The Appeal., 1903-11-07

The Herald says editorially: 1T is
now, We think, generally recognized
that "a mistake WAS made at the close
of CUR civil war in according suffrage
generally to the. .enancipated Negro;
and also that the federal government
could have and should have limited the
right to vote ITO those who possessed
sufficient education to read and write,
and that "a slight property qual1nca-
ton without the least u's'
elimination as to color" should have
been required.
Apparently, you assume that by your
scheme a number Of Afro-Americans
sufficient to have political influence
would have been enfranchised, and
would have participated in the reor'
ganization of the rebel states. TO sat
isfy you that such an assumption IS
unwarranted, it should be only neces-
sary to remind you that, up to the
close of the civil war, the Afro-Ameri-
cans did not own even the rags that
covered them, and had been kept in
ignorance through laws that made 1t
crime to teach them to read and
write. Evidently, your plan would
have limited the suffrage, at least
through the period OF reconstruction
and for many years to follow, to white
men, AMI would have left the question
of reorganization to be settled exclu-
sively by white men, of whom a vast
majority were not only unalteraDly
opposed to the enfranchisement OF the
Afro-American regardless of his char
acter or attachments, but who were
avowedly determined to hold him IN
servile subjugation. Whether or no
nv characterization of the attitude OF
the confederates toward the Afro
American is justified, you will judge
when you have considered the evi-
dence I shall offer.
AS a matter of fact, at the close
of the civil war, the suffrage was not,
as is often assumed, accorded gen
orally to the emancipated Negroes"
That was the last, not the first act, IN
the history of reconstruction. The
first act consisted in the establish
ment of provisional legislatures elect
ed by and composed of white men
only. This experiment failed. AS
soon as the Legislatures were con-
vened they enacted atrocious laws ap-
plicable especially to the Afro-Amerl-
can race. These laws regulated the
relations between master and servant.
The Legislature of Alabama was bold
enough to use the term former own
er," when providing for a cruel ap-
premiership of minors. In the same
state stubborn and refractory serv-
ants" were declared to be migrants"
to be taken before a justice of the
peace, who could fine them $50; and,
in default of payment, they were
to be hired out, on three days public
notice, for six months. Laws were in
geniously framed to deprive the AFRO
American of the right to contract for
his own labor or to receive the bene-
fits of his daily toll.
The South Carolina Legislature COM
PEELED Afro-Americans wishing to be-
mechanics to pay $40 for license,
while for the privilege of being a
shop-keeper an annual payment of
800 was demanded. For an extend
ed report of and comment upon this
iniquitous legislation, let me refer you
to Blaine's Twenty Years of Con-
gress."* That it fairly represented
white public sentiment and that it
was intended to accomplish the re-
vival of slavery, so far as it could
be revived, there is no room for doubt.
In order to learn existing conditions,
in the summer of 1865 President John
son sent the Hon. Carl Schurz into
the southern states on an observation
and investigation tour Mr.. Schurz
then stood high in the councils OF
the nation, and his report was accept
ed as an intelligent and impartial
statement. He said, in part, that in
his udgment it would hardly be pos
sible to secure the freedman against
oppressive legislation and private
persecution unless he be endowed
with certain measure of political
power" He declared that 'sthe eman-
cipation of the slaves is submitted to
only in so far as chattel slavery in
the old form could not be kept up,
and although the freedman Is no long
er considered the property OF an IN
dividual master, he is considered the
slave of society, and all Independent
state legislation will share the ten
dency to make him such. The ordl-
nances abolishing slavery pacsed by
the conventions under the pressure OF
circumstances will not be looked up
on as barring the establishment OF
new form of servitude.'' Regarding
the loyalty of the white people, MI.
Schurz reported that there was. "an
entire absence of that national spirit
which forms the basis of true loyal
ty and patriotism" White Southern
loyalty. he said, consists in submis-
sion to necessity" ~
In view of the testimony OF Mr.
Schurz and much more Of like tenor
of many others, all of which was fully
confirmed by the legislation of the
white provisional legislatures, any re-
construction that denied or postnon
the right of the freedman to the ball
lot and restored it to his former mas
ter would have been foolish, wicked.
and disastrous. This was the judg-
ment of the patriotic statesmen of that
era. They represented a vast ma
jority of the people of the North,
who were in no mood for trifling, but
were resolved that the blood shed and
the treasure wasted by the civil war
should be, as far as possible, compen-
sated for by a re-estab lishment of the
Union that would preclude all possi-
bility of another rebellion, based upon
a demand for state rights or for slav-
cry IN any form. They were resolved