Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1889-01-10
THE SOUTHERN QUESTION.
Democratic Methods That Are Both On
wise and UnconstttutionaL

Democratic Methods That Are Both Un-
wise and Unconstitutional
The only Southern question" Is
that which is made by the South itself.
1t is not question which the rest of
the Union thrusts upon the South with
the persistency of persecution. 1t is
the South itself which thrusts it upon
the country. The South insists that at
whatever cost it must maintain an I'M
BROS solidity. Unbroken solidity
can not be maintained in any section
of a country like this without resort to
unconstitutional methods. When men
are free to think and speak and vote as
they choose, division and parties are
inevitable; and where there are par
ties, the natural tendency is toward
balance. In this fact lies one of the
safeguards of our Republic. Open
competition between parties is whole
some, and helps to secure and main
tain good government Suppression,
on the contrary. of the one or the 9TH
err involves the denial of fundamental
rights and establishes class supremacy,
than which nothing is more repugnant
to republican institutions
Why does the South insist on re-
naming solid? Henry W. Grady, one
of the most liberal men of the younger
generation in the South, gives answer
in the following:
"When the negro was enfranchised. the
South was condemned to solidity surely as
self-preservation is the first La v OF Nature.
Governor Richardson, of South Car
Dina, says no effort to break the solid
South can succeed, except upon the
basis of the supremacy of the Anglo
Saxon race. Congressman Oates, of
Alabama, insists that there is but one
way of breaking the solid South, and
that is by eliminating the Negro from
politics; and the st. Louis Christian
ADVOCATE, Southern religious paper,
echoes the opinion of Senator Ingalls,,
and says the contest between the races
will be carried on until one or the 9TH
er is driven to the wall.
The solidity of the South, then, is
in resistance to the ballot of the
negro. The constitution makes the
negro a citizen and voter with equal
rights before the laws of the country;
but the South revolts against the con-
stitution and declares that the negro
shall not exercise his rights as a voter.
Accordingly. by various methods, the
negro, particularly in the Gulf States,
is prevented from full participation in
the right of popular sovereignty. The
shotgun is one method; intimidation
is another; false counting is another;
inaccessible polls is another; the
Eight-box law is another. The latter
is in effect an educational test. If the
negro voter is illiterate he can not de-
post his vote because he can not tell
how to distribute his ballots so as to
put them into the right boxes. 1t is
the least Objectionable of the methods
by which the South is kept solid; but
this, even the Charleston NeUs and
Courier is frank enough to say, is an
evasion" political trick"
" subterfuge," a "tortuous method"
1.-The Eight-box law" it says. "nec-
essary as it was, and beneficial as its
operation has been. is demoralizing
to the people of the State. 1t must
lower the younger men in particular
in their own eyes to see that
the spirit of our institutions is
violated at every election" How
law can be beneficial and |
necessary" which is demoralizing
to the people" and in violation of the
spirit of our institutions we can not |
understands; but the admission that |
even a method which falls short of
open intimidation or open fraud is
"demoralizing to the people," goes to
the very heart of the Southern ques-
ion. The "tortuous methods re-
sorted to to make and keep the South |
solid must undermine the public |
virtue of those that employ them.
Public virtue is the strength of the |
State. Weaken that and the pledge |
of justice, order and security is gone.
But the South can not be kept solid |
by fraud, intimidation, false counting
or any ether method of direct or in
direct acknowledgements. Quiet but
powerful influences are at work all
through the South. but particularly
along the border-line, harmonizing
the races, and bringing about that
balance between the parties which in
our judgment would contribute most
to the order and security of the South.
A moments study of the following table
which we have gathered from returns
of the last four Presidential elections
will show how rapidly this process is
going forward:
PLURALITIEs. ": Ia. IA. Ky. Tenn.
1876. Tilden. :.......14564 2j,1l5 62,e4 1900
1880. Hancock. l4S 3l,5s7 43,449 20.574
$50 III ss5SS 1855 s5SS
Tennessee would seem to be reced-
ing from the point of balance, but this
recession is probably only apparent
and temporary. In Virginia Repub-
licanism is no longer reproach. The
Did families are no longer solidly Dem
ocratic. They are dividing on other
than race or sectional lines, and solv-
ng the Southern question in ra-
5ional and constitutional way. As the
whites divide between the parties so
will the negroes. The true solution
If the race question is in this division.
L solid white party must result in
solid black party. Divide the whites
md tho raoa nr,octiop uil1 d;Sannaar |