The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1890-01-16

Va tL( SOuluuuit/. NSSuIdtOiS may
whip vagabonds in Indiana by platoons
and it scarcely arrests attention;
chance collision in the South among
relatively the same classes is gravely
accepted as evidence that one race is
destroying the other We might as
we'll claim that the Union was migrate
full to the colored soldiers who followed
its flag because Grand Army post in
Connecticut closed its doors to a negro
veteran as for you to give racial signif-
icance to every incident in the South,
or to accept exceptional grounds as the
rule of our society. am not Of those
who becloud American honor with the
parade of the outrages of either section
and belle American character by de-
claring them to he significant and rep
resentative. | prefer to maintain that
they are neither, land stand for nothing
but the passion and sin of our poor
fallen humanity. If society, like a
machine, were no stronger than its
weakest part, l should despair of both
sections. But, knowing that society,
sentient and responsible in every fibre,
can mend and repair until the whole
has strength of the best, despair Of
neither. These gentlemen who come
with me here, knit into Georgia's busy
life as they are, never saw, dare as
sert, an outrage committed on negro!
And if they did, no one of you would
be swifter to prevent or punish. 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 violence than would have
been possible anywhere else on earth.
And in their fairness and courage and
steadfastness-more than in all the
laws that can be passed, or all the
bayonets tIat can be mustered-is the
hope of our future.
When will the blacks cast free bal
lot? When ignorance anywhere is not
dominated by the will of the intelli-
gent. When the laborer anywhere
casts vote unhindered by his boss.
When the vote of the poor anywhere is
not Influenced by the power of the
+; rich. When the strong and the stead
fast do not everywhere control the
suffrage of the weak and shiftless-then
and not till then, will the ballot of the
negro be free. The white people of
the South are banded, Mr.. President,
not in prejudice against the blacks
not in sectional estrangement-not in
the hope of political dominion-but in
a deep and abiding necessity. Here
is this vast ignorant and purchasable
vote-clannish, credulous, impu!sive
and misunderstanding every art of
the demagogue, but insensible to the
appeal of the statesman. Wrongly
started in, that it was led into aliena-
ton from its neighbor 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 it lacks political conviction
and even that information on which
conviction must be based. 1t must re-
main faction-strong enough in every
community to control on the division
of the whites. Under that division it
bacomes the prey of the cunning and
unscrupulous of both parties. Its
credulity is imposed on, its passions
inaamed, its cupidity tempted, its i'm
pulses misdirected-and even its su-
perstition made to play its part in a
campaign in which every interest of
society is jeopardized and every ap-
proach to the ballot box debauched.
1t is against such campaigns as this
the folly and the bitterness and
the danger Of which every South
ern community has drunk deeply
that the white people of the
South are handed together. Just as
you in Massachusetts, would be banded
if 3oo,ooo black men, not one in a
hundred able toread his sballot-banded
in race instinct, holding against you
the memory of century Of slavery,
taught by your late conquerers to dis
} trust and oppose you, had already
travestied legislation from your State
House, and i'll every species of folly OF
villainy had wasted your substance and
exhausted your credit.
But admitting the right Of the white:
, to unite againt this tremendous men
, ace, we are challenged with the small
f ness of our vote. This has long been
. flippantly charged to be evidence, and
has now been solemnly and officially
: declared to be proof of political turp.
: itude and baseness on our part. LIE,
US see. Virgil,ia-a State now under
fierce assault for this alleged crime
cast in 1888 IS per cent Of her vote
Massachusetts,, the State in which
. speak, 60 per cent of her vote. Wa.
: it suppression in Virginia and natura
. causes in Massachusetts,? Last month
: Virginia cast 60 per cent. of her vote
and Massachusetts,, fighting in ever,
: district, cast only 4o per cent. of hers
S If Virginia is condemned because 81
/ per cent. Of her vote was silent, how
: shall this State escape in which 81 pei
: cent. was dumb1 Let us enlarge thi:
: comparison. The sixteen Southern
t States in '88 cast 81 per cent of thei
r total vote the six New England State
| but 63 per cent. of theirs. By wha
l fair rule shall the stigma be put upo'
E one section, while the other escapes
: A congressional election in New Yorl
b last week, with the polling place il
J. touch Of every voter, brought out onl,
: 5000 votes out of $4,000. and tb
o lack of opposition is assigned as tn
}. natural couse. In a district in m
E State in which an opposition speecl
has not been heard in ten wears an,