The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1890-04-18
WAY DOWN SOUTH IN Dixie. =

A Below Zero Welcome-The Exper
in the South-Views of Distin.
guished Southerners, both
Democrats and Repubu.
cams, ON the Race Prob.
lem a Cheerful
Conclusion.
The following is the greeting which
the delegates to the League Conven
ton received Ia the columns of tn,
leading Democratic paper of Nashville
the Daily American:
OUR REPUBLICAN GUESTS.
The selection of Nashville as tn,
place for the meeting Of the league o
Republican Clubs this year was prob
ably made with vague idea of doing
missionary work in promising field
of scattering Republican seed upon ,
favorable coil. If the astute politicians
who are gathering here make q close
and sagacious study of the temper OF
the people and other existing condi-
tions, they will doubtless return with
the opinion that for that particular
end the choice was not wisely made
otherwise, we hope they will find nc
reason to regret it, The people Of
Nashville will extend tn them the
courteous but transformations welcome
which strangers always receive within
our gates, not with any hope of good
to come, but simply because the lave
of hospitality require it. There was O
time when we hoped that social inter
mingling upon such occasions would
have tendency to soften political and
sectional prejudices and help the North
to understand the South; that time, il
must be said with regret, has long
passed away. We no longer expect
that we shall be respected more or
hated less for any manifestation of
kindly feeling on our own part; but
we can be courteous and hospitable
nevertheless.
All that we saw, not only in Nash.
willie, but everywhere else in the Old
South. made 1t but too sadly evident
that the American spoke the senti.
ments of its constituents. They would
not insult US, for We were guests; but
farther than this they made no pledg-
es. 1 regret to say it, for I had hoped
to find ii different. But the truth is
that one who has not seen 1t
and felt it can In no measure
realize the force of the prejudice that
the people of the South-perhaps I
ought to say the Democrats of the
South-hold against any man who
comes from the North. 1t lie in the
very air. You feel it without being
able to tell where it comes from. You
know instinctively that you are re-
garded with aversion and distrust. To
one who loves his whole country this
is most unwilling conclusion, but it
is forced upon him.
~
As an illustration of the practi-
cal operation Of this prejudice recall
a conversation with a jeweler at Nash
vile whose acquaintance 1 CHANGED to
make because of a G.. A. r. button he
wore. "I came down here from iowa
two years and half ago. he said,
land went into business. 1 never de.
MED being Republican, but I took
no part in politics. Joined the Grard
Army Post, Of which I am now Com.
mander. Myself and family brought
our Church letters and engaged active.
ly in Church and Sunday School work
But we have never been able to gain,
even from our own Church associates,
an atom OF social recognition. They
recognized and seemed to appreciate
the work we did, but the recognition
stopped at the church door, In q bus
mess way it has been nearly as bad,
although 1 think I can see within
the past few months some little change
for the better. And my experience
has only been the experience
of every other Northern man who has
tried to establish himself in business
here. It is a heart-breaking task. "
The man who said all this was q mod.
est, quiet handsome gentleman who
spoke in sorrow and not in anger.
-.
I cannot say whether NorthernDem-
ocrats coming South would encounter
this same prejudice or not; but 1
doubt it, as 1 am inclined to believe
that it is largely political. This opin.
lon is suggested by the observation
that the feeling against Southern Re-
publican seems to be but little less
strong than against Northern Repub-
licans. A bright young man from
Alabama. delegate to the
said to me: "My father
was a Confederate soldier, and all my
brothers grew up Democrats. But
when I came of age, I cast my first
vote for the straight Republican tick
ct. That one act cut me off from all
my former associates as completely as
If 1 had committed murder. I could
not enter my fathers house to-day
being insulted." No comment
CT mine could strengthen such words
Rs those.
a further evidence of the business
of Republicans ia the fact
that no Republican daily paper has
ever been able to live in Nashville.
Where is the town of 100000 popula-
ticn in the North that will not sup
port a daily Democratic paper? 1
might add, as an item of interest, that
there is only Que morning Republican