The Greenville times. [volume] (Greenville, Miss.) 1868-1917, 1889-01-05

lem. Never has that discussion been
fuller or more general than it is to-day.
And never have the opinions express
ed on both sides been as free from vie
lence, prejudice and unreason. The
people of the South are taught at last
that a suppression of the ballot will
not go unpunished. They do not, at
least the more honest of them, pretend
any longer that the vote with them is
as free and fair as at the North. But
still they plead for time to settle this
problem for themselves in their own
way; frankly saying that they prefer
the loss of national powert to what they |
fear would be the REIMBURSEMENT of
their local affairs to the hands of men |
ignorant and unfit. The specter Of
negro rule is still before them, and in |
its presence they are hardly capable of
clear reasoning.
The people Of the North, now that
they see force and fraud no longer In
control Of national affairs, now that
they find the crime of the South
against the suffrage bringing its own
natural and proper punishment, are
just as little inclined to unreasonable
extremes. Those of them who have
pronounced most tlercely against the
wrong that was done are least favora-
BILE to interference with the local af-
fairs of the South. The Cincinnati
Commercial-G Gazette is for moderation.
Senator sherman, whose voice has been
heard in condemnation of the practice
Of the South, would not approve the
exercise Of federal authority to correct
the abuses of which she is guilty. Sem
ator ingalls,, anything but mld of
opinion or speech, declares that the
Southern problem is one for which he
can find as yet no hopeful solution.
All are beginning to understand that
the presence, in the same comm munity
of two sepcrate races, so differently
qualified at present for the charge OF
government, ye. equally entitled to the
ballot, creates situation full Of such
elements of difficulty as might tax th,
ability of any statesman in any ag,
or country. North and South alik'
are pondering to-day less upon the in
fiction Of vengeance or the escape
from il, than upon the best solution Of
tins genuine problem which has so far
escaped us.
: This is case where the people o.
the South might do well to study thu
: words Of the greatest statesman Of th,
age, when championing his method o
: settling question as grave and al
vexed as this. No argument of Mr.
Gladstone, in his advocacy of hom,
rule, is as powerful and as well fitted
TO appeal to the sturdy common sense
of the people as his advice that Eng
land, for once, try fair play. She has
tried, as he notes, every method under
: the sun of controlling Ireland, save
this alone. She has governed by force
and fraud She has coerced and ca.
joled and purchased. But she has con.
sistently refused to think of the Irish.
man as an equal, to be made a patriotic
citizen of the empire by the grant OF
those rights which Englishmen accept
as a matter of course. The argument
of Mr.. Gladstone Is that simple fail
play might set the whole trouble al
rest, while II could not make matter:
worse. II is a suggestion that is just
as much in place for the people OF ouI
own South. They start always from
the premise that FREQ and fair ballot
for the negro means negro rule, and
that negro rule means everything that
was uncomfortable in the reconstruction
period. II Is with this view that the
: North takes issue. Its people-and
, there are those among them, joining
J in the view, who are personally fami
: liar with the whole situation--do moi
believe that the negro vote would be
, cast as a unit if the Democratic party
J were TO abandon the policy of ostra
, cism and repression which has antago.
nized the freedmen and driven then
to the Republican party Of necessity
, They know that the participation O
the negro In the government, undel
| the lead of the best man of each State
would be utterly unlike the same par
/. ticipstion under the guidance of un
r scrupulous adventurers from abroad
! They believe that nine tenths of the ap
, prehension which the white people o
! the South honestly feel is pure imagi
! natisn, encouraged by their leaders 70
political purposes. And they are con
: yinced that simple fair play, the grant
| ing unquestioned to the negro Of hi
8 political rights, will solve the Southern
: problem more speedily and thorough
|, than those methods which, being bull
n upon foundation of wrong, canno
: by any possibility, be either permancn
G or satisfactory.-St. Paul Pionec
Il Press.
= The foregoing is published as fai
. sample of how the Southern status
% regarded in the North, While false |
premise and oyer-assumiDg, il is kint
ly and catholic in tone. Altogether
shows progress III drawing toward ths