The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1890-01-31
THE RACE QUESTION.
Address Of Hon. John ]. Ingalls, In
the United States Senate.
A Free Ballot and Fair Count Before En-
Pertaining Any Scheme of Emigration
For the Colored Race-An APP
peal to the South.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 24.-At two O'Clock
yesterday the Senate took up the bill
introduced by Senator Butler 10 provide
for the emigration of persons Of color
from the Southern States, and Senator
Ingalls, addressed the Senate. He said:
Mr.. President. The race to which We be-
long is the most arrogant and the most ram
pant, the most exclusive and indomitable in
history. II is the conquering and uncon :
Querable race, through which man alone has
taken possession of the physical and the
moral world. To our race humanity is in
debted for religion. for literature, for civil
lization Ii has genius for conquest, for
politics for Jurisprudence and cor admins
traton.
The home and the family are its contribu-
tions to society. Individualisn, fraternity,
liberty and equality have been its contribu-
tions to the State. All other races have been
its enemies All its victims This is not the
time, nor . il the occasion to consider
the profoundly interesting question of
the unity of races. II is sufficient
to say that either by instinct or de-
sign, the Caucasian race, at every step of
its progress from barbarisrl to enlighten-
ment, has refused to mingle its blood or
assimifate with the two other great human
families tthe Monaghan and the African) and
has persistently rejected ad liberation.
Under the shield of the American Govern
nent every faith has found its shelter, every
creed sanctuary and wrong a redress. 1t
has resisted the rancor of party spirit, the
violence of factions, the corruptio. of
foreign immigration, the collisions of civil
war and the menace of foreign and hostile
nations
The speaker quoted from Mr.. John
Bright's speech during the civil warm
which Mr.. Bright said: Il see another
nd b..s.,r
1t may be vision. but cherish it. /
see one vast confederation stretching
from the frozen north to the glowing
south and from the wild pillows of the
Atlantic to the calmer waters of the Pa
cific main; and see one people, one lam
guage, one law and one faith: and all
over that wide continent the home of
freedom and refuge for the oppressed
Of every race and every cline"
Mr.. Ingalls, proceeded:
On the threshold of our second century We
are confronted with the most formidable and
portentous problem ever submitted TO a free
people for solutioD-comple3, unprecedent-
ed, involving social, moral and political con-
siderations, party supremacy and in the
estimation of many Though not in my OWN,
the existence of Gus Government. Its solution
has baffed the statesmen of the past and must
be solved by the present statesmen or those
of the future 1t shout. be approached with
candor, with solemuity, with patriotic pur-
pose, with fearless scrutiny. without subter-
fuge and without reserve. Let me state it in
the language of one of the most brilliant.
the most imprisoned and powerful of all
the orators of the South-nOw unfortunately
no more When Henry W. Grady died, a
luminous meteor disappeared from the
Southern armament
Mr.. ingalls, thereupon sent to the
clerks desk and had read an extract
from Mr.. Grady's Grafton before the Bos-
ton Chamber of Commerce, and con-
tinued:
Let me state the arithmetical problem. In
ls6o there were in the United States 4,4fo 900
negroes-slaves and free; in 1870 there were
$4,000; in 1880, 6,5sO, oO0-an increase which
q say in passng) can only be accounted for
on the principle of premeditated and inten-
tional fraud on the census. At the close of
this century probably there will not be less
than Il, so 600 of the colored race on this con-
tinent-blacks.
The problem is still further complicated
by the fact that they are gre-arfous. They
instinctiyely separate themselves into their
own community, with their own habits
their own methods of life They worship
separately. They are taught separately
The line of cleavage between whites and
blacks is becoming constantly more
distinct and perceptible. There is
neither aEalgamation nor absorb
tion nor assimilation. Politically, they are
affiliated with the victors in the hate civil
war; socially and by locality and residence
they are associated with the vanquished
Will the experiment that has failed else
where succeed here? Can the black race
exist citizens of the United States on
terms of political equality with the Caucas-
ian race: And if not why not?
Fred Douglass the most iilustrious living
representative of the negro race Greater
think by his Caucasian reinforcement than
by his African blood), once said to me that
he thought, as prejudice and social and po-
!itical artagorism disappeared. the races
would blend, coalesce and become homo
geneous- l do not agree with him. There
is natural affinity between the races
This solution of the problem is impossible.
The relations between the sexes in the time
Of slavery were compulsory. The hybrid was
the product of relations between white
fathers and black mothers and never be-
tween black fathers and white mothers.
And the inference from this result, ethno-
graphically, is the conclusion of that ques-
ton such solution, in my Judgment
would perpetuate the vices of both races and
the virtues of neither. There is no blood
poison SO fatal as the aduIteration of race
The colored people are here. They are
natives. They are citizens. Nan for man
they are our political equals. They came
here inyoluntarily, as prisoners of war,
captured in fight. They are of ancient
iineage-geuuine F. F. VS.. [Laughter.l
After praising the colored people for
their fidelity to the South during the
war. the speaker said:
II seems incredible that gratitude should
not defend and shield them from he inde-
scribable wrongs and crimes of which they
have been for quarter of a century the /
guiltless and unresisting victims. The same
impulse which made them loyal to their
masters throughout the war has made them .
faithful to their deliverers since. Their al |
legianCe to the party of Lincoln and Grant I
il persistent and answering. They have
voted with their friends.
Mr.. ingalls, then spoke of the deter {
mination of the South to eliminate the .
negro as factor from its political and
social history and quoted evidence on
that point from Democratic newspapers
nd Democratic politicians. He sent to
the clerks desk and had read extracts
from the Jackson Miss Clarion. Just
before the election, seventeen days ago.
in which the Interrogation: who .
cares? The Bolton boys will be here
Monday: there will be fair election"
was repeated dozen times.
the only difference being that the
name of the companies to be
there was changed When the last in
terrogatory was .ead he said: They
were all there amid much laughter
He then read the statement of cores
pondent that the election at jackson
was the most outrageous he had ever
seen and that the town had been taken
possession of by ''toughs with Win