The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1902-04-25
Washington
Day by Day

washington, April A.-(Special. )-'The
viciousness and depravity of Crumpacker-
Ism become more and more manifest as
one studies this folly at close range"
said a distinguished Republican who is
high in his party councils but whose
name cannot be for obvious reasons
written here.
"Crumpacker himself, who is q coun-
try lawyer ignorant of the law, and
whose moral vision Is suffering from the
grave effects of bigotry and self-right-
eousness. claims that he is acting upon
high moral impulses, and those of his
party who mess in his pigstye make the
same claim for themselves; but all of us
know that their real purpose is to con-
solidate the negro vote in the states
bordering on the South. vote that is
already consolidated. They esteem 1t a
fine thing in their personal politics to be
called negro-lovers.
"Crumpacker's ambition is to pose as
the chief negro-lover of the day, get
himself discussed in the newspapers, and
retain his seat in Congress
His own viciousness and venality In
politics are demonstrated by his attacks
upon the South. To serve his personal
ends in his Congressional district he, In
effect, seeks to make all the governing
white people of the South appear as bal
lot thieves and oppressors, while In his
foolish mind he does not really care
whether a single Southern negro be al
lowed to vote.
ut Is a well-recognized trulsm that men
who characterize any considerable num-
Der of other men as knaves are knaves
themselves. Crumpacker's time-serving
contention is that practically all the best
white men In Virginia, the Carolinas,
Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Louis
lana are. low class of swindlers and ball
lot thieves
This view used to be affected by all
the more violent radical Republicans of
the North; but 1t was abandoned years
ago; so long ago in fact that Crumpack-
erism attracts attention now by its novel;
ty, Its audacity, and It's manifest In
sincerity. The best element of Republic
canism In the North is disguised with
the whole dirty business; the great COM
mercial interests are in a sense outraged,
for there is half billion Northern capi-
tai invested in the South at this time.
Therefore Crumpackerism is injuring the
Republican party, and to some extent 1t
has arrested material development In the
South. All intelligent Northerners real
lie that the negro has disappeared for
ever as factor in Southern politics. and
they maintain that any serious effort to
interfere with the internal affairs of the
South, as Comprehension for a time
threatened to do. would be a blunder
worse than national crime
The white people of the South will
continue to govern the Southern states.
The danger Of Crumpackerism being put
into practical working is past The
Crumpacker resolutions will not be adopt
ed by the House of Representatives This
| is pleasing to me as a white man and
| pleasing to me as a man of Republican
| party faith"
The bigotry and narrowness of the New
| England spirit have been seldom so strik-
| ingly displayed since freedom of re-
ligion' induced the ''pious" puritans to
burn women at the stake, as now when
we observe the baleful influence of right
eousness" in Boston. That institution oil
the devil, the puritan "Sawbuth," has
settled with its black sulphurous smoke
upon the city of all the virtues that arc
vices.
Boston man and Christian, who has
just arrived in Washington for a glimpse
of the great civilized world that sur.
rounds New England as a sea of clear
water surrounds an island of lepers, tells
me that the condition of his town OF
bigotry on Sundays is appalling. Last
Sunday everything except the hotels was
closed and they sold lakes of liquor. y
Soda water fountains, temperance drink
booths, ice depots tobacco shops, boot.