The Washington bee. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1884-1922, 1891-02-21

communities, and by the masses of the
people, in their hearts and minds. as
belonging to the United States, then we
want to be lei alone; and as this power
and duty of ours pervade every inch Of
the territory of every state, control the
duty and obligation to the federal consti-
tuition, of every man there in authority,
and of every subject of our laws in those
territories, our cry is: Let US alone in
our right, in our exercise of the suffrage.
In our seeing that our suffrage is main
tanned and observed we want to be let
alone"
We do not want bloodshed and frauds
to interfere with the rights of this mighty
nation. We want our constitution and
our laws and our rights. in which we
stand on the same footing in some sense
of the hastings, as it were, ofthis great
nation, to be let alone; so that voice can
be heard, according to law, and in obedi-
ence to the constitution, in every corner
OF this nation in which we live and move
and have our being, and we mean that
we shall be let alone in this national and
common area, and not oppressed and
| trampled upon by the local or state
encroachments or by individual encroach-
mentS or party entertainments upon what
|
! Away, then, with this notion that local
communities are to be let alone when we
are regulating our elections under the con-
! stltutlOn, whether the methods be this or
that III expectancy or in principle.
| We demand that whatever is estab-
! lished as law in this area shall be
respected and that it shall be 'let alone"
| to have Its free course. If this be not so,
dangers, not of local and personal passion,
out OF repugnance to such treatment and
| resistance against it in great masses of the
| people, will necesearild be aroused.
Mr.. President, observing as | have dur
ing my presence in the senate, this atti-
tude, and, as | thought rightly under
standing the processes at work in the
treatment ofthe negro vote, | was greatly
interested to find at the commencement
of the last session of congress this claim
and desire on the part of certain political
| representation here to she let alone" in
regard to the relations of the blacks and
the whites in the populated regions
where their numbers are somewhat equal
was not now being adhered to, and no
longer was it thought that they who made
this claim and expressed this desire could
repel the sympathy and the aid of the
great body of this people. l mean the
great body including their own. No
longer did they want to be let alone.
Three several measures were introduced
at the commencement of the last session
of congress which showed that they did
not want to be let alone and that they did
want the aid of this government and of
this great supporting and fraternal nation
-one by the senator from South Carolina
Mr.. Butler one by the senator from
Alabama N. n CIT M
gan and one by the senator from Louisi-
ana Mr.. Gibson]. All introduced meas.
ures by which the methods of expatria-
ton of the blacks should be aided by the
federal government; that is, by the peo-
pie Of the United States
Mr.. Morgan. The senator from Me-
York is mistaken as to my having int%
duced such bill. 70
M; Evarts. The senator has not?
No; but I hSGeaAsS 50
measure sent to the Committee on foreign
relations to inquire as to whether it is
best to sell rum to those people, and that
is as far as l have gone.
Mr.. Butler. May ask the senator what
he means by repatriation.
Mr.. Egarts | am going on to state that.
Mr.. Butler. | should be glad to know.
L scarcely think the term repatriation"
applies to any measure l have ever intro
duced.
Mr.. Evarts. 1t was a method of expa-
trlatlon not by open expulsion, not by
prompt deportation, not by direct force,
but 1t was to be accomplished by the aid
of this government with its vast resources
and with the attending support and regard
OF the people of this country. These aids
and these methods were to be held out to
those communities, including blacks and
whites, that this government might well
sympathize with the situation of things
there, and the only solvent that the wis
dom and craftsmanship of the south have
yet produced here is in these forms of
reducing the pressure and volume of the
black population.
Mr.. Morgan. If the senator from New
York will indulge me for a moment l
should like to call his attention to the fact
that the only bill which has ever been
introduced into the senate that looked to
what might be called repatriation, that is,
the distribution of the negro population
through the United States, was introduced
by Mr.. Window, who is now secretary
of the treasury. He advocated a policy of
that kind when in the senate and | |
approved of it; l wanted them scattered. |
l want the senator from New York to have |
thousands and hundreds of thousands if |
he would like TO have them.
Mr.. Hoar That was repatriation from |
one place in this country to another.
MIR. Evarts. l have not denounced the |
proposition. l have alluded to it for no |
other purpose but to show that the intro
ducers of these measures on this floor, |
expressing the sentiment, as | suppose, of |
their people, were ready to say: eve do |
not want to be let alone; we want to be |
aided and sustained" l have not COM
plained of it. | have mentioned it only !
as an expression entirely inconsistent |
with the cry, Let us alone" set up in the |
connection of this debate.
Mr.. Gibson. Will the senator yield to
me to correct an error he has fallen into |
in respect of myself? l have introduced |
no such bill as he has described. l |
offered resolution of inquiry, which was
addressed to the committee on foreign |
relations, to ascertain whether we could |
i a