The sun., 1903-04-14
NO YIELDING ON THE NEGRO.
,yr s0UTH WILL NOT BUDGE IN
THE STAND IT OCCUPIES.

and Morals, 10 the Oniy way W oSsSS
the Questien-Peacefui Csndittsos
-n.t Have Just Been 0verturned-The
south Injured and the True Cause es
the Negroes Hurt-What the Recon-
.truction Days Meant and what the
New bitterness Means TO the south.
xyv onL.ASs, April is.-speakmg frotn
broad point OF view as well as on the basis
:, accurate and detailed knowledge Of men
and events in the South. there is no man
in Louisiana better qualified TO express
me opniona of the best element among the
southern people than the Hon. Norman
McF Walker, editor OF the New Orleans
Times. Democrat. He was born here In
New Orleans. and, while he was too young
10 enter the army during the Civil War,
he had reached mans estate when the Recon-
s,ruc,ion era fell like blight upon all the
south and nowhere worse than In Louisiana.
Mr. Walker lived all through those dark
dsvs and has studied from close contact
every changing phase Of the negro question,
from the time 1t arose like menacing cloud
in the enfranchisement OF the millions OF
recently emsncipated slaves TO It's recent
recrudescence as the result Of the events
Of the past few months. In speaking on
the subject to-day Mr. Walker said:
We did think that people In parts OF
the country unaf1icted with the danger
Of negro control, parts Of the country which
have never suffered as We have suffered
from that control. had at last come TO under
stand our position better. We believed
and we still believe, that thousands Of those
who formerly were against US are now In
sympathy with us in our effort TO progress
and TO maintain white civilization as against
African barbarism.
1t was on no mere theory and from no
mere prejudice that the Southern States
have eliminated the negro vote ss far as
they could do so constitutionally. They
eliminated II because OF the demonstrated
fact that the negro is not At to vote. He
did vote at one time. He was in control
Of our courts. Of the whole machinery Of
our government. and Of our property.
The result was q condition Of affairs i'm
possible under Republican form Of gov
it was impossible that the very fabric Of
society could hang together.
The education fund Of the State, amount
ing to about 81 10000 was stolen bodily.
In one parish negro who had been walter
on q river steamboat pocketed $4,000 Of
this money at one swoop. In four years,
from 1858 to 1877. the State debt Of Louisiana
jumped from % 900 900 to az 900 900. Taxes
in one parish. Nstchitoches, got up to 10
per cent above that fgure-to q point
where to hold property was an impoesi-
bility. People were stripped Of everything
they had Their real estate was sold over
their heads to pay the impossible taxes
But II 10 no use going into the miserable
details Of that preposterous epoch OF rob-
berry and debauchery. They would fl
volumes. They are ancient history.
NO one who did not live through THU
era OF horror. this awful nightmare, car
understand II or appreciate It. The Civi
Var. did not cause half the harm that Re
construction did-for It was . guerrilla
warfare, the whole eight years 1t lowered
oter louisiana. Not only wss It IN era oi
bsoodshed-and there were morV hvel
sacrificed In Louisiana during Recon
struction than In the Civil War itself
more actually killed and wounded In politi.
cal and race riots-but 1t assailed the
family, bred corruption, crime and vice
and undermined civilization itself. II tool
Louisiana nearly twenty years to recover
from the shock; II cost the State half III
wealth and nearly one-quarter ts popu.
lation. Nothing like II has ever been seer
in America, save the same crime perpe'
trstsd by the French Assembly in 17ss
when through humanitarian fanaticism
like that OF Congress in 1858. II granted
freedom. equality and the electoral fran.
chise to the negro slaves In the French
West Indies and thereby produced . reigr
Of bloodshed and massacre which extermi
mated the white race In Hayti and nearly
exterminated II In the other French Islands.
1t would cost the United States anothe'
civil war TO resstablish In the South the
conditions that existed between isee-is7o
and even II the army succeeded in putting
the negro on top again. which doubt
would b for only . few years; and W
would 10 on repeating the story Of recon
struction until the country was . wilderness
Never again win the white man submit X
negro rule In any shape or form. or to Whit
rule created BY negro votes. It was pos
able In 1883 only because the South VA
weak from the long struggle OF the Civi
War. With one experience Of this night
mare Il would Be q fight to the bitter enc
before We submitted to Il again.
what happened here In Louisiana hap
pened everywhere elee In tne ooutn." Wmts
people were driven to sheer desperation
It was better to die and die fighting thar
to attempt to live under such an intolerable
state OF affaip. You know the result
The negro was disenfranchised by violenos
and by every device ingenuity could con-
trive. There we're outrages, OF course
But 1t was civil war. pure and simple. Al
clearly defined pitched battles were Tough,
right here In the streets OF New Orleans
as were fought on any field in the gres
war between the Statee. In such tint
a. that outrages and cruelties are inevitable
But either the war had to come, the Negro
had to be driven from power and prevented
from voting himself into power. or white
people could not live hero. white civilisa'
'ion could not exist
This was no theory with US. II VA
fact hideously demonstrated by yeas o
misery. It was not to be expected In thos'
days, with the passions Of the civil war still
burning fercely. that people remote from
the scene could judge fairly the situation
Looking calmly hack, nobody can blam'
the conscientious people Of tie North fo
failing TO see and to understand what the,
neither could see nor understand at thei
dist nca ard thxo,,~ ha v,tsta ~ aniOy