St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-01-17
Senator Butler Would Rid the
South of it's Colored
Population.
He Wants Congress to Aid
Negroes in Colonizing
the Congo.
There They Can Found and
Build Up a Nation Of
Their Own.
Congressional Friends of the
Worlds Fair Contestants
Have q Talk.

WASHINGTON. Jan. 16.-After the
| usual morning routine b usiness the SEN
ate to-day took up the bill introduced
By Senator Butler on Dec. II, to provide
for the emigration of persons of color
from the Southern stat IS, and Mr.. But
! Ter made a long speech in support Of
| the bill. This, he said, was too grave a
| subject to be distorted by party consid-
! erations or confined within the narrow
| boundaries and limits Of party lines. 1t
! rose above party or cabal, and deserved
! to be held above sections. He spoke of
! the granting of suffrage to colored men
/ as craze which had come on in
| the heat of battle, but as
/ having been neither wise nor judicious.
| But the act was done. and he could not
see now how it was to he und0ne.
| Some persons who held high rank in
the intellectual world held that in the
history of the African race in this coul-
+ try was to be seen the hand of God for
| the accomplishment of great purpose
| in another hemisphere. Events (Mr.
! Butler said appeared to be shaping
! themselves in a manner to Justify such
| a conclusion. The race question raised
| by the changed attitude of the TWO races
/ toward each other was q burning evil
! dencn that the issue was not confined to
| any locality, section, or party. What
was to become of the 200,0 Indians in
! this country and of the 100000 China
men was a difficult problem. but the
| most profound inquiry applied directly
| to the pending bill; and tlat was, what
| was to be the fate of the
SIN OR EIGHT MILLION NEGROES
| in this country. They were citizens;
| they had the ballot; they all had the
| civil and political rights which white
| men had. and which were denied to the
other coiored races. Would the colOred
| people in the United States (he aSked),
be able TO maintain themselves on an
equal footing with white men. and so
f<nut to jeopardize the well being of
American institutions? he opinion
appeared to be growing that they could
ROT. An honest effort should be made;
| 10 ascertain why not, and to determine.
|. What was best to be done. Mr.. Butler,
!!..r, ferred to the absence of colOred pe0-
PIE, from all high positions in this
country. and saw in that fact the proof
Of unrelenting, unforg wing incurable
race prejudice. If anybody The said{
had predicted. before the war, that
|. Southern states would, within
few years, be represented
in both houses of congress
by men who were then slaves, he would
have been laughed at and derided as a
negro-philipist. And if. after many
negroes were IN congress it had been
predicted that, in ten years, not one
negro would be sitting in either house.
the prediction would have had few be-
levers. And SO. if any one predicted
to-day, that within half a century, not a
/ full-blOoded, genuine negro would be
found in the United States, he w,uld
not be believed; and yet there were
men who expected that very thing.
The bill, he said, contemplated a grad
ual, orderly, voluntary movement of
colored people out of the Southern
states, and provided government aid to
enable them to do SO. He might be
asked
WHY SHOULD THE NEGRO MOVE
out of the Southern states? His answer
might be that the negro would not do
so, except on his own motion. There
was nothing in the bill that would
cOerce or compel him to move. BIT his
answer. however, would be that It
would be for the negroes own good and
for the good of his white nelghbors also.
While the negroes remained in large
masses and exceeded in numbers their
white neighbOrs. not only did the ne
grOeS not advance in the scale of civil
ization, but actually retrogrades. Such
at least had been his. experience. On
the other hand. observation and experi-
ence had convinced him that where the
white race was largely in the majority
the white man was better off, and the
negro was better off. So that no friend
of the negroes would oppose the bill,
because it would he hurtful to the
negro. He believed that if the govern
ment would do the duty by
the negro (instead of coach
ing him and confusing him
with civil rights and empty statutes):
if IL would render him substantial as
sistance for regeneration and real free
dom, he would illumine the dark CONT
nent of his fathers with the light of
Christianity and law. As to the effect
on the Southern states, of an emigration
of the colored people. he said that if the
South be thus relieved of a part, at least,
of its Superabundance of cheap labor,
there would be such an immigration of
white. Intelligent, progressive citizens
that the prosperity of the South during
the last decade would pale into insight
fcance as compared with its future pro-
gresS. 1t is not an uncommon thing to
hear men say
LET THE NEGRO ALONE;
he makes good peasant class: he is
the best laborer we can get for the cot
ton fields" etc. Do not all such forget
that there is no such thing as a ''peas-
ant class" under our form of govern
ment? Do they forget that the negro is
a free American citizen. entitled by
virtue of his citizenship if on no other
account to equality before the law with
the foremost citizen of the land, equal
ity of opportunity of rights? No sir;
you cannot afford TO let him alone, un-
less you are prepared to admit what no
man has ever dared affirm, that he
is the equal of the Anglo Saxon in
the race of American civilization.
1t is no disparagement to say
this, for 10 other race has ever
stood in the Anglo-Saxons' pathway to
power anG undivided domination and
has survived. L will with equal
emphasis that we cannot afford to be
unjust to the negro. He has done moth
ing to deserve it. He has long enough
been made the foot ball of contending
factions. He has been made to suffer
enough between 1.-The upper and neither
millstones" of opposing forces. Justice
TO the negro should 90 hand in hand
with justice to the white man and to
our civilization. And surely there
ought to be sense enough, patriotism
and good feeling enough, to settle this
phase OF the race question without
MORE ADO Or TROUBLE,
Mr.. Hoar. replying to Mr.. Butler, ex
pressed his qualification at the tone and
temper, as well as the ability and elo-
quence with which the senator from
South Carolina had presented his own
views. But it seemed 60 him that the