The Greenville times. [volume] (Greenville, Miss.) 1868-1917, 1889-12-14
"a STRONG uSDERCuRRENr."
CI.EvEI.ANp o. Nov. sOth lsss.

CLEVELAND o., Nov. s0th 1889.
EDITOR TINES:
noticed in to-days Commercial Ga
zette, the leading Republican newspa-
per Of Southern Ohio, quite extended
quotation from your article ~The ire
prssible Confiet-White Supremacy
vs. Negro Majorities" recently pub
lished in the TINES.
The main object of the Gazette in
making the quotation seems to have
been to give prominence to the TINES
admission "that colored majorities have
been destroyed by shotgun suppression
on ballot box stutfing" and @that the
TINES itself advocates the present form
of solidity pending the contest"for the
disfranchisement of the negro"
My object in writing you is to
voice the approval of many Northern
Republicans of the agitation you favor,
in the article quoted, of the question
of the disfranchisement of the negro.
Ii is subject that ia and has been, for
the last year or two, engaging the
earnest thought of many of our best
and thoroughly patriotic citizens as |
know from personal conversation with
many in all parts of Ohio during my
constant travel over the State. Hav-
ing had pronounced views myself on
this question, and feeling deep inter-
est in its solution, | have made it
subject Of frequent conversation and
know, from opinions l have gathered,
that there is strong undercurrent of
feeling and conviction, constantly in-
creasing and ready to become asser-
tive and aggressive upon occasion, that
the negro ought TO be DISTINGUISHED.
| was a soldier during the Civil
War III an Ohio regiment, aud being
Republican from my youth up, voted
with the rest for the war amendment.
There are thousands who did the same
and who now, as well as myself, have
come 10 believe that II was mistake
and are willing to go on record as
favoring a correction of that error.
They believe that this question is fast
coming to have precedence in impor-
tance above all other political issues
upon the wise decision of which de-
pends much of our future peace and
prosperity. They are coming to re-
cognize that the "Irrepressible Con-
flict" will never end until the cause of
it Is forever lifted out of American
politics. In the earlier days of the
trial Of negro suffrage 1t was hoped
and believed that, In time, the diff
culties attaching to 1t would disappear
and this faith Is still held by many !;
but, with so hany years of trial now
elapsed and no material advance made
towards harmony, the conviction is
gaining that race antagonism is too
deeply and unchangeably founded in
human nature, great gulf set by the
Creator that may not be passed-to
admit the hope of final success.
Then there is that other question of
the illiteracy Of the voting classes. It
is matter ofprofound import how to
increase the intelligence of the average
votes. There is widespread appre-
hension as ably expressed by Mr..
Washington GLADDEN. in his article in
the Century Magazine ofa few months
since, upon the "Protection of the Suf-
frage," that unless something is done
to raise the plain of average intelligence
Of the voting classes "the breaking
strain upon our government will come
within the next fifty years. Two
large classes are mentioned by him as
constituting the chief menace to our
Republican form of government. The
first is composed Of the great number
Of illiterate foreigners that continually
crowd IN upon us and the second, of
the large class of i,,ilerate blacks so
lately invested with the right ef suf-
frage.
The disfranchisement of the negro
would at once eliminate this second
large class from this "Sombre View
and at the same time remove the strong
incentive, everywhere present in the
South, to political crimcs-a strong
temptation we must admit, whether
yielded to or not, and forcefully ad-
herring in the essential conditions Of
the case. To the Northern mind II Is
fearful to contemplate, not only the
magnitude OF these crimes against the
negro but also and more particularly
what seems to us must be the reflex
influence of these crimes upon those
who commit them and upon their SYM
pathizers, aiders and abettors. How
, is 1t possible that persons snail habj-
tually engage in breaking the law and
be SO sustained by the sentiment of the
people in SO doing as to come to con-
slider 1t respectable and even merito-
| rious and not imbibe most pernicious
disregard and contempt even for all
law that shall raise up among us gen.
: Grafton of criminals2 How is it possi-
BILE that loyalty and patriotism shall
] grow warm and glow and burn with
that fervor aud zest, they ought to In
|, every American heart when the con-
, stitution of the nation is counted On
} unhsly thing and habitually trampled
r and spit upon1 These and kindred
questions will force themselves upon
: our thought as being most solemn and
| momentous. We submit, with you
r that the disfranchlsemen of the negro
is the natural. legitimate, national and
only successful solution Of these prob.
! lems
1t is impolitic and dangerous for q
government "of the people, by the
people and for the people, to ignore the
settled aud very general sentiment and
conviction of those inhabiting a large
section Of its area and constituting an
influential minority of its voters. But
1t was not my purpose in sending you
! this communication to enter into dis
an