The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1903-04-13

can want to put a blot upon the family
| should any thoughtful patriotic Amerl-
| can seek to discriminate between any
| body of upright and brave Americans,
who did their duty as God gave them
| the light to see it? What good reason
| can any thoughtful. patriotic American
| give for the wish to etablish an historic
line, blacklsting the people of section
| who met defeat manfully and have
| taken upon themselves the renewed obi
| cations of citizenship loyalty?
The "Solid South
'"The justification for this is the poiti-
cal entity, the partisan quantity. known
| as the solid south 1t is, let me entreat
you to believe, specious Justification 1t
| is the fault of the republican party, not
| of the white people of the southern states,
that the south is solidly democratic
| From the death of Lincoln to the advent
| of Nick nley. the republican party.
! threw out no friendly signal to the
| whites Of the south. made no EFFORT 10
| establish itself in the south on any sonhd
enduring basis. 1t was known TO me
| south only through its reconstruction
| measures mainly repressive and hostile,
and its local agents, generally extreme
too often unClean, employing the negro
vote as a simple asset in congress- IN
republican national conventions, ana IN
| the field of the federal patronage. IN
most of the southern states there seem
ed a deliberate plan to trim the republic
can minority among the whites down 10
the point of just about filling the federa1
offices precisely as in the old ahteueiu-
Wan days of pristine democracy ana uh.
der the lead Of that past grandmaster OF
political chicane, General benjamin r
Butler the democratic party OF Ne"
England was trimmed and regulated. NO
thought was given the predictions 'he
tj.. i,1tp nf
body Of the white population. 1t was
years after the war before such men as
Meredith Gentry were permitted 10 Note;
,, whilst their former slaves were marched
IN droves to the ballot box by pontlIal ad-
Venturers sure to miSgoVern Wnen IN
trusted with power. Even these Things
might have passed out of mlnd except
that. whenever the chance has arisen,
the old agitation has been revived by
the menace of force bills to regulate Flec-
tons by federal statute. and measures
TO reduce the southern representation III
congress; all under the shadow-by rea-
son Of the Shadow-caSt by the uncon-
sentne. unoffending black man athWart
the whole track of American politics
from Maine to Texas. This brings me to
the only apparent cause of present dls-
turba nce-the bee in our bonnet-the fly
in our ointment-the everlasting, ever
present negro question.
The Black Problem.
After thirty years of observation, ex-
perience and reffection-always directed
from a sympathetic point of vicw--l am
forced to agree with the secretary OF
war that negro suffrage is a failure. 1t IS
a failure because the southern blacks are
not equal to it. 1t is failure because
the southern whites will not have it.
If. making a hot answer to this, some
over jealous and. as | must think some
mistaken partisan should say, we have
the power, We have the numbers. ana
we will compel the whites of the south,
my answer shall be, you did. and behold |
what came of it" And then, if my warm
hlooded friend should throw up his hands !
in despair and with a kind of disgust
turn YEARLY away, | should continue
may you not have been from the first
upon the wrong tack? Is there not an
other outlet to these perplexttleS, another |
solution of this problem? After all, is |
not your disquietude based upon the idea |
that there are one set of moral conditions !
a the north and another set at the south. |
10 which the whole racial trouble IS /
referable? Believe me- there is no such !
difference Remove every white demo- /
crat today living in the south and replace |
him with q northern republican. and |
twelve months hence the conditions Will |
be the same, may be worse, since the
northern republican would not be likely |
to have either the patience. or the per- |
sonai sympathy and knowledge, possessed (
by the native sOutherner.
The Only Solution.
''Ge1tlemen. | appeal to you as re- /
publicans. and through you | appeal 10 |
the republicans OF the United States, to |
have done with the conceit that, unless |
you stand by the black man, that unless !
you continue him as an issue in partisan
politics, injustice viii be done him. In
the lettering OF his condition, and in the
,r al fpo vitn