The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1893-11-21

low white we're held in a state of stolid
ignorance, not dissimilar to that of the
Russian ~peasantry Of to day, while the
dominance of aristocracy was not less
due to the power of a superior intellect
thant to heprestige of rank and wealth.
Such a stagnant social and intellectual
state involved no serious political
perils. But when civil strife closed the
history of the South of slavery and
secession" and in the ardor of mis-
guided patriotism the ballot was thrust
into ''hands still trembling from the
blow that broke their shackles," en-
franchised ignorance became a positive
menace to the reign Of liberty and law.
Never has the illlterate voter proven a
merely negative element in govern
ment.
In the language of Garfield: THE
power of the uneducated voter is peril
GUS. The alternatives are not educa
ton or no education; but shall the
power of the citizen be directed Alright
towards industry, liberty and patriot
ism; or, under the baneful inf Ience of
false theories and evil influences shall
it lead him continually downward, and
work out anarchy and ruin both to
him and to the government If he is
not educated in the school of virtue
and integrity he will be educated in
the school of vice and iniquity."
To one familiar with the workings of
our election system these statements
require no further evidence.
In the presence of an alien ace
numerically powerful, though both in
tellectually and morally untitled to
rule, the white voters of the South are
practically disfranchised. Division
means to them a recurrence Of carpet
bag rule" and civil violence, hence the
South remains a Democratic unit.
Theoretically, many leading South
ern manufacturers favor a protective
tariff; other prominent citizens are
jealous in their private advocacy of
moral and industrial reforms. But re-
Sd4 III XIV CSO4AON Go NAAO
first requisite of progress they uphold
the party of Anglo Saxon rule as the
embodiment of that hope.
This political alienation of two races,
mutually dependent, aud united by
bonds of true sympathy, is artificial
and discordant.
Political injustice and fraud, when
they here exist are but the natural out
growth of a system in which intelli-
gence is arrayed against overwhelming
illiteracy, strength of character against
inherent moral weakness; the ever
dominant Anglo Saxon contends for
the supremacy with a race whose
'ears have never been hardened by
the din of many battles fought for the
conquest of Truth"
In the discussion Of this problem too
many eminent statesmen have pro
ceeded on the false assumption that the
South has no interest in the welfare Of
the freedman. Others have advised a
resort to federal authority as a guaran-
tee of civil rights.
Such theories are futile in that they
design a forced recognition on the part
of a proud people of equal civil rights
in an inferior race.
Justice and the equality Of men are
divine principles, yet in government
they recognize capacity as their cri
teriOn.
National evolution demands a rule #
the fttest-that to him that over
cometh" shall be the inheritance of the
ages. In a free commonwealth inteIli
gent manhood should ever stand as the
basis of suffrage.
When in the march of mind" and
the process of social development the
Africo-American shall prove capacity
for the exer Else of political power,
when an intelligent conviction shall
control his ballot in matters of State
and national interest, the Southern
vote, irrespective of race, will divide
upon the Industrial and civil questions
incident to a growing civilization, and
the NEGRO problem" will disappear
the field of American politics.
The freedman recognizes his need
and obligation to the State. Simple
and untutored he passed from the task
masters oppression only to become the
nations ward-but today he is knock
ing for admittance at the gates of
every avenue that leads to intellectual
advancement.
During the thirteen years preceding
1889 while the colored population in
creased Is per cent, their public school
attendance increased 113 per cent, q