The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-02-27
BLEEDING THE NEGROES.


 sion schcme-oe o..c If the results which we foresaw-is ai-sady nat'riahaas anu the color4d people are being bled by con- scienceless charKs wro hope to enrich themselves off the negroes. The following paragraph from a Missouri paper IS case in point. It speaks of the str among the ex-siav.s and adds: Already "graf,.rs" have been among | them getting them 10 contribute money to secure the passage of the bill one oiu darky called to see us about the matter Heretofore she was not over io years or age but when we told her that one s age had a great deal to do with the amount received. she at once saw the point ana before leaving she took particular pains to have us believe she was fully 100 years old If not older, and of course would get a pension large enough to keep her com fortable for the balance of her days
 This Is one instance of a result which The Advertiser and other papers fore saw and foretold. In a number of our exchanges we have seen allusions to the disquieting effect of the Hanna scheme, and mention is frequently made that the negroes have already been called on to contribute, and many of them have al- ready done so. The ''grafters" have two arguments which they use to levy con tributions One is to assure the negroes that the pension bill will not go through unless a considerable sum of money is spent, and that it is necessary to raise a fund to push the measure through Con- gress. If this fails then the negroes are hot ia fO | each negro will send the solicitor small fee he will prepare his claim and have | his papers ready for filing so that the | pensioner may get his money as soon as the law becomes effective.
 Either of these arguments appeals with almost irresistible force to the average | uninformed negro. They are the most credulous people on earth and any scheme which has easy money for its ob- | ject catches them nine times out of ten. ] It is easy for a smooth-talking white man to convince them that such a law l cannot be passed unless 1t is backed by | a liberal sum, and the victim will read l fly help the cause along. The other argu-
  groes know very little about business. and when assured that the bill is cer- I tain to become a law, and that they should have their claims ready and in proper form they will send the fee in perfect confidence that the pension money is coming.
 Southern people well remember how during and after the reconstruction pe- riod the South was overrun with har- pies, generally from the North, who re- sorted to the most infamous schemes and
 trickery to get money from unsophisti- cated negroes. The most bare-faced | frauds were successfully practiced and | the most outrageous swindling was re- | sorted to by these unprincipled scoun- l drels to enrich themselves, and thousands | of dollars were worse than stolen by sharp Yankee adventurers who swarmed through the South like wolves, and who in many cases made more money than | they could have made in life time of honest work, if they ever did such | thing as honest work.
 We confess that we nave h Id doubts as to whether Hanna is the originator or | the tool in this business. It Is 'ery easy | for him to say that hs introduced the bill by request but 1t would nave been equally easy for him to have had 1t rrepared and brought to him to be in-
 troduced by request" as he stated. If
 1t was a scheme originating with him to
 tie the negroes of the country to him and
 thus secure their support in furtherance of his ambition, 1t was a shrewd po-
 litcal move which is destined to fail. l If, on the other hand, Hanna Is only
 the tool of others 1t is plain that the scheme originated with some sharp man
 who thought he saw in 1t rich mine l If properly and expeditiously worked. | That this belief was not altogether l groundless Is shown, as we have seen, by
 the blackmail that Is already being col
 iected and how much of 1t will De se-
 cured is past telling.
 However the plan originated, and no
 matter who may bc responsible for it, | the negroes throughout the country and especially in the South should be warned
 and cautioned against any attempt to
 get money from them. If such law
 should by any possibility be enacted all
 necessary machinery for securing the pensions will be provided, and it will
 not be necessary for the negroes to pay
 any large fees to get what is due them We have no thought that such bill will
 become a law, at least for the present,
 and the negroes should be put on their guard and warned not to contribute a
 dollar till they are officially assured that
 1t Is the law. The negroes of the South
 have no money to throw away, and they
 had as well put it into the fire as to pay
 it out by way of fees on this pension.
 It is altogether rotten.
 l -@-aS
 AN INTERESTING DISCOVERY. | A late fossil find in Colorado is creat-