The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1892-04-23
Gen. Powell Clayton Interviewed.

Gen. Powell Clayton Interviewed.
The APPEAL man knowing Gen. Pow.
ell Clayton of Arkansas, to be one of the
best informed Republicans in the South
and also one of the members of the Re-
publican National Committee, and a
member of the Sub Committee; called
on him at the West Hotel, and was most
pleasantly received. The following in.
terview occurred: a
sis the moral, material and political con-
dition of the colored people in the South
improving?" was the first query.
1.-THE moral condition." said Gen. Clay
ton, Eyes. The material condition, no.
The political condition, no. In my opinion
| the
! CONDITION OF THE COLORED RACE
| is more precarious today than it has been
| for the past 30 years." 49,.
"Can the colored man cast his vote I'M
molested ana have that vote counted?"
mo, he cannot, unless he vote the DEM
ocratic ticket, or unless his vote will not
affect the result" H.
what is the objection raised on the part
of the Democrats?" .-..s
1.-THE objection is that if his vote is counted
he may elect colored men to Office. and that
colored men are unfit to rule on account of
alleged inferiority."
"What is to be the ultimate result of this
the South?'
1.-THE ultimate result is, in many cases,
MINORITY RULE, AND HOW LONG
the people will submit to a principle so Ut
| terly at variance with our American institu-
tions remains to be SEEM"
us the white Republican vote of the South
suppressed to the same extent as the colored
voter"
1.-The white Republican vote in many TO-
calities is counted out along with the col
ored vote when both support the same can
didates.''
Can you suggest remedy for this crime
against the rights of citizens and the institu-
tions of the country?"
j 'This question presents the greatest prob
lem of the century," answered Gen. Clay
! ton. "Under our constitution, which re-
stricts the power of the general government
and leaves SO much within the domain of
| state authority, see no immediate remedy.
My hope is in the justice and integrity of
the American people. Ultimately believe
the gross wrongs that now 60 unchecked
and uncondemned will be riRhted, the ballot
box will be hedged in by wholesome laws
and the right of the majority to rule will be
indicated. How long the present condi-
ton will exist cannot forecast"
ITO what extent are the colored people
accommodating property and educating their
children in your state?"
II regret to say that the colored people in
| Arkansas are not prosperous and that they
are not now accommodating property. The
great overproduction of cotton and its con-
sequent low price has borne heavily upon
the laboring classes. The owners of the
selves by pinching the laborers in the fields.
Upon the latter class falls
THE GREATEST MISFORTUNE r..
of this depressed condition. The colored
| people have a great thirst for education
It is true that they frequently have false
idea of its benefits, but the desire to give to
their children better educational facilities
than they possessed is general among the
colored people,"
care they generally law-abidina and
peaceable citizens?"
Eyes. Under all the circumstances I re-
gard them as being remarkably law abiding
and peaceable."
care the cruelties against the colored
| people true, which we constantly hear of
through the daily papers,"
II regret to say that in many parts of the
South the negro has not only been deprived
of his right to vote and have his vote counted
as cast, but the court house doors have been
closed against him. Mob law has dragged
justice from her high seat and usurped her
plan. I look with the greatest concern and
solicitude upon this alarming condition of
affairs. To my mind it subjects the poor
negro to the greatest peril that has yet con-
fronted him, and l regard it as the duty of
all patriotic men regardless of party to cry
out and cease not until this great wrong is
corrected.'
':What in your opinion is the cause of the
treatment of the negroes in your state and
in the South generality"
ut is a deep-seated prejudice against
them and low estimate of the value OF
human life when the victim is negro"
us there any special effort put forth on
the part of those in authority to bring to
justice the guilty parties?'
In my own state there has been lately
several revolving cases of mob law, and, &C
far as know, the authorities have either
winked at it or have made no efficient effort
to bring the guilty parties to JUSTICE