The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1902-09-12
THE l. SOUTH.

Is the solid South soon to become a
thing of the past? Is the time at hand
when the serid rank of democracy,
which for years have lined up along
Mason and DiXon's line are to be brok-
en- and the southern states to divide
upon national issues according to the
free and independent views of the white
voting element of this section of the
country? The indications point strong
ly this way. Most of the southern states
have passed constitutional amendments
which have eliminated from politics the
negro as a solid mass adhering to the
republican party. No longer is heard
the battle cry of democracy: White
men stand together" The negro has
been put outside the pale of politics
and the white man is left to decide for
himself which party he will hereafter
support.
1t is true the recollection of the days
of reconstruction and of the more re-
cent fusion regime in this state will
deter many of our white men whose
inclinations lead that way from joining
the national republican party, but we
look for a larger white republican
vote in this state this fall than ever
before cast. Men are now to say for
themselves whether they prefer the re-
publican ideas of high tariff, fostering
monopolies, a strong centralized federal
government with its ideas of imperial
ism regarding colonia possessions, to
the democratic principles opposing
these. 1t is no longer a question wheth-
er the states officers shall be in the
hands of competent white men or of
the negroes and the few scalawag white
men who control them for the sake of
office. The political issues hereafter
are to be drawn along lines of policy
as to national and state government.
The question is on which side of this
line will the Intelligent white men of
our state take their stand. Will they
decide to support the republican party
which advocates a policy for greater
enrichment of the rich and ~aggrandize-
ment of the few who have the control
of national affairs and use their adj
vantage for the grinding down and op-
preston of the laboring man and the
poor. or will they take the side of the
masses who demand nothing but an
equal showing for all men. The motto
of the democratic party is equal rights
to all n special privileges to none,
and the party lines up to this motto.
1t is the peoples party. 1t battles for
the rights of the people against the ag-
crroSSinnS nf tho fpw millinna rios Uhn
seem to think that his country was
made for them and them alone; that
the people have no rights that should
be respected; that their duty in life IS
to labor for the benefit of the few whose
privilege it is to enjoy the fruits of the
labor of the many.
Regarding the breaking up of the
solid south as a consequence of the
adoption of franchise amendments by
several of the southern states, the
Washington Post, which is a close OBJ
server of conditions in this section,
says:
The Post has always contended that
a removal of the negro from the politi-
cal equation would, sooner or later, re-
suit in a diSlocation of the solid south.
In this, The Post is inspired by a genu-
inc familiarity with the subject, a long
and comprehensive acquaintance with
the people, and a thorough understand
ing of the social, political, and indus
trial conditions of the section. 1t has
always been our belief that the solid
south was originally created by the
Acknowledgement OF the negroes n that
1t has been kept intact for the past
thirty years by the fear that a division
of the white vote on economic issues
o pave the way for a revival OF
the horrors OF the reconstruction era.
We have consistently maintained the
proposition that by eliminating the ne
gro vote-for the present at least-the
southern states would confer freedom of
political thought and action upon the