The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1900-07-28
RED SHIRTS IN NORTH CARoL1NA

not familiar with the true state of the
case On its face 1t appears to be nothing
but the result of bitter arl unreasonable
race Hatred. To the outsider, the salient
points are Red-Shi1ts; incendiary speeches;
transparencies with crude notices, and
every indication of the exercise OF intense
prejudice.
1t has been the custom of some Northern
papers, I.otabiy the New York Evening
Post, to maintain that this state of affairs
proves conclusives that the South is in
favor of enslaving the Philippines, 1or.
says the Evening Post, how can the peo-
pie be willing to grant freedom to those
tel thousand miles away, when they wiii
moi allow the rud:nentary exercise of this
gift 10 those at homer 1t is not our pur-
nose at present to discuss whether the
South as a whole Is for or against holu-
ing tie Philippines, but we do desire 10
point out very serious, and as we COLI
s:der it, fatal error in the premises Oh
those who reason along the line which We
have above set forth.
The situa ton in North Carolina, is first
and foremost not the result OF deep seated
race animosity which is seeking this meth
cd of proc!aimins itself. but is rather the
manifestation of fixed purpose on the
part of the white people to rid themselves
from a very real ard very present condi-
ton which has proved itself to be abso-
luteiy intolerabla. The action of the
North Carolina whites is not based on the
t;x.,.f Nv Il
to the white race for the back; it is not
based on a fear Of what the future may
bring forth if the black is allowed TO con-
ti,,ue to vote; it is not the result of tie
wish of the Anglo-Saxon to reserve for
himself all the rights of q free citizen and
to deny them to everyone else; but 1t is
simply and solely the method that has suS-
eested itsa,f TO the minds of the white pop
illation Of North Carolina as being the
safest and the best way Of Riding them
selves of a situation that 10 free people
could endure.
The situation was briefly as follows:
The middle of the road Populists, the Re
publicans and the negroes combined TO
elect a joint ticket. The result OF this cleo
ton was to place illiterate and incompe-
tent negroes III the majority of the minor
Offices in the eastern part of North Caro-
lima. The white citizens then found them
selves brought into daily contact with ne
gro justices of the peace negro policemen,
negro clerks of the court negro sheriffs
and deputy sheriffs: and the remainder of
the offices We're filed almost universally
by white men of utterly inferior character.
Now. the result of this situation was n
practical denial of justice and protection
to the property owning part of the popu-
alton. Houses were openly looted by the
policemen themselves; the negroes were
melted to lawlessness and the adnlinistr2-
tiol. of justice was denied by the negro
officials The State was overrun by negro
tramps. who hearing Of the paradise that
there existed. came from Georgia and
South Carolina in hordes. The negro
North Carolina, remained in many cases
quiet and docile, but they were melted by
their women and their preachers TO law
lessness. which the authorities were
either unable or unwilling to repress and
North Carolina so far as the eastern sec
ton is concerned, was advancing with
terrific rapidity to that degree of civiliza-
ton which has made Hayti so justly
famous.
To state this proposition is enough TO
show the necessity for seeking by every
possible means to avoid it. and that the
necessity was both apparent and real is
shown by the fact that men in all walks
and stations Of life, preachers bark
ers. lawyers and merchants. doctors and
railroad men, driven by the common need
OF protecting their homes and their
civilization, banded together TO disfran-
chise that part of the population which had
shown itself so unfit to govern. We know
of more than one prominent citizen con-
nected with large industries, who had made
lp his mind definitely to abandon North
Carolina as an uninhabitabe part OF the
world if negro domination we're to corr
tinue That such men have found it pos
sible to remain there cannot be regarded
by any fair minded paper or person as
subject of grief. The situation at present
is one that is based fundamentally upon
a desire to place the administration OF
justice and the protection of property in
North Carolina in the hands Of those who
are able and willing to administer that
trust It has not for is object the sole
desire to disfranchse the negro because
he is a negro. 1t does not desire to de-
priye. him of his rights as 4 human beng,
and as an American by adoption. to own
property. to be educated, to be protected
and to be allowed to vote if he shows him
self fitted. 1t does mean that the white
men who own property and who do APP
precate these institutions, which they have
inherited from generations of sturdy an
cestors. do not intend to allow themselves
to be driven from their State by an in
vasion of a foreign race, which is, none the
less an invasior because it is under the
guise and form Of law.
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A LIFE SENTENCE.
The average man understands and ap-