The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-10-11

of the South and that he is bent upon
reopenng the sectional controversy
parlIy To grauty MS hatred ana parity
70 heather ms nest.
Ii ne is erected President, and the
Republicans carry the mouse, as they
are likely to 40 IN case ne is elected.
we Sndl have at an early DAY the
VItallzauOn OF the Crumpdcker scheme
10 feduce the representation Oh the
southern States III Congress ana in the
Electoral College. Inc tram is lana.
Ihe plans are set. Nothing Is wanting
but a GEAR track OF TOUR years ahead.
giving Tune ana opportunity TO nre
the Northern heart ana to tn1Sh the
JOB. 1he 'Sond South is preteXt
enough. then, with the Trusts benlnu
them. no, tor a Sold North. commit
ted to every extravaganza, to every
extremiSm which personal greed and
party spirit run mad may devise.
Inc South is ,"solid' only for its
own preservation. Inc people or the
South are no more disposed 10 dlVlde
on sectional lines than the people OF
the North. they dld not bring the
negro mere. No more than the North
did they enSlaVe him. They are not
responsible for his acknowledgements.
The issue growing out or existing con-
dltlons Is racial, not sectional. or DO
iitical. Its ramiticatlons go to the
very IOOlS OIL our uOIleSllC LcipliS' 81
cial, economic and political. We can
not get away from the negro as long
as we are threatened by him either
from without, or within, ana we
shall be threatened by him both from
without and within as long as he is
made the subject of political agitation
by a party at the North actively nos
tile to us and our civilization.
This party of agitation and agrees
sion happens at this time to be led
by Theodore Roosevelt. He is half
of Southern extraction, 50 that the
strain of coarse barbarism' he refers
to he must have discovered in his
own blood; anyhow he SHOWS it sure
y enough. He is President of the
United States. He is a candidate for
reelection. AS President, he has
brought the race uestiOn to the fore
ground. He. aid the South, has
injected it anew into our politics. In
eVerv way he has advanced it as an
issue and assaulted us as a people. He
has attacked our character as Chris
tan men and women. He has i'm
pugned our patriotism and our loyalty
las citizens. He has undone, as far as
one man can undo, twenty-five years
of sectional ace-making.
He is the most undoubting of sec
sionalists. He stands the self-conti-
dent bigot, as we'll as the self-ap-
Thaddeus Stevens, in his day. was not
more intolerant. Ben Wade. inspired
by the passions of actual war, was not
more implacable. With one hand he
fiourishes the big stick" of equality
over us, whilst in the other-behind
his back-he holds in reserve a third
Force bill, to purify Southern cleo
tons and to reduce the Souths rep
resentation in Congress and in the
Electoral College, to the end that he
and his party may have their own
way and recreate us in their very
likeness. Though in the attempt ra-
cial war be precipitated in the
Southern country, it is nothing to him
and his fellow-partisane The negro.
having been made a white man by
law, must. if he is unable to main
tain himself. be maintained white
man by force.
Meanwhile the people of the South
are Christian PEG pie Just like the peo-
pie of the North They want to do
right. They ask only justice. Never a
Northern community, where the negro
becomes too much in evidence, or hap
pens to be too numerous for comfort,
but has troubles of it's OWn-Some-
times bloodshed-often riot, and. If
not violent expulsion, notice for the
negroes t. get out. Yet, in the South.
we have them with us in overlooking
masses and every ---- of the day and
night.
Under normal conditions it is a,
hard nut to crack. comnlicated pro-
blem to solve. The President comes
with his big stick to make it harder.
The Republican party swoops down
upon us to make it impossible. But we
must not say a word. If we WhimDer
we are accused of "treasons. strata
gems and spoils."
Does the business man of the North.
do the God-fe2Jing, Christian men
and women of the North, want four
more years of sectional agitation.
merely to gratifv the malevolence of
Theodore Roosevelt and to secure him.
and tho ring of corruptionists who
surround him, in power? Has all sense
of popular fellowship all love of
truth for truths sake, all thought of
fraternity and Justice gone out of the
Northern mind and heart? We shall
not believe it until we see it set down
in black and white by the vote of
the coming Sth of November.