Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1892-10-04


ayers have since succeeded in bringing into
the State number of the class OF voters re-
ferred to, by taking advantage of differ
ences between the employer and employees
OF some of our coleries and inducing Re
publican mine owners to discharge their
white employees and employ colored persons
who We're brought into the State for
political purposes; and the white
people of the mining sections of this State
are called on by the Republican managers
to help vote the State of West Virginia
into the Republican ranks, and vote them
selves out of their homes and employment,
Read the document below which is as true
to-day as it was two. years ago, when the
scheme was publicly exposed:
From the Whaling Register. october, 1890,
Is it not time for the voters of Wess Viz
GINA to consider the danger that awaits
them If the Republican managers are per
mitted to carry to successful end, their
scheme to coIontze this State with the me-
groes of the South9 When the charge was
made during the campaign of 1855 that col
ored yotors were being transported into
this State, it was looked upon lightly and
regarded by some as political outcry made
Tor political purposes. Whom the Demo-
GEhLlC parry SoGdC6 Executive
Committee made those charges good with
proof SO strong and Overwhelming that no
doubt could existin any reasonab BILE mind ,yot
there were some SO prejudtced by political
bias that they still doubted, but in view
OF the exposure disclosed in the following
letters and the open confession OF some OF
the Republican leaders, can there exist in
the mind of any honest man, a doubt of
the plans and purposes of the Republican
leaders TO colonize this State with the
blacks of the South, and that with no
other view than to make the State Repub-
lican. Mr.. g. w. Atkinson in an inter
view printed in the IntslIt0Etlecr of October7,
1SSS, says:"l have nothing to conceal. When
an emtgrant agent asks me to assist him
In finding homes and employment for the
class referred to, within the limits of West
Virginia, ImoSt certainly will do so TO the
best of my ability"
OF course he has nothing to conceal, for
the nefarious scheme has been exposed
but did not this sanity gentleman have
something 10 conceal before this exposure
took placea If not, why did almost every
letter OF his confederates bear words Of
caution, such as these: NOW my dear
friend read this letter, which hope will
put you In better spirits, and then, in the
language OF one of our great statesmen, let
me say, burn this letter. DON'T tear it up,
but burn 1t, for as some Of my friends say
thattt 1t We're to get out that our work had
any political significance attached, itwould
rGln our chances OF success in these doubt
ful States" etc. Yes, and it ought to ruin
their chances in any State or among any
people. This gentleman, who claims to be
the champion of high protective tariff, says
II he could spare the time he would induce
several thousand of this class of working
men 70 come into the State. What an in
ducement for the workingmen of this State
to have to compete with this class of people
in the mines, in the workshops, and in the
forest and field.
Atkinson further says: Representative
smith, Senator Quay, myself and others,
when we were considering the proposition
made to US TO find homes for colored people
from North Carolina and the Southern
States, distinctly announced, and L repeat
1t here, that we would not consider any
proposition that did not imply permanent
cltlzenshlp on the part Of all who were to
come; and if after they come among US and
become legal citizens, they should choose
TO vote the Republican ticket, we certainly
would not obiect.n
Quay, Atkinson and Smith, What a trio
In consultation considering a proposition
to bring citizens to develop West Virginia!
what interest has Quay in the development
Of West Virginia2 Why don't he induce
the c0lored man of the South to 20 to Penn.
sylvanial Because he is not needed there
Tor political purposes, but West Virginia,
now beginning to bloom with prosperity,
settled with an industrious and progressive
people, must be made the asylum Of the ne
gro OF the South, in order that the Repub-
ucan party may be kept in power. At
kinson and Smith, in place of repre-
senting their people in Congress, en-
gagd in a scheme to bring to this
State class of people that will not
add one dollar to its prosperity, but
Will drive from our mines and workshops,
our intelligent and industrious working
men, or compel them 10 work at reduced
wages, and at the same time reduce them
selves to the level of the black man of tho
South. This is the inducement held out to
the Workingmen of this State by the Re-
publican leaders, who are willing to Afri-
GanlZ9 the State in order pT har he
kept in power.
We ask that the voters of this State read
carefully every line of the following letters
of Quay, Atkinson, Smith, Mclean, Ed
wards Lindsey and Whitehead. this self
constituted board of emigration for West
Virginia, and then decide for themselves
whether they will be party to this nefar-
tous scheme by casting their votes for a
party headed by such leaders. Whether
they viii be party to displacing our hon
est ahd industrious workingme of this
state oy the N egro of the South. Wheth-
err they viii be a party TO bringing among
us class of citizens who win add nothing
TO our financial or social welfare. Whether
they Will be party to bringing amongst
us q class OF citizens to be used for politt-
cal purposes and to control the elections in
this State against the expressed will OF the
people.
WASHINGTON, October 3.-The World Is
able to lay before its readers very Curl
Gus and even startling story of political in
trigue, supported by documentary evidence
that cannot be discredited, having for its
object the colonization of negro voters for
the purpose of giving false color to the
sutfrGges OF three sovereign States-Indi-
ana, Connecticut and West Virginia-so
that they might be lodged and thereafter
safely keptin the Republican column. The
scheme, appropriately enough, has for It's
chief sponsor Matthew Stanley Quay, the
Chairman of the Republican n ational Com
mittee, and recognized now as tho most
corrupt person in his practices, influences
and sugges tions, in the whole range of
American politics.
The man in whose fertile brain the plan
originated and who has acted as the recog-
nized agent of the Republican National
Committee in carrying out its details, is
Daniel Mod. Lindsey, North Carolina