Huntsville gazette., 1890-01-18
BUTLER BILL
10 Provide for the Emigration
OF C0lOred People
from the Southern States
Taken Up by the Senate.

Speech on the Urgency Of the Adoption
of Such a Measure-Too Grave to Be
Distorted by Party Considerations or
Confined to Party Lines.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 1i.-Among the
bills reported to the senate Thursday and
placed on the calendar was one to in
crease the appropriation for a public
building and site at Milwaukee, to
81 .000. 900.
After ioutine the senate took up the
bill introduced by Mr. Butler. of South
Carolina, on Dec. II. to provide for the
emigration of persons of color from the
southern states. Mr.. Butler proceeded
to address the senate.
synopsis of Mr.. Buffers Speech.
To Ills mind, he sad, the subject was
too grave to be distorted by party con
sideration or confined within the narrow
limits of party lines. Besides, he said.
whoever concluded that the quieting OF
the agitation concerning the political
status Of ihe negro would be settlement
of the race question, disclosed how little
he knew of its magnitude.
COMPARISONS.
1t did not appear why the preponder
ance of thought should be bestowed upon
the descendant of the Afri an 1t had
cost he government millions to settle
the RAJ e que stion with the Indian and il
was not settled. The Chinese branch of
the race question had been summarily
settled settled, 100. in defiance of treaty
stipulation humanity and justice. The
Chinaman had to 90 or die
tup;dity brought the African and the
Chlnaman here. Cupidity drove the
Chinaman out The Indian would not
be reduced to slavery, and so he was
hunted and corralled. Tie Indian was
here before the white man. the African
or the Mongolian He possessed charac-
teristics which should make him a valu-
able citizen in free republic. Yet he
had been regarded as only fit to live on
reservations TO himself, under coercion
Inconsistent and 1 ndefensibIe.
How inconsistent and indefensiblo
had Eeen the treatment of the race ques-
tion by the people of the United States.
had not the American people been guild
ed by impulse and passion; and had they
the courage and humanity to acknowl-
edge, and the wisdom to correct and
avoid these mistakes in the future:
Who is Responsible?
For the sake of argument he would
concede that both sections and both DO
htical parties were responsible for this
vital issue the race question. The ques-
ton was could it be settled justly and
humanely without further disturbance:
Race Prejudice.
Was race prejudice stronger and more
binding in the south than in the north
There were 343, 701 negroes in the north
Presumably they had every advantage
OF education and enlightenment; vet, IN
travelling through these states you would
not find a negro at work for a railroad
company, or on street car, or occupy
In any position of trust CT honor OF
emolument III the state government. 1t
could not be that the negro was not
qualified for any of these positions.
What then excluded him from enjoying
his equal right to these cailings? 1t was
unrelenting Mcura5le race
prejudice.
Truth Stranger Than Fiction.
If in 1860 some prophet had predicted |
that within ten years the proud Cau- |
casian master would be practicing his |
profession before negro judge: that |
the then despised slave would represent |
a sovereign state in the senate, he would |
have been regarded as on the verge Of |
If in 1870, and the prophet |
had said that in another decade not one |
of the negro race would |
occupy seat in the senate, or ill place |
on the bench throughout tins broad land, |
he would have been written down an |
sooth5ayer. Yet both of |
these things had occurred. To-day many |
would stand amazed at the prediction |
that within fifty years a genuine, full |
blooded ne TO could not be found in the !
present limits of the United States-yet |
there were many that believed that very |
thing.
Why the Negro Should Leave.
Mr.. Butler justified the expenditure
in his bill by pointing to the |
made to aid the Indians
in moving, and the money appropriated |
to exclude the Chinese.
In support of this position, Mr.. Butler |
quoted some remarks of Mr.. Webster. |
The question might be asked: Why |
should the negro leave the southern |
states: Because, wherever the negroes
gath red in mass or in numbers greater
than their white neighbprs. experience |
showed that they did not advance in the |
scale of civilization, but actually retro
graded.
Total nepravitys No!
Mr.. Butter said he did not believe in the !
total depravity of the negro. He believed |
there were great possibilities in store
for Lin: tiat- if the government would
do its duty by him, he would illuminate
the dark continent of his fathers with |
the light Of liberty regulated by law,
..very Retarded development,
1t was argued that the negro had
helped develop the south without re-
ward. In answer to this, Mr.. Butler
sad that the institution of slavery, he
believed. had r4tarded the development
pf the statcs where it existed, and the
nes.io had not been without reward. He
bad been transformed from the rude
savage OF the equator to condition
which made him At to become a citizen
Of free republic in the temperate zone
Few Own Their Homes.
As to the claim that the south was the
neG:os bC me, Mr.. Butler said that few
negroes in the south had homes of their
own aud that the citizens of any country,
VIII te or Tia k, rarely permitted senti-
mont to latau him, r,,ou,pn xvbon ho