The Greenville times. [volume] (Greenville, Miss.) 1868-1917, 1903-05-30

oomne,led 10 admit that the poll
~ ~ oonnot hope Of success. The amend
y 49, wore backed by the entire mil,
,t mower of the United States anu
Enforced on a people ruined ny
,aao ell struggle. The South TO-DAY
+en times stronger than it was IN
,se5 Infinitely stronger than II was
~ ,se1 Defeat of any attempt 10 IT,
store tbe methods, ideas Or doctrines
% raconstruction is inevitable iEol
ia Start hut the extremists coulu
try il anyhow, as a sort oi Ylnuio".
zion Of the memory of Thad stevens
and his crew. Never perhaps nave
greater prejudice and fanaticism oS &c
shown in an Anglo-saxon country we
could understand it in 1861 duIins
the bitterness engendered by a long
and bloody war. In the light OF tiie
present condition of the country II Is
yerv close to political insanity,
looking at the matter from the Re-
nublican standpoint of today tne
pioneer Press points out the utter fol-
10 and fut,lity of any attempt to re-
vive reconstruction, of even using
the punitive portion Of the fourteenth
amendment, if it could be proved
! (Which we doubt that the amend
ment had been actually violated IL
any Southern State $500. CO
1t agrees with the president 0eo'
retary Root and a host OF other he-
publicans, that reconstruction was a
failure, an act of folly, que to pre9u-
dice and bitterness.
1.-THE result of the fourteenth ana
fifteenth amendments, which clotheu
with the suffrage two or three MIL
lions of men who had absolutely nc
preparation for citizenship vas IL
saws. "the riot of unwisdom, extraV-
apance and corruption of the negro
legislatures, carpetbaggism, ku-KluA'
ism. force bills, military occupation
and all the other evils of reconstruc'
! tion DAYS. 1t was only when moder'
ate Republicans, disguised with the
abuse of negro rule, united with tine
Democrats to restore white control II
the South that there was any recovery
from industrial stagnation or any
cessation of violence. This contro
was secured by the exclusion OF tn
negro from the polls, by intimidation
and Misrepresentation and by baiIc
frauds. Whether or not the end Jus
titled the means, the fact was tina
the South believed that it was Justl
fed IN resorting to every legal an
, extralegal device to insure white SD
premacy. 1t was the only way know
to repair the blunders of reconstruc
, ton.
That is it exactly. Some of tn
measures resorted to for the purpose c
= destroying reconstruction were nc
:, reilshed. but. as the Pioneer Press e1
o presses it, they were 1.-THE only wa
o known to repair the blunders c
q reconstruction.
Once before the Republicans trle
to stem the current of white supren
acy with the force bill. The st. PAT
+. paper tells the story in few words
&c "But in the face of the evidence
:. the extremes to which the South fe
r. driven congress in 1890 made an etfo
o to pass antoher force bill. The resu
was what might have been expecte
!. There was a general flaming up
Southern sentiment, the old woul
was torn open and the restoration
" confidence between North and Sou
. put back several years. 1t was nj
y in fact, until the Spanish war til
= North and South, in spite of the tho
II ough and unquestioned loyalty
the Union of the latter section II
themselves one again.
In support of a lost cause, cat
which could not possibly have We
H. for it violated the great principles
e. nature, the extremists would und
&c mine and attack the spirit OF patrl
4 ism which made this country so sire
er in the late war with Spain and v
is o