The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1889-01-10
.rHE soUTHE:N SITUATION"
A Letter of MI. 4. + williams TO harper
weekly.

GeEENv11I,E.soUTB CAROLINA.
tn tho Editor { Harper's Weekly
You recently prifed a letter ! nao ln
honor to receivefrom Presloent-eiec
Harrison and spke. briefly Of the in
!, dications that letsr gave Of the polio.
likely to be used ? the Sou'nern state
by the next Administration. l ask 0
you the opportunity to put before tn
thoughtful and conservative peopl'
among whom ydr journal goes some
facts which areseneraily unknown o.
forgotten.
There is a s'Sathern situation" ar
abnormal, unusal political condition
demanding frq wise craftsmanship
political methds different from those
used in other parts of the country
where the conitions are natural and
wholesome. he South was the scene
of one Of the rpst sudden and violent
revolutions ii history. Within nve
wears rich ad arrogant people was
made. Door an beaten, and millions OF
men who ha6een held by these peo-
ple as slaves Eere made freemen and
voters and tt political rulers of their
formersnasts. The statement OF the
event bust AIRY with it conviction
that it Aft dtortions on the surface
and dansers seneath it, as surely as a
volcanid extosion must leave earth
cracks al apvend heat below. More by
1.-The teadSEs-r of instinct and the
guidance 59,ture than by definite
plan or purpose, the Southern
people ha RS a degree restored the
conditions Violently reversed. The
{ whites, ovsrs of the soil and property,
descendarsof generations of freedom
and civiliSon, again rule, and the
negroes, MY freed slaves, represent
ing only 1&cular labor, and descend
ants of genAtions Of barbarism and
slavery, aresain ruled. Heredity has
asserted itsSwer.
These tW. ces are on the same ter
ritory, nomsly the same people, with
legal rights a. positions in all respects
equal, with e color line dividing
them politicaiand socially. The mass
of the negro r$ in the South is COM
posed of farm d day laborers, whose
intelligence YES over scale lrom
that of the avese white mechanic to
barely percers9femove from actual
barbarism. TAbelieve the Repub-
Hcan party maGhem free; they know
the little lease Solitical power that
they had was usr the patronage Of
-SSEsa lfca srty, and that IA that
party is their Of hope of return to
power. They aknow that the white
men who fou to keep them in
slavery, and y have taken their |
power from thc. are called Demo
Gratis. They kn@sothing of political |
creeds, principle platforms, or of
Nthe character orr Uses of candidates,
and care nothing Them. They rea-
son by what they md know within
their own observalssand from their
point Of view they Apn properly and
wisely. Much morsisdom and in
tellectual training they have is
required to induce N1hto accept the
belief that power issoimes a curse
ii to its possessor. Inc Z intelligent,
educated, and welEto negroes are
naturally in sympathyh their race.
Aside from that, the Mahighly de-
veloped the colored mai the more
bitterly he must chafeeer the re-
strictions put upon hin the en-
veloping conditions eve eour Of the
day be has to realize thaV thought
of as an inferior by the bt white
man he meets. MerchA indie
pendent manufacturer ia"l medi-
cine are closed against hlnl'ase the
patronage OF his own i' rarely
enough to support him IN az chem.
His social life is confined tose he
feels to ee beneath him, or toyery
small circle Of his race equalt in
requirements. His resentmen' ns'nst
the race holding itself above q Ind
keepinghim down while he ! he
nowerand the impulse to rise,
.sifes tendency created by It
atersst to stand with his CO
il and to the Republican t
tulhlment Of his hopes !
II s it with the white man? +
Cd descendant of old Whea
list stock, all his impulses i
as may be with the Rpublh'
and its principles; yet ifhe vc
sDnblican ticket and becomes
81 81 r of the Republican paty in
he is part of and helpig an
sSion, the local bulk and Eens
1h is the upreasoning, igora
s,nsible negro vote. He AMI
who will direct that >oteor
ss power in municipal Site
politics, but he how t
viii always favor th,mos u
ous, cunning and r&les l.
man who will prone INST