The Banner-Democrat. [volume] (Lake Providence, East Carroll Parish, La.) 1892-current, 1901-01-12
BILL ARP'S LETTER
Discourses Upon Politics and
Throws In Some Timely Advice.
SOUTH MUST UPHOLD PRINCIPLES
Sontherners Should Be More Careful In
Soliciting School Books For
Their Children.

Let us move right straight along ant
keep in the middle of the road. Al
is not lost save honor, nor will tn
north dare to cut down our represen
tation in congress-such move woult
ALLEVIATE their new southern converts
for southern Republicans are at hear
all lilywhites and have no use for tn
negro in politics. Southern Republi
cans have been under the ban social.
ever since the war, and they realiz
that it is because they are aligned
with the negro. Captain Lowry il
right when he says, "but for the Negro
in politics the Republican party woult
have a good chance to capture ant
hold the south.
The captain is Republican,
Tennesseeap, a Georgian, q banker
and has travelled much, and his part!
up north ought to give weight to hi
opinions. He is a gentleman, mai
of integrity, and stands high in finan
cial circles all over the country
Financially he is success and liberia
with his money, but will not take
Carnegie's advice and give it oil away
before he dies. Yes, the niger il
still in tho wood pile, and the joke Of
it is the niger don't know it. There
arc not dozen negroes in this coun'
try who care straw about voting. Il
the white offlce-seckers would let them
alone they wouldent so about the polls
on ELECTION day.
What is wanted is to purify the can.
didates. If this can be done in At
lanta why not elsewhere? We all re-
joiced over the election of Major Minis,
for he ran for mayor as gentleman
and had no heelers, nor would be ask
any man for his vote or allow any cor
rupt electioneering by his friends. He
stubbornly refused to promise any
thing to anybody, and, strange to say,
was elected. But the Republican par
ty is growing very fast in this section,
and will grow into responsibility If
they will let the negro alone. Mr..
Lowry is right.
Some years ago when we had suffer-
ed similar defeat my friend Newt
Tumlin was greatly distressed and
told me in whisper that there was
only one way to get even with them
and that was to iine 'em. Well, there
are lots of folks iining 'em around in
these parts, and it is hard to tell who
is Democrat and who is not. They
tell me that Democratic officeholder
and two of the executive committee Of
this county voted for Mckinley and
our neighboring county of Polk went
Tor him by 500 majority. Maybe that
is an evolution that will stop the
threatened reduction of our repre-
for our Republican friends
ion't want that to happen any more
than We do, and they will file protest
md fight it.
What we want at the south is to pre-
,erve our good name, our historic
honor and our traditions. section
hat has produced Washington, Jeffer-
ION, Madison, Monroe, Jackson and
Polk, as presidents, Clay and Calhoun
md Lee and Stonewall Jackson and
President Davis must hold up her
proud head and vindicate her honor.
Who are we? We import no foreign
,rs to do our work, and hire no Hes
Iians to do our fighting. How did our
hearts burn within us as We read the
brave words of General Evans to the
veterans at Augusta: ''Do
,ot let the history We have made be
perverted by partisan pens or polluted
" sectional slime. Our schools must
20 cleared OF northern rubbish dumped
INTO the minds of our children. We
want literature that will not con-
inue divisions, but will contain the
,onest relation of facts, that will
unity the youth OF this country in
,ommon appreciation of the truths Of
history"
Yes, we have been shamefully care
.ess in the selection of our school
books. The poison has already crept
IN and must BIO elected. There should
% a school commission in every south
ern state, for it is a well-known fact
that there are teachers who are secret
" paid by northern publishers to get
heir books into our schools. We can
not control their literature, but we can
heir school books. A few weeks ago
IN artful canvasscr visited our town
With nm attractive history Of the world
IN ton volumes. He was the out-taik-
ngist book agent I have ever met, and
sis scheme WAS to give away five or six
,ets in every town to influential men of
,ulture. He called it giving away, but
required the cost of the binding, which
he said was s14. The sale price was
s45.
I was selected by him as one of the
favored six. and he fed me literally on
battery and assured me that there was
not line in all the volumes that any
southern man would object to nor
could any reader tell whether the an.
thors lived north or south. He had
me volume as sample. and I noted
that the authors were distinguished
professors in some northern colleges.
The volume was we'll written aud was
pleased with it and with the price and
the fattery, and so I put my name
down with the condition that on exam.
nation Of the other volumes / might
accept or reject. In due time they
came. and I took up the ninth volume
that contained the history of our civil
wsr.
The book was opened OF random
md there was an engraving of William
Ii. Seward and the first paragraph
read: ''He had hardly got installed
into Office when he was confronted by
lhroe audacious commissioners from
tho rebel states" Audacious! Just
think of it. / was mad and got up
and walked about and then played on
the piano a little and then opened the
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