The Marietta journal. [volume] (Marietta, Ga.) 1866-1909, 1890-01-09


attention /; chance collision in the south
among relatively the same classes is
grsveiy accepted as evidence that one
race IS destroying the other. We might
| as well claim that the union was migrate
ful TO the colored soldiers who followed
IT'S flag. because Grand Army post in
Connecticut closed its doorsS 80 negro
veteran. as for you to give racial signi6-
| canoe to every incident in the south or
to accept exceptional grounds as the rule
OF our society. / am not one of those
who becloud American honor with the
parade Of the outrages of either section,
! and belle American character by declar-
ing them to be significant and represen-
tative. ! prefer to maintain that they
are neither, and stand for nothing but
| the passion and the sin of our poor fallen
humanity. II society, Ike machine,
we're NO stronger than its weakest part,
| should despair Of both sections. But,
knowing that society, sent3ent and re,
sponsible In every fiber, can mend and
repair till the Whole has the strength of
the best, despair Of neither. These gen
tlernan who come with me here, knit
into treorgia'g busy life as they are, never
saw, dare assert, an outrage committed
on negro And if they did, not one of
you would be swifter to prevent OF pun
ish. 1t Is through them, and the men
who think with them-making nine
tenths OF every southern community
that these two races have been carried
thus far with less of violence than would
have bean possible anywhere else on
earth. And in their fairness and cour-
age and steadfastness, more than in all
the laws that can be passed or all the
Dayonets that can be mustered, is the
hope of our future.
When will the black cast free ballot?
When ignorance anywhere is not domi-
mated by the will OF the intelligent.
When the laborer anywhere casts vote
unhjndered by his boss When the vote
OF the poor anywhere is not influenced
by ths power Of the rich. When the
strong and the steadfast do not everywhere
control the suffrage of the weak and
shiftless- than and not till then will the
ballot Of the negro be free. The white
people Of the south are banded; Mr.. Pres
ident, not in praSldice against the blacks
not In sectional estrangeIaent, not in
the hope of political dominion-but in a
deep and abiding necessity. Here is this
vast ignorant and purchasable vote
clannish, cTedulous, impulsive and pas
housekeeping every art of the dem
agogue, but insensible to the appeal of
the statesman. Wrongly started in, that
it was led into alienation from its neigh
Dor and taught to rely on the protection
Of an outside force, it cannot be merged
and lost In the two great parties through
logical currents, for 1t lacks political con-
v1ctlon and even that information on
which conviction must be based. 1t
must remain faotlon-strong enough In
every community TO control on the
slightest division of the whites Under
that division it becomes the prev of the
cunning and interruptions Of both par
ties. Its credulity is imposed on, its pa
tience infamed, its cupidity tempted, its
impulses misdisected-a even its gu
perstition made to play its part in cam
paign in which every interest of society
is jeopardized and every approach TO the
ballot box debauehed. 1t is against such
campaigns as tAis-the folly and the
bitterness and the danger of which every
southern community has drunk deeply
that the white people Of the south are
banded together. Just as you in Massa-
chusetts would be banded if 800 600 black
men, not one In a hundred able to read
his ballot, banded in race instinct, hold
ing against you the memory of century
Of slavery, taught By your late CONQUER
ors to diStrust and oppose you, had al
ready travestsd Legislation from your
statehouse, and in every species of folly
Or vtllainy had wasted your substance
and exhausted your credit.
But admitting the right of the whites
TO unite against this tremendous menace,
we are challenged with the snallness OF
our vote. This has hong been Gippantly
charged to be evidence, and has now
been solemnly and officially declared to
be proof of political turpitude and base
ness on our part. Let us see. Virginia
state now under fierce assault for this
alleged Crlme-cast in 1888, rs per cent
of her vote. Massachusetts, the state in
which I speak, 60 per cent of her vote.
Was It suppression Ia Virginia and nat
ural causes in Massachusetts? Last month
Virginia cast 90 per cent of her vote. and
Massachusetts, lighting in every district.
cast only 40 per cent of hers. If Viz
GINA is condemned because 81 per cent
of her vote was silent, how shall this
state escape in which 81 per cent was
dumb? Let us enlarge this comparison.
The sixteen southern states ia 1888 cast
81 per cent of their total vote-ths sir
New England states but SO per cent of
theirs. By what fair rule shall the stig-
ma be put upon one section while the
OhilCA ooCdpCS. "A COdR IeSSlOnal election
in New York last week, with the polling
place in touch of every voter. brought
out only 5000 votes of 28,e00-and tho
lack Of opposition is assigned as the nat
ural cause. In a district in my state. in
which an opposition speech has not bsSu
heard In ten years, and the polling places
are miles apart, under the unfair reason
ing of which my section has been a CON
slant victim-the small vote is charged
to be proof of forcibls suppression. In
Virginia an average majority of 10000
under hopeless division 81 the minority.
was raised TO $4,000; in Iswa. in The
same election, a majority of 80. 900 wss
wiped out, and an opposition majority of
5000 was established. The change of
~, 900 votes in Iowa is accepted as politi-
cal revolution-in Virginia an increase of
so, 600 on safe majority is declared TO
Dc proof of political fraud. l charge
these facts andSAigures home, sir. to the
heart and conscienoe of the American
people, who will not assuredIv soc one
section condemned fer what another SEQ
ton il excused!
IL can drive them through the preiu-
dice of the partiSan, and have them read
and pondersd at the frsside Of the citi-
zen, will rest an tbs Judgment there !