Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-02-11
ESPECIAL TELEGRAM TO THE DISPATCH,

the South. Mr.. Cook said:
The supreme crime of the South is nuilifca
tion; the chief crime of the North is politica
indifference to this Southern crime. The part,
in power does not fulfill its pledges to the ma
ton in regard to the execution of the two grea
amendments to our Constitution written in thu
blood of the North. There is one unalterabl,
element in the Southern problem; i. e.. tht
climate around the world. You find our ract
setting up at the Tropic of Cancer the ability tC
live without labor. The white races do no
labor within the belt in which New Orlean,
lies; the bronze races do labor there. In sub
tropical regions the whites will contend for the
privileges of caste; it is the fate of such re
gions to have a race problem and an industrial
problem. The blacks are the bestlaborers that
can be had for such fields as they occupy
CAUSE OF THE CONTEST.
The white race wants to officer these black
races and so there is a contest. Nearly every
branch of this Southern problem proceeds from
climatic conditions. The present state of
things is also to a large extent the result of
slavery. The white population in the South
has not learned that individual toll with the
hands is honorable. But aside from this it is a
physical impossibility for the white man to be
as active along the line of the Gulf as he is in
New England and along the line of the great
lakes.
Slavery divided the land into separate plan.
tations; schools were far apart, the same was
truesof churches; and this institution has left
its legacy that the conditions of positive bar
barism exist in the rural regions of the South
in the absence of the means of education and
the absence of churches. Caste therefore en-
dures though the institution that helped to
give rise to it has been abolished for quarter
Of a SlnUprKD is hnt 10
conditions Will endure, and so long as the Tropic
of Cancer is in sight of the Gulf OF Mexico
you will find caste. Taking the problem at
large, there are several elements to be men
toned. You have first the constitutional
problem, shall the amendments be executed?
A PARTY PROBLEM.
You have, secondly, party problem: Shall
the Democrats of the South place their feet on
the neck of the negro and. from the elevation,
leap into the national saddle?
You have thirdly the educational problem:
How devise a system of education fitted to
produce society capable of self-government?
You have, fourthly, ruffian problem: How is
the scoundrelism of the South to be made 20
respect law and order? What used TO be the
prO-slaveTy is at the bottom of the negro riots.
Fffthly, you have the race problem. Thus all
five fingers may 60 In the palm of the climatic
problem. and the whole thing is one.
As to the color of a mans skin, it is no more
to me than the color of his eyes. Men are
plexion. We. ourselves. are not as white as
che Norwegians and SWedes, and, therefore,
are somewhat inferior, presumably After
extensive foreign travel among people of all
shades, came back with all my prejudice
against color dissipated to the 80 Winds When
Southern Congressman say this whole question
is one of color, believe they are speaking for
their constituents and not for themselves, as
they are too well educated.
HUMAN NATURE THE SAME.
Human nature is the same everywhere but the
old slave code gave liberty to the abuses of hu-
man nature and much of this liberty is still
allowed in the South to-day. To this hour
there cling to Southern society arrangements
that are unreportable before q mixed audience
may shock this audience but mean to do it
by giving you the truth. At other times 1
will lash the North FOR its many shortcomings,
but the South is tolerating a system OF daily
life upon which We can look only with intense
indignation.
Other things being equal a man is a man
whether he be bronze or red, black or white. 1
am moved to speak with entire candor on this
topic. If there come atlast an explosion amcng
the negroes OF the Southern States one of the
things most likely to produce it will be tine dis
honor placed upon black women in that sec
ton. 1t is high time to excoriate the North on
account of its divorce laws. There must be a
reform in these matters, else there Will be
terrible explosion.
What, now, are some of the remedies for
these mischiefs. Education of both blacks and
whites. There should be given national aid for
education wherever it is needed. The South is
doing something honorable for education, but
not enough. We are not doing enough in the
North.
DANGER OF ILLITERACY.
We are yet in danger in our great cities from
q growth of illteracy. One third of the pop-
ulation in the South have no opportunities for
education. The freedmen have shown as much
appreciation Of education as the poor whites
or the mountain whites. l want adequate
safeguards in connection with national aid for
education. With these am in favor of nat
jonal aid for limited time.
We must have the execution of the fourteenth
and fifteenth amendments after waiting the
fifth part Of century to see them made DOW
erful These amendments Europe is studying
and she points to us a finger of shame, saving
in our Constitution there are amendments that
we have obtained at a cost of civil war for the
execution of which we have waited until now
This is stupenQous problem but the Republi-
can party pledges itself to execute these
amendments. Since the addition of the four
new States the party has the power to do what
justice requires. 7N
suppose that the government of the nation
may now be said to have passed permanently
into the hands of the North; and Il you do not
execute these amendments you of the North
are responsible. A great hinge turned in 1876
when we withdrew military aid from those who
were executing the fourteenth and fifteenth
amendments.
BETTER RESULTS EXPECTED.
we nOped Tor DetUer results. The North was
kind and forbearing. 1t was hoped that the
new South would secure substantial Justice for
the negroes. But we have seen 100000 de-
prived Of their rights. We have s,OOO, 900 of ne.
groes with US to-day, and at the close of the
present century there will have been Is 600 600
while some of you will live to see So O0OOOO of
colored people in the United States. Will the
North lie down permanently under the dis
franchisement of such a population?
There are two races in conflict in the South,
but they are both citizen races. You are ruled
in a large degree by fraud if YOU do not weed
out D Congress he fraudulent representatives
there. Are " q 60 allow millions of this repub-
lie 60 be heeceu out of their civil and political
rights to your disadvantage as well as theirs?
Some fear that the renowned patience Of the
negro will not last forever
1 fear that before the close of this century
there will be bloody episodes unless justice is
done We must have a Constitutional Federal
election law. honestly administered by both
parties. Bring in the Australian system OF Sc
Cret ballot IL you like, but something must be
done. Who believes that millions of negroes are
likely to emigratei The masses will not 90; so
schemes for their deportation regard as Wis
ionary.
A VISIONARY PLAN.
Senators from South Carolina and Alabama
have been defending scheme in the Senate to
get I'D Of 5000, 900 of our most productive la
borets, while immigrants are pouring in from
every quarter of the globe. We need laborers;
but the scheme of these Senators is to assist
emigration TO Africa. l am willing there should
be dispersion, or redistribution of the col
Ored population among the States where they
are less abused than along the Gulf But if the
negroes are greatly in the majority in any
State, why not the whites emigrate
II is folly for the Southern leaders to expect
that the Constitution can be vacated If mean.