The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1903-03-05

New YORK, Feb. 23.-The members
of the New York Southern Society
who attended the annual banquet OF
the organization at the Waldorf-As-
toria Saturday night showed that
they are still true to the Southern
country.
y
The hit OF the evening was made by
the Hon. A. Caperon BraxtOn, of Vir-
ginia, who, speaking on "George
Washington devoted most of his
time to u discussion of the negro
problem Mr. BraxtOn was a mem
Der OF the recent Constitutional Con
vention in Virginia. He was inter
rupted by applause many times, and
when he said that white men in the
South will never allow negroes to
govern them the cheers sounded like
Il Rebel yell. Mr. BraXtOn was Opti-
mistic regarding the negro problem.
He said that the Constitutional Con-
ventiOn fixed it so that only those
negroes who can vote intelligently
may vote.
Mr. BraXton said in part:
"ln moment OF infatuation and
thoughtless folly, in All evil hour, by
the combined agency of fraud and
force, the Fifteenth Amendment was
added to Onr Federal Constitution,
thus carrying us as far beyond
reason and right in one direction as
slavery had taken us in the other
mo white man believes in the FIT
teenth Amendment, save as theory
to be applied to some other mans
case. (Cheers) 1t is wrong in prin-
"iple; it is impossible of enforcement
where the inferior race is numerous;
it is demOralizing to the negro; it is
corrupting to the white man. To
abandon that ignorant and helpless
race to their own devices and control
would be the greatest cruelty; to set
them up as rulers over the race that
produced Washington and Lee would
be Il crime against nature and sin
against God.
"The Southern people entertain
not the slightest animOsity against
the negro. They are, in fact, the best
friends he ever had. In this their
acts speak louder than their words.
His condition in the South today is
far better, his opportunities for
moral and material development are
far greater than in any other coun-
try Oh the face of the earth. And
none of the rights guaranteed to him
under the Fifteenth Amendment, as
it was understood when adopted, are
neither denied or begrudged to him
there
"But, while all this is true, still in
the South white men are unalterably
resolved that, come what may, no
black, red or yellow man shall ever
rule over them or their children SO
long as time shall roll. (Cheers) This
is the decree of nature which no
human statute can reverse. AS well
try to set up crows to rule in a nest
of eagles or jackals to make laws for
lions (Applause.) There is but one
way to enable negroes to govern
white men and that is to first kill all
the white men. God gave to the
Caucasian his great qualities Ofmind,
lilS ' IL tllto anu llio SouIbSCs VI hCI
that he might guide, govern and pro-
tect his weaker brethren of the human
race and mitigate the consequences
of their vice and folly. The Southern
people determined to give the negro
a fair trial as a voter, and God only
knows what that trial cost them.
''Utterly impoverished as we were
we spent tens of millions upon public
schools for the education of the negro
to which they practically contributed
nothing, and from which they gradu.
ated only to officer the vast army Ol
blacks arrayed solidly and persist,
entl V against the very men who were
| educating them. No sooner was the
Fifteenth Amendment proclaimed
than the negroes banded themselves
together in solid, impenetrable
mass, and, true to the instincts o
their race, voluntarily submitted
themselves to Il political bondage, as
complete as that from which, without
any effort of their own, they had re.
Gently been liberated They soon be-
came menace to the very civiliza
| ton OF the country.
"When God, in His wrath, saw fit
to Danish us into the wilderness with
the Fifteenth Amendment, He still
in His mercy, left a difficult, narrow
but safe path by which we might
with much striving and tribulation
once more achieve salvation and re-
gain the promised land. We have
reached Mount Pisgah and are now
with rejoicing and gratitude to God
gazing once more into the happy
land of Canaan.
Zone by one the Southern States
have placed such restrictions upon
suffrage. irrespective of race or color
that the vast sea of ignorance of the
venal and vicious negroes is now
safely and permanently shut out
The negro vote has not been entirely
eliminated in the South; but, by per
mitting only those to vote who car
be entrusted with the ballot withou,
too great peril to the State, thai
vote has been reduced far below tn,
danger point, and thus one-third o
the fairest and richest domain of fthi.
great nation has been saved from tn,
threatened possibility of becoming
like another Hayti, the permanent
home of anarchy and barbarism
This is the work of the Southern peo
pie since the Civil War, and this i
what they have accomplished b,
their settlement of the negro ques
tion that once rent our land il
twain