The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1899-09-14

VIII he foand In tns Gradual Depests-
uon ssd Settlement of the Afro- Arness-
cans. Upon Some Portisn Of the PabiiS
Domsio, Outside the Limits Of the Uni-
ted States. Where They shall bs Free Ia
Govern Themse,ves. Under the National
'rots etorate.
Editor CAUCASIAN
l owe you an apology. Sir, for oc-
cupying, in your last issue, 80 much
OF it's valuable space, in belaboring
the Fifty-five Quadrupeds who at
any time can well-nigh furnish,
working quorums OF both branches
Of this General Assembly. But
owe them no apology whatever.
For are they not my beloved rep
resentatives? And when they took
the oath OF Office which l am
afraid they some times forgot to
keep-did 1t not occur to them, that
"the disciple is not above his mas
ter, nor the servant above his lord"?
Their High Mightynesses under
stand, we'll enough, the relation
which subsists, between them and
me, for il that were other than Ii
is, should feel that
Things had come to q devil-of-a pass,
Ii man cant wallop, his ow n, jack-sss
Dismissing them for the present,
l must resume my argument by OBJ
serving, that incurable as Our PO-
litical Condition confessedly is,
and deplorable as I believe
have shown our Social Condi-
ton to be, I should despair OF
any improvement in either of
them, il it were not for our despe-
rate Industrial Condition. OF this
then let me speak, for this alone
gives me hope Difficult, as it al
ways is, to argue against "the gold,
that guilds the narrow forehead of
the fool" it is not so difficult, when
the narrow forehead of the fool,
with whom l am cOntending, IS NO
LONGER gilt with gold. For if the
products of free-negrolabor were
fairly remuneratlve, or likely ever
to become SO, it would be as vain
for me, as it was for Franklin and
jefferson, and Clay, and Lincoln,
and Grant, to reason with the ordi-
nary man, in respect to things,
that are of infinitely greater i'm
portance to Society, and to the
State; and if I were to attempt
such a thing, l feel that l ought to
humble myself before the magni-
tude of my undertaking. But when l
look upon our Industrial Condition,
present, and prospective, l take
fresh courage! For here, all the
laws of industrial economy are
fighting on my side, preparing us,
and even compelling us, to rid our
selves of this UNPROFITABLE RACE.
Most fortunately for me, these eco
nomic laws have now been so long
in operation, as to have converted
the whole South, into a Kinder
garden school, full of object less
Ons.
Here, then, if the laboring white
man, and more particularly the ag-
ricultural laborer Of North Carroll
ma, will give me his attention, !
have that to say to him, which it
CONCERNS HIM TO KNOW. But first
let me assure him that 1 am, in
blood, in feeling, and in destiny
his brother-man, fully conversant
with all the hardships and per
plexities that distress him. And il
he, looking first backward into the
past, and then forward into the flu.
ture, should ask me, What is the
MARKET VALUE for which our agri
cultural staples are now grown
and must continue to bs grown, sc
long as our labor-system remains
what it is ?-I reply, that they are
now grown, and WILL ALWAYS BE
NEGRO-LABORER Is ABLE TO PRO
DUcE THEM. For into whatever PRO.
DUCT, his labor ent. RS as a CO-EFFIC.
TENT, it must determine its PRICE
And that will be Che cheapest price
possible, because he is the cheap.
est possible laborer, so that
in struggle for a bare ex.
istence-and it has almost come
to which he is waging
with the white laborer, the only
question to be decided, between
them, is that of the SURVIVAL OF
THE CHEAPEST. And the negro-la.
borer is the cheapes., because he is
content with standard of living
so low, as to defy all human COM
petition. In so unequal a contest,
therefore, the advantage, on the
side of the negro-laborer, is so great.
as to enable him to drive his white
competitor from the field, or TO
DRAG HIM DOWN TO HIS OWN WAGE
LEVEL. For If he can UNDERLINE the
white laborer, he can UNDERWORLD
him, and can updersell him, and by
woodworking him, and undersell-
ing him, he can work him out, and
sell him out. For be it rememb er-
ed, that the Negro is not only the
"Man with the Hoe," but he is the
Man with the Hoe-cake g.! Hence it
is, that he can afford to make ~ i've
Cent-Cotton," where the white-la-
borer fails. Hence also, we find him
as the t nant in possession of the
best lands, for the reason that he
can pay the highest rents, and this
he is able to do, not because he can
PRODUCE MORE, but because He CAN
LIVE ON LESS.
1t is this Cheap Labor-System
that is, everywhere, enslaving the
labOring white men of the South.
To create this Cheap-Labor-System
was the well-concealed purpose, OF
our Civil War. That such was its
purpose, was long hidden from
those who participated in it. To
prove my assertion, let me sum-
mon every surviving Confederate
Veteran, who, like my self, stood for
|our years in the fiery path of
Northern aggression, and let me
enquire, if he did not, during those
stormy years, ask himself a thou
sand times, Why is it, that our