The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-06-10
THE SOUTH AND THE NEGRO.


To the Editor OF the Indianapolis Journal:
We so often hear it said by Southern,
and not few Northern men, that the
Southern people are the true friends of the
negroes, that 1t is worth while to compare
notes to see If declarations comport with
actions. When the negroes were put into
the Union army the rebel government-now
with reverently lifted hats called Con
federate"-resolved not to recognize ne
groes their officers as soldiers. but to
slaughter them as wolves when taken.
The negroes who were accused of having
no sense soon learned this, and resolved
not to be taken in battle and many Con
federate'' soldiers went down before ne
gro bayonets or fled from them. Ever
since that time many thousands of negroes
have been murdered as citizens who would
have been spared slaves. The beaten
rebels anected to respect their white con-
querers, but they hated and dcspised the
negroes who helped to conquer them, and
spared no chance to retaliate after the ne
groes were nonprotected. When white
men and women went down from the North
to teach the negroes, which it had not long
before been a penitentiary offense to do,
the white 'Southrons," as the writer's of
pretty little novelets used to call them
lGreeley), ostracised and boycotted them
in every conceivable way. Because of the
enforced ignorance of the negroes it was
necessary for their former white masters
to direct them In many things. This en-
abled the said former masters to again
establish their former supremacy, and
when fairly instructed in power they MUIR
dered, as enemies, the negroes they no
longer owner as dollars. The point is often
made by negro haters, why, after being
given their freedom they cannot maintain
1t? Let them answer their own question
by explaining why the French, after estab-
fishing republic in their revolution in
1893, could not COR did not maintain it, A
brave people who whipped all Europe did
not maintain their own freedom. The ne
groes dumb as they appear to be, know
that the white race was educated while
they (the negroes) hoed cotton to pay for
the schooling ;lH and Is well organized; that
severely punished; that II the whites are
not strong enough in any locality they can
send for help from others; that the rail-
roads will carry whites to the defense of
each other while they would refuse the
same favor to the negroes. If voluntary
help should not be sufficient, the Governor
not be able to quell the uprising he would
call on the President of the Nation for
help. If the President should send troops
| to help, the Governor would command
them Whom would he order the national
troops to shoot? Why the negroes, of
course. The negroes are well aware of this.
| If there were no other. evidences of the
spirit in which the Southern people treat
| the negroes and those disposed to befriend
| them, the late demonstration, coming from
SO many quarters, that of revarding the
refused to make up the bed that Booker
| T. Washington had slept in would settle
! the question beyond doubt. Booker II.
Washington is worth to this or any coun-
try more than a million such chamber
maids, and one such chambermaid is worth
more than all the fools who sent her
money as reward for the supposed insult
| to Booker T. Washington Booker T.
| Washington is doing a great work. He
began his career under very adverse con-
! ditions. On his way to college his money
| gave out in Richmond and he slept in a
| hole under a fence. No chambermaid got
an opportunity TO refuse TO make up that
| bed. Booker T. Washington deserves a
| good bed wherever he sleeps. and they will
| be furnished him regardless Of obstreperous
| chambermaids the money sent to her
| after being first filched from negroes by
! cheating, extortion and robbery.
/ These Southern people, who still glorify
| the lost cause and VINO snub Joe Wheeler
| for wearing the national uniform when at
tending their Confederate reunions must
| have their representation in Congress cut
| down to their own actual smallness. Con-
] gress can easily construt law allowing
| voters who are unjustly disfranchised to
| hold an election Of their own In separate
| ballot boxes. The Constitution and its
| amendments are broad enough for this.
Do this or cut down their representation.
| JOHN T. CAMPBELL