The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1900-07-27

the sentiment of the South as its
own people and its own press
avouch it,but we ask the people of
the North, the men who, them
selves went to the front, the sons
of the noble sires who fought in
the great struggle for human liber-
ty and the perpetuation of the
union, if they intend by their votes
to place the power of the govern
ment of the United States in the
hands of people who avowedly
hold this sentiment, and who now
appeal to the Northern voter in
the name of elderly" and the
Declaration of independence?
Every northern democrat knows
that while his party platform rings
loud and long with its acclaim
against the suppression of liberty
in the Philippine Islands, that
same party did not dare to include
IN its platform one word against
the atrocities Of the south; not one
word relative to the suppression
OF the liberties of the laboring
men; not one word as to the
fraudulent elections, not one word
as to the suppression of educa-
tlonal advantages and the oppres.
sion OF poor people who have
shown throughout all their history
their intense desire to elevate
themselves to higher standard of
citizenship. If, as the democrats
claim In this section, the southern
wing does not control the demo-
cratic party; if, as they claim the
democratic party does not of neces-
slty yield to southern sentiment; if
these things are so, why were the
men at Kansas City such moral
towards, that, knowing the facts as
they exist in the southern states
they did not dare to insert one
word of denunciation or of criti-
clsm. We have treated this ques-
ton heretofore on the sentimental
side; we have appealed to the
lovers of the nation not to sur
render the government to men
who still shold that the ssnorth
fought tor conquest, the south for
independence" There is still an
other serious phase to the south
ern question, phase which ap-
peals directly to the interests of
every laboring man of the north.
1t is true the world over that the
more enlightened, the better edu-
Gated, the more highly civilized
the laborlng man, the better are
his wages, and the better the CON
dltlons surrounding his work.
Wherever we find a brutal and
degraded working class, we find
low wages and long hours of work.
1t IS fact, as can be proven by
men living in this community, that
the negro of the South receives
little or no compensation for his
work save the bare cost of exist
ence. He gets from fifty cents to
seventy-hve cents day payable in
trade at the trading store of his
employer. 1t is often the case
that the negro works an entire
season, receiving only the coarsest
fare and the poorest shelter, and
finds at the end of his months of
labor that he is still indebted to
his employer.
1t is a noteworthy fact, that,
especially in recent years, owing
to its natural advantages and to
the cheap wage system, the South
is rapidly building up as manu-
featuring center at the expense of
the North. Such large manufac-
turing cities as Birmingham, Ala
bama, have grown within the last
decade, and the growth of these
cities and these southern enter
prises has been almost entirely at
the expense of northern labor.
With labor conditions the same.
with the laboring class of the
South receiving the same relative
compensation, the North would
have no right to complain. Our
laboring unions proclaim with loud
voice whenever convict labor is
given employment, but at the same
time a vast section of this country
is thriving and building itself up
upon system of pauper labor
which is a thousand times more
menacing to the wage and labor
system of the country than all the