Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1903-03-04

governor to proclaim martial law II
every county, to arrest and try BY
court-martial, and the soldiers were
Negroes. In South Carolina alone, &C
cording to the declaration Of Govern.
or Chamberlain. Republican governor
Of that state, when he succeeded Moses
he found that two hundred trial JUS
tices were holding Office by executive
appointment who could neither rea6
nor write. Negro majorities had com
plete control. Of the state governments
taxes were multiplied and the money
gathered from the unfortunate whites
was stolen by the Negroes and theii
white leaders from the north, who had
fiocked to the south as vultures gather
on q carcass.
AT the close of the war the debts OF
the seeded states aggregated $S7.000,0O0
During the ten years Of Negro rule
$500, ,000, 900 was added. In North Caro-.
lima the state debt increased 28,00O, ,0Ot
and the assessed value Of property
sank from $2s2, ,OOO, 900 in 1860 to $3.50, ,O0O..
900 in 1870. The taxation for state pur-
poses in 1860 had been $543,OO0 a year
The Negroes increased It to n,160,00o
The Negroes issued $4,000 900 Of bonds
to aid railroad construction. It was al
spent and not one mile Of railroad was
built. School fund securities were sold
to carpet-baggers at one-third theil
value and the money received divided
among the Negro legislators. In two
years there was not public school
house open in the whole state. The
same story might be told Of every state
in which the so-called disfranchtse-
ment has taken place. In Mississippi
6, 400, 600 acres of land was confiscated
because the owners were unable to pay
the heavy taxes levied upon them, and
wholesale confiscation took place In all
the states. The land so confiscated was
largely given to the Negroes. In short,
there was reign Of terror in the south
and the miscreants were supported IN
every town and village by United
States troops, many Of whom were Ne
groes themselves, and lent willing aid
in humiliating, robbing and insulting
their former masters. The local gov
ernments Of cities, towns and counties
were as corrupt under Negro rule as
the state governments. Plunder and
barbarism were everywhere.
I'm 1877 President Hayes withdrew
the army from the south, and as the
soldiers turned their backs the Negro
governments melted away and disap-
peared. Unsupported by the bayonet
they did not exist one day. Just so
soon as the white man again got con-
troll the south began to revive from an
affiiction far more costly than the civil
war had been. Wealth has increased
and the owners Of that wealth have no
mind to permit its spo)iation by an.
other period Of Negro rule"
OF course, during the thirty years
which have passed since the recon-
struction period ended, the Negro has
become better qualified for self-govern-
ment and the use Of the ballot. The
white taxpayers have done most to aid
him in this. While this is true, as
Booker Washington says: "The teach
ings of the Negro, in various ways, for
the last twenty years, have rendered too
much to array him against the white
brother rather than to put the races in
cooperation with each other. More
than once I have noticed that when the
whites were in favor Of prohibition the
blacks, led even by sober, upright min
listers, voted against prohibition simply
because the whites were In favor Of 1t.
If the whites vote to lay tax to build
a school house 1t is a signal for the
blacks to oppose the measure simply
because the whites favor It." The
white people Of the south know all the
disgraceful facts. They endured the
merciless conditions imposed upon
them during the reconstruction period
and understand the Negro as they have
always understood him. In spite Of the
burdens and disgrace left upon the
southern people by ignorant and cor
rupt Negroes In public offices, in spite
Of the Negro's unchanged disposition to
oppose his white neighbor in all politi-
cal contests, and in spite Of the fact
many influential blacks are still cor
rupt and vicious to a degree, the SEN
sible white man of the south has never
been disposed to condemn the black
man for the mistakes that have been
made or for the great wrong that has
been committed. The latter has been a
tool in the hands Of meaner men than
he. He was naturally disposed as a
freeman to stand out against the mas
ter who recently held him as slave.
His moral sense was blunted by the
new master from the north, who. In
many instances, had in him no moral
sense at all. The Negro was found ig-
norant and helpless. He was misled
and misused. The more intelligent Ne
groes OF today know this to be true.
II mas Coihe hoHe ~ thehi oI ioSe eh"''
having lost the power to elect to Of
fees the white men who made much
Of them, they are no longer cared
for by the unprincipled self-seekers
who taught them to despise their
white neighbors for low and sinister
purpose. The Republican party, to
which Secretary Root belongs, has been
guilty Of many sins. Most Of them are
as white as wool when compared to the
party's record Of scarlet and Of black
during reconstruction days. President
Roosevelt, Secretary Root and thou
sands of others Of the north are just
beginning to realize the truth, so clear