, they take in the whole
of them. although in several OF those
| States, three at least, the colored race are
in the majority.
THE BALLOT IN BLACK HANDS.
"You often hear from the Democrats in
| Allegheny county, perhaps as elsewhere,
| that the Republicans we're served just
right because they put negro suffrage on
| the South, and that II has returned b.
| and ] want to moke that denial sc Intel
| llgibIe and forciblo as l can--I deny thBt
the Republican party iD its system ~
reconstruction started out with the iaoH
of forcing the South TO take negro suf-
| rage. / had a small part in that legIsla-
tion. What we did was this: We said
to the South: There ls the fourteenth
amendment to the constitution. That
amendment is OF inestimable advantage.
m q yaa nj oh In Of ha
United States national. Ii conserves and
preserves the national credit. 1t con-
serves and preserves the pension OF the
soldier.
THE BASIS OF APPROXIMATION.
alt prevents men whose hands have
been made bloody on the fields Of battle
against Union men from taking part in
the government until Congress, by two
thirds majority, shall release them from
tnat disability We said to them:
Agree to this amendment ard come ID.'
But you will find In that amendment this
provision--l am giving you the popu-
lar meaning, not taking the
exact language Of law: II you
ture being in favor of II, what was the
exclude the negro from voting be must be
| excluded from the basis Of representa-
tion. That was perfectly fair and square
| prOpOsltiOn A representative is based
/ upon n constituency, and II they did not
allow cOlOred men 20 be included within
| the constituency, then those men ought
not to be reckOned within the basis OF
representation to increase the numbers Of
the representatives among their enemies,
but IL you will do one we will do the other.
You enfranchse the colored man and we
will increase your representation.
TENNEssEE's ACCEPTANCE.
'sTennessee alone of all the Southern
States accepted that condition and came
In at once, and the other ten rejected 1t in
:helr legislatures scornfully, promptly,
absolutely, by overwhelming majorities.
Not one-tenth Of the votes In any Legisla-
United States 10 d0i 20 over this be-
cause j have seen IN one metropolitan
journal what purported 10 be correction
OF the statement l had made as though /
had made mistake, and had omitted an
essential part. When those States re-
iected the fourteenth amendment what
was the government OF the United States
10 dor That form OF reconstruction had
failed. IL was dead. Was the United states
Congress 20 sit down with their fingers In
their mouths and say: Gentlemen, our
soldiers, our gallant commanders'
(liko your candidate for Gov
ernOr In Pennsylvania - -lcheerBl, have
whipped yours of the Geld OF battle. We
stood up 10 the nght until the last rebel
soldier mad surrendered, and now IL the
Congress OF the United States TO acknowl-
edge itself absolutely unable to recon.
struct those States on the basis OF loyaltyY