Evening capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1888-1893, 1890-03-14

hltuA hhhot tohN AbCth Ohs - JNt
will relax the rule Of your Winches-
terrific clubs, II you will abandon
your policy Of force, if you will
cease to corrupt the ballot-bOx, that
will be one step in the right direc-
ton. But Senator ingalls, should
have gone farther. Heshould have
closed his list Of ideal remedies with
something tangible, something that
will practically aid the colored man
after you have let go his throat,
after you have taken your hands of
Of him, after he has been made, by
the REIMBURSEMENT Of your grasp,
free ss the constitution and laws
declare he should be free. Then
the national government should step
forward, aud the first grand step is
for this house to do its duty.
But our States rights friends
shudder at the idea of a national
election law. Look at that ballot
box and tell me why they shudder;
look at the returns in this case and
tell me why they shudder. But
they say, "You are making "a CEN
tralized government" Now,
speak for nobody but myself on this
subject, but I want to say here aud
now that as for me and my house, l
am in favor of natiOnal-elsction
law. am IN favor Of this Govern
ment becoming 50 strong that it will
protect the poor black man in his
log cabin in the swamps Of Missis-
sippi and South Carolina as ii pro-
tects the white man in his palace in
New York and Chicago.
! am in favor of making this
Government 50 strong call it CEN
tralization, if YOU will, it is the
doctrine on which the war was
fought, it is the doctrine that saved
this Union-I am In favor of max
ing this Government 50 strong that
it will protect its citizens in their
homes and at the ballot-boxes In
this land just as zealousIy as it pro,
tects its citizens on foreign soil
and under a foreign sun.
Why, sirs, think of the paradox
of this great American Republic pro-
tecting its citizens everywhere ex-
cept at home. Let an insult be Of
fered to an American abroad and a
million Of swords, flashing like the
flaming sword at the gate of Eden,
would leap from their scabbards and
turn every way to aveuge the wrong.
But when citizen here at home is
robbed Of his rights, when his ballot
box il stuffed, when he is maltreat-
ed and shot, when all his rights as
an American citizen are denied him,
our Sta'e's-rights friends crawl back
and say, when we propose remedy
by law, "That Is unconstitutional"
But my neighbors used to accuse
the Northern people of stealing
their negroes on the underground
railroad" Well, that was nulliflca-
ton, but it was practiced by good
men in good cause. Now, we
have notification in the South--a
of the constitution and
laws of the republic-but in II bad
cause. 1t is qualification in the in
rest of oppression and for the OBJ
of human rights. You
are not bad men generally, [point-
ing to the democratic side1, but bad
men In particular. Laughter
There are men in many parts of the |
South who say grace at the table,
who pray I'm public, who take the
sacrament, who shout at campmeet-
ings, yet who honestly believe that
they are doing God's service in
using u fraudulent bollot-box to
cheat II negro out n his vote! They
believe 1t, and / would not blame
them too severely. l do not think
you ought to be drawa and quar-
tered but you ought TO be recon
structed and made over. Laugh
teri
But why is all this? 1t Is not
founded in reason; it ls not logic; it
IS not common sense. 1t grows out
Ifa vitiated sentiment and prejudice
against color. After all may 1t not
le a matter of taste in regard To
'olor? If you had looked through
he South just before the war, you
would have thought that the people
here did not disagree very greatly
bout color, for you found them of
'arious hues. They might start in
yer so black but they soon bleached
- they went along.
Why, sir, the color of a skin, the
Iatness Of n nose, the thickness Of "A
Ip Is purely matter Of sentiment.
'0lored men as experience has
hown, are capable OF the highest
tate of civilization. Why, sir, the
ark races have governed the world ,
lr al least two thirds of It's civilized
Xistence. We are In favor Of CIV