Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1904-07-20
WEDNESDAY EVENING, JULY 20. 1904

At THE time OF the Booker Washing
ton episode many persons realized thai
the "possum dinner at the White
House was but the forerunner of worse
to come. The Indianola postoffice clos
ing and the Crum appointment soon
followed, and that it is the settled pur-
pose of the present accidental occupant
Of the presidential chair to in every way
barass and humiliate the South and her
people is made apparent as one day sue
ceeds another. That the suffrage plank
in the republican platform was prepared
either by, or at the instance OF Mr..
Roosevelt, is now plain, and its com
panion piece is now being circulated Oy
hundreds of thousands, or will be soon.
The document is tersely exposed by the
Baltimore Sun, in recent issue, which
says:
As the republican platform has
negro plank which introduces the trace
issue" into politics, it is not surprising
that the resources Of the federal govern
ment are being utilized by the Depart
ment of Commerce and Labor-whose
former head is manager OF President
Rooseyelrs campaign-to help on the
agitation. Bulletin No. ofthe Depart.
ment of Commerce and Labor, entitled
Negroes in the United States, is
plainly a campaign document. 1t is a
rebash of facts already published In the
census reports to the extent of S3S folio
pages. To vivify dry tables OF statistics
there are introduced so-called studies OF
various aspects of the negro's position
for use by political orators. Among the
rest is a study of the "Negro Farmer, "
which shows in many places the negro
phile bias of the publication. The bias
comes out in the use OF sslanderous
phrases. accepted as true by ignorant
northern people, but known by southern
people to be false-the lingo of the ante
bellun abolitionists who brought on the
civil war 1t is stated, for example, IN
this bulletin, published by means OF taxes
paid in part by the South, that "as the
WORKOUT farms of the border States were
abandoned for farming purposes they were
utilized as slave-breeding farms; thus
Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina,
Kentucky, Tennessee and Missouri be-
came the seat of an internal slave trade
If large dimensions. In another place
"the plantation system" is spoken of as
"being abandoned" in the border States
between 1850 and 1870 "for slave breed
ing" The idea sought to be conveyed
is the thoroughly false one that the slave
owners in Maryland and Virginia con-
sciously and deliberately engaged in
breeding slaves for the southern market,
lust as Yankee might engage In the
business of breeding mules for the west
ern market. This is an outrageous state
ment. There was no such slave-breedlng
business in the border States, as anyone
knows who lived in these States before
the civil war. A prejudiced theorist'
reasoning from his own conscious I'M
pulse, may suppose that the business
must have existed. His idea of human
nature compels him to think that no OPP
portunity of making money will be vast
ed. but he fails to take account OF
the modifying influences OF character
and tradition in the South, which pre-
vented slave-holding there from being
the mercenary and cruel institution he
imacines. The Cuisines instinct was
not developed among the planters to the
extent supposed, and where 1t existed IL
was paralyzed by sentiments ofproprlety
and decency sustained by public opinion,
by personal attachments and by senn-
ments of sympathy. AS a matter OF TACT
slaves as a rule were kept by their mas
tiers as long as possible. Death aud
bankruptcy scattered estates, it is true;
but even so, it was chiefly the "bad
niger that was sold in the southern
market. Those who are aware OF the
feeling with respect to slaves that exist
ed in Maryland and Virginia between
1850 and 1860 cannot but resent the
Injustice done by "Bulletin No. q to
the border States, even though they
perceive the political exigency that calls
it forth.
Indeed it is hoped that not only will
Marylanders and Virginians, but every
one else, resent the injustice done by
Bulletin No. s. But will they? In
late years we can recall many instances
where sordid, commercial disposition,
and not a patriotic purpose or spirit has
controlled the hearts as well as the
minds of some men from whom better
things were hoped, if not expected.