The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1904-12-01

Atlanta Constitution.
1t is admitted by the Republican
organs at the North that there is no
longer hope of breaking the "solid
South, except, possibly, through u
third party diversion, and that is
being again attempted this year.
Had Mckinley lived, these organs
declare, decided progress would have
been made in that direction; the as
cendancy of Roosevelt has more than
undone all that Mckinley accom-
pllshed as peacemaker and unifier
| of the sections.
There is more reason that the South
should be solid today than ever be-
fore. Let Golfers Weekly, n discern
ing. fair-minded and Outspoken pub
LEGATION printed in New York, tell
why:
"The South is sold, and that the anti
Republican feeling is stronger than when
Mckinley died, are conditions easily I'M
derstood and sympathized with by North
erners who have sufficient imagination
to project themselves out OF their own
environment. No wonder there is but
one issue, and no wonder the South can
not vote for the party OF reconstruction
outrages, force bills, bloody shirts and
negro exploitation. Who is going to
consider tariff problems when his wife
and daughter are in danger? Who is
, going to put currency and imperialism
ahead OF the survival OF his own race?
The Republican party earned glory by
freeing the slaves and giving the final
answer to a disrupting question. 1t de-
serves Obloquy for the narrowness, tact
lessness and political chicanery with
which it has handled the negroes and
the Southerners ever since
| Ii the South is narrowly sectional
i'll it's politics and has not materially
changed its national viewpoint since
the days OF reconstruction, the fault
lies not so much in the Southern
preiudices as in the proscriptive poll
cies Of the Republican party, For
forty years that party has held over
this section the legislative menace of
a force bill or kindred subjective leg
islation, and today it is menaced by
| Congressional disfranchisement as a
tenet OF that party's platform. The
Republican party is party of reac-
ton SO far as the hatred and bigotry
OF the dead past is concerned. 1t has
never tired in its attempt to foist the
political negro upon the Southern
body polite, only slightly changing
its methods because batfied by con-
stitutional inhibition or the public
conscience of the North.
The South is grateful that this is Il
constitutional republic and that the
North has a public conscience and,
to redeeming extent, the capacity
to put itself in the South's place SO
far as the negro prOletariat is con-
cerned.
1t was the hope and prayer of the
South that the Spanish war, so rich
in its promise and possibilities of sec
tiOnal unification, would lead to COM
plete fraternity and a new era OF
good feeling between the lately es-
tranged sections. The feeling still
prevails III the South that had Presi-
dent Mckinley lived the sections
would have been drawn nearer to-
gether and the so-called negro prob
lem settled along the lines of least
resistance, to the mutual good OF
white and black, and to the mutual
satisfaction of North and South.
All these fair hopes and promises
have been incontinently dashed to
the ground by the present incumbent
of the Presidents chair, whose anti
Southern policy is clearly reflected IL
the Chicago platform: ,
With the South it is a simple fol
lowing out of the law OF self-preser
walton. The Southern people are not
actuated by hatred or prejudice
They are simply trying to save them
selves.