The Washington bee. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1884-1922, 1891-01-24

est good to the greatest number, are in their
practical application fruitful sources of dis
orders never TO be quieted. 1t must be con-
fessed that the experiment of the democratic
republic of America has failed" 1t was
common to hear such assertions as the
only government agreeable TO the South IS
one in which labor shall have no representa-
tiOn.' We are tired of vagabond and a
demOrali2ed democracy" " Southern ideas
and democracy are Incompatible" Il
government of matOFitles must be abroga-
ted" How far this threat has been eXecu-
ted the history of the last twenty years but
too cleverly proves. Colonel Hamilton, one
of the very few loyal members of the Con-
gress before the war. in a speech in the
Brooklyn Academy of Music October, 1862,
said If you could, as ] have done, hear in
hotels, in the streets, in the parlOrS. ex-
changes of sentiment declaring republican
ism to be failure, you would know that it
is the deliberate purpose of the controlling
spirits of the South TO establish new and
different order of government, disfranchising
the poor whites so that the master class
would not be subjected to the chances of a
free choice by free people, as has been the
case in the tinle past of our country These
sentiments make Northern ears tingle, but
there is little difference In the practices in
the south before the war and since. There
is that same defiance of law disregard for
majority rule, contempt for the labOuring
classes, black and white. and the same de
termination TO wrest from the North con-
|
ftOd from 1920 to 1860 SO full of humiliation
and shame. II Is oS oStenSiby against the ne
gro; II IS really against the fundamental
principles of republican government, and a.
before the war the South bOasted that she
could always rely upon enough Northern
votes to secure what she wanted. IL must be
humiliatingly confessed that she can do the
same now. There is little difference be-
tween southern sentiment before the war
and that expressed by Senator Butler on the
December. he 81 i'm
pressed have | been of late years with the
tendency of legislative encrOac hment that
l contemplate with cOmpOSure and welcome
with satisfaction a disposition on the part
of the minority to ilibuster7 This flibus-
tering in Congress has simply cost the ma
tlOn few hundred thousand dollars and the
general delay of business. In South Caro-
ma The hlibusterinS which the senator CON
ttnDlOteS with so much SatiSfac ton has
cost thousands of defenseleSs men their
lives. According to the census of 1850
there were six millions poor whites and
threc hundred and fOrty-seven thousand
masters. Thur interests claShed at every
point. Slavery, the cherished institution
of the rich. was the cruelest foe Of the poor
yet every man who went To Congress from
ne south was sent there by the master
class, and every vote they cast was in favor
OF slavery. The rights and wrongs of the
south. Southern cause, southern ideas and
interests, meant the ideas and interests of
,heSe three hundred and fOrty-seven thou
sand masters The poor whites did the vOt-
ing as they do now, bet they had no choice
IN IL. a. they have now. If voting means
anything. il means the privileges of a
choice. an expression of ones real opinion
When these are suppressed the vote Is sup
pressed. The ariS tOCrats wreSted power
and rights from these poor people until they
mad reduced them to a condition 50 wretched
that II was common expression among the
slaves, would rOther be Niger than a
poor white man." The slaves did the work
fppS bn Inn latrS
passed in some States fOrbidding poor whites
num holding Office: they had no schools
legislative enactmentS placed their time at
the disposal of the master class they could
De summoned at any time, sent anywhere
The North often wondered why they were
so eager TO hunt fugitive slaves there was
little else for them TO do. They were only
tolerated to perform the dirty work Of the
South. If they refused, they mysteriOusly
disappeared. Gould all these wrongs exist
among a people who cherished a real affec-
ton for popular government Would the
poor whites have submitted TO them II all
the spirit had not been crushed out of them
To whom but TO a people who had lost all
heart and courage could United States Sen
atOr elected by their votes utter such a sen
timent as did Senator A. G.. Brown, of Miss
isSlppi, at Iuka Springs of that State. He
declared Ii the slaves are liberated and
70 pain u The country the rich
will have money to enable them TO go to
some other CLINE. but you, poor whites, will
be compelled TO remain among the negroes,
who will murder your men and marry your
women. If slavery Is abolished and the ne
grOeS removed and cOlOniZed, the rich will
nave TO take the poor whites for slaves in
their stead" Who but people already slaves
would permit their representative In the
senate 10 utter such sentiments Where
Jut I'm the South dare a leading journal TO
ieclart that slavery IS the natural cOndl
ion of wOrkingmen, white and black - If
any one needs proof that this spirit IS not
changed, il will be fQgInd ample and bloody
n the thirteen bulky volumes of the Ku
hluX OutrageS and In the study of the meth
IDS and the vote that send the present
,Outhern delegation TO Congress. The ne
-rO vote Is not the only vote that is sup
pressed In the South, and his Is not sup
'reSSed If he votes for the aristocratS \
rec ballot Is impossible without free discus
,iOns and free discussion IS impossible In a
section where If a mon is too frank with re-
ugnant opinions, he will be OStraCSed, in
ured in business or notified that six feet of
,arth and eternal silence are the penalties
IL free speech. birmingham, Chatt anOOga,
knoxville, Salem. Roanoke and Middle
'urgh, KY, are the brightest jewels that
Ieam in the Southern cOronet. Every one
~ them and many other thriving towns owe
heir phenomenal development To the policy
of protection, and yet ii Is worth As much
IS mans life TO discuss that policy in GER
tain sections of the South Chalmers at
tempted TO conduct a canvass on that issue
in Mississippi and was driven out of the
contest.
If you knew that under the silks and sat
in7 In which Southern orators have disguised
her this old South stalks. Scared ulCered
and putrid If you knew that the new South
IS only this old body resplendent I'm rhetoric
that the same lips thai before the war called
the American Republic yagabOnd and de
mOralized democracy and declared that a
government of majOrities must be abrOga-
ted saying d" the only government suitable
or agreeable to the south was one I'm which
labor should have NJ presentation now
declare ." We will dominate always and every
where, we, the n!a-te' class, must rule the
south or leave y. anu ! swear Will not
leave II =: 4 v't knew that undi. all the
n0wcfN of S'.:!.1crn elOquence Their, Crawls
that same Old snake az frra,Jn T,,ady tn
strike you a. soon a, trampled upon. you
would know the only terms YOU can arCept
ditiOnal surrender of her designs 10 over
throw a government of the peOple and eS-
tablish an ari~tOcracy.
space forbidS me to quote frOm the many
speeches and papers written by the ariSfO-
cratic class IN the south showing that their
purpose was not only TO disfr2nChise the
poor white, bur eventually To- enSlave them
pass over that and also The disfranC hise-
meni of the negro that T. not denied bur |
want TO call attention To the present di--
of white men In tnc south !
want to show that not only T. a '.t. r..u
unsafe who votes the lrpuhli, IL -: ngr
only Is he disfIanchi~ed ami OiJ,. -,,,.. ed /
but the white Democrat who tr- e. inrur
OIL the yOk" uf ariStOcratic rule -,lat has
been calling their necks for centuries are
treated no better. II i a crime in south
Carolina TO vote against the Wade Hampton
ring. Tillman did IL and came near pr,cip-
tatlng revolution: the whole campaign
was conducted on the edge Of a volcano. n
was the hTSt time In century the poor
whites attempted to establish a government
of majority rule. 1t was strictly a while
man. war; the negro wisely kept out Of It,