The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1890-05-15
AN UNEXPECTED VOICE FROM THE
SOUTH,

TIE Charleston NelcS and Courier,
which, as a rule, is one of the most Bour-
bon of the Southern Democratic papers,
has occasional spasms of candor i'll which
it tells the truth with considerable plain
ness. The publication of book by GER
tain Southern Congressman, to explain
'Why the South is Solid, induces i'll
the NewS and Courier one of its spasms
of frankness, in the course of which it
says:
TT is useless for Southern statesmen
to condemn econstructiOn-which is to
say Republican-methods of solving the
negro problem, unless they can suggest
better methods of their own devising.
1t will avail but little to marshal educa-
tional and material statistics to show
that the negro is prosperous, so long
as Republican politicians andnewspapers
can marshal equally convincing statistics
to prove that the negro is not voting. 1t
is useless to argue that the South is
solving for itself the negro question:, or
can solve for itself that question, when
the Southern plan of settlement is the
very matter at issue. The South solved
the same question for itself before the
war and in the years Immediately after
the war-and the war and reconstruction
1t is not enough for the authors of the
Forthcoming book to convince the busi-
ness men of the North, to whom their
work is dedicated and addressed, that
| they are interested in continuing the
| prosperity of the South, under existing
conditions. The business men of the
North who have considerable interests
in the South are very few i'll numbers,
and their influence weighs very little
against the army of politicians and agi-
tators with whom they and we have to
contend, and will have to contend until
the race question is settled permanently
upon some basis that is acceptable to the
North and to the negro as well as to our
selves"
There are interesting admissions here.
Mr.. Cable himself, whom the NelcS and
Courier detests most cordially, could not
express more truly or tersely the diff
Guilty of the present situation than the
Necs and Courier does when it says that
1T is useless to argue that the South is
solving for itself the negro question, or
can solve for itself that question, when
the Southern plan of settlement is the
very matter at ISSUE" The comparison
which is made with the condition of
things before the war; in the next sem
tence, is apt People whose memories
go back to that time will recall the fact
that the South, then as now, professed
its ability to deal unaided with the race
question. "All we want, said the South,
''is to be let alone" That is precisely
the cry which comes up from the South
to-day, but we confess to a sensation of
surprise as we find paper like the NetcS
and Courier, recognizing and even EN-
, phasizing the parallel.
There is another point to be noticed in
, the article under consideration, and one
! which should attract the attention of the
= Hon. VIM. E. Russell. The Neios and
5 Courier not only admits the existence OF
D trace question" nut perceives that the
( South will have to contend against its
n critics in the North, until the race ques-
= ton is settled permanently upon some
t basis that is acceptable to the North and
+, to the negro as well as to ourselves. This
/ certainly is encouraging. Hitherto the
j Southern position has always been that
. it was entirely unnecessary to consult
o the feelings of the negro, or to pay the
lslightest regard to the sentiment OF the
- North. The only people to be though,
d of were the Southern whites, and II M
g adjustment was satisfactory to them, II
It was sheer impudence for anyone else t.
Y say anything. If the section for whlci
J. it is an authoritative mouthpiece comes
J. to recognize the facts which have forced
> themselves upon the consciousness o
e the Netcs and Courier there is still som'
l. hope of progress in the South, and new
n era may yet dawn there. Boston journal