The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1898-11-25

tant isles of the oceans, and have in
sisted that in the United States the |
White Race should rule. and in North |
Carolina the domination of blacks
must forever cease. we have been mis- |
understood, abused and threatened.
We have not sought to reduce the
negroes TO bondage again. to rob them |
Of their real and just rights under the
constitution and the laws. We have
sought for many months to liberate our
own great, potential race rom injury |
from bad laws. from an usurped city |
government, from many and great in
juries and provocations-to restore to
the Whites their ancient heritage and
rights, to bring back in all of its exaIt-
I'd purity and vigor n excellence the
blessed civilization under which we had
so long dwelt, and which was such
a blessed inheritance from our wise
and noble forefathers. We sought not
to blast and scourge the negroes SD
misled and wronged by unworthy lead
ers, but to break the shackles that op-
pressed and bound the whites and
place them once more in charge of the
government of North Carolina, and es-
pecially the government of Whining
ton.
We s~teadfastly believe that it is a
| positive curse to both whites and
blacks for the blacks TO govern. They
are wholly incapable of such a task.
The past is ample proof and confirma-
ton of this, so sadly learned in the
severe school Of experience. We hold
| un~sWervingly that the best possible
thing for the blacks as we'll as the
whites is for public affairs in all
branches and divisions to be under the
control of the White Men. They have
knowledge, experience, capacity for
the work, and the past shows that thew
govern wisely and we'll for all, and for
the good of North Carolina. Take the
real records of negro rule after the
war and see what stuDendous debts
were created, what expressions and
wrongs followed, how very high and
burdenSOme the taxes. how wide the
waste and the bankruptcy and how
low in the scale of prosperity and rep
utaticn North Carolina was made to
sink. Read the true history of twenty
years democratic Legislation that fol-
lowed. See how very much lower were
the expenditures and the taxes-how a
| great educational system was SO liber-
ally and successfully developed, how
| asylums for both races were built, and
free schools for both races were sue
| cessfully organized-the whites paying
SO % of the actual taxes then levied
| for that purpose-then think of the
| great developments that followed in
farming, in r%ailroading, In manufacture
ing, in mining, ETC., and the large in
fux of capital from the north and
| coming in of valuable, good citizens
from other sections, seeking invest
ments and making their homes among
us, enjoying freely North Cardinals
generous hospitality and helping to
build up and develop and make the
waste places blossom as the rose"
All this and much more the two de-
| cades of wise, honest, good democratic
rule shows.
Then came the unfortunate turn in
the tide. Go over the last four years
of failure and distress-now society be-
| came disturbed, outrages multiplied,
the laws became a nullity, antagonisms
of races made to deepen, expenditures
| increased, faithlessness and i~ncapaci-
ty among public servants rapidly de-
| veloped, dangerous and evil laws en-
| acted, officials debauched, crimes fla
grant, capital uneasy and fleeing for
| safety, trade ~stagnated, and in these
you see the blunder and bale, the folly
and infamy, the danger and destruc-
ton of wicked, vicious and ignorant
government. Surely the history Of the
last thirty years in North Carolina
teaches clearly that it is far better for
the negroes as we'll as the whites that
the whites should govern.