The Savannah morning news., 1904-12-04

by legislative enactment TO take mil
lions of black men, the lowest and
most inferior in blood and development
of the human race, ignorant and ut
terly wanting in each and every moral
and mental equipment for governing
themselves. or others. and to place
them in governmental power and con-
troll of the white people of the South
a people of education, culture and re-
finement-a people who not only by
their own character, attachments and
achievements, but by the attachments
and achievements of an ancestry of a
thousand years, justly ranked as a not
inferior part of the foremost and most
illustrious race of all the earth.
Rescued From Authorization.
And as there was never a greater
crime attempted against civilization,
so there was never a greater service
rendered to civilization than In the
work of the united white men of the
South which defeated the infamous at
tempt. And so in the years which are
to come will impartial history write 1t
down. If there were nothing else of
which to boast, if this were the sole
achievement of the Democratic party
in the South, this great work which
1t accomplished in rescuing the South
from fate worse than anarchy would
earn for it and entitle ii to the I'M
dying gratitude and appreciation of all
those in the world who value and prize
civilization and all of it's attendant
blessings. And there are none who
should be more grateful to the Demo-
cratic party for this than the Repub-
lican party of the North because the
Democratic party in thus saving the
civilization of the South. at the same
time also saved the Republican party
from the deep damnation" which
would have been adjudged against
them through all the ages, If they had
succeeded in the effort which they
made to convert this whole Southland
into the desolation of another Haiti.
A Menace to the Southern People.
Nor is this simply ancient history
with which the men of this day have
no practical interest. For while the
immediate effort to Africanize the
South was thus defeated many years
ago, the end is not yet The Fifteenth
Amendment, which was for this pur-
pose added to the constitution, pre-
sents continuing menace to our civ
ilization and our social order, which
can only be guarded against in the
future as it has been in the past by
the union of all white men in the
maintenance of white supremacy as
superior to all other public questions.
Our people in the presence of this
menace have been thus united for
nearly forty years, and I doubt not
they will so remain If they continue
to realize the gravity of the issues
which make such union essential to
safety. 1 speak generally, for there
are some few white men in the state
who do not stand politically with their
fellows. l doubt not the majority of
these white Republicans in their
hearts favor white supremacy, and
that they would regret to see its over
throw: and yet no man can escape
his own personal responsibility in such
a vital matter, for there can be no
question that il a sufficient number of
white men could be secured in Geor-
gia by the Republican party to add
to the negro vote and make a ma
jority, the Republican party would
again be in power in the state, and
white supremacy would be over
thrown. We would again have piebald
conventions and piebald legislatures
and repetition of the scenes of cor
ruption and the debauchery of the re-
construction days.
Playing With Fire.
However honest their purposes. these
men are playing with fire, and they
are doing so with impunity to the pub
lie interests, only because there are
enough white men in the state who
see their political duty in pursuing the
opposite course, and thus prevent a
confiagration as the result of this ac-
ton. And the fact is not to be uues-
toned that those who have thus align
ed themselves with the Republican
party are indebted to the rule of the
white Democratic party in Georgia,
for the present and past security of
their persons, and of their property
as well as for the peace of their homes
and the prosperity and success of their
business enterprises.
1t cannot be successfully disputed
that the Republican party favors ne
gro rule in the South-certainly to the
extent that 1t seeks to establish IL in
some instances, and is willing for it
to be established in all instanoes-in
the South.
Acknowledgement Means Domino
ton.
The Acknowledgement of the negro
could not have been other than a de-
sign to establish negro domination in
the states of the South. When the
enfranchising laws were passed 1t was
known that in some of the states the
negro far outnumbered the whites.
There can be no doubt IL was the in
tention and expectation to establish
negro rule in each of those states. In
most of the other Southern states the
negroes so nearly approached the
whites in number, that with the many
whites then DISTINGUISHED by the same
laws, and with the aid of the carpet
baggers and the military, there was
every reason to anticipate that negro
rule would be established in each Of
them. That design was in fact ac-
complished and negro government was
set up in each one of the reconstruct
ed Southern states, and in each one
of them there was an era of lawless-
ness and plumber and corruption and
dishonesty such as has never been
known under any professedly civilized
government in modern times. AL
though those governments were over
thrown and white supremacy estab-
lished in the Southern states. the Re-
publican party. while in control of the
federal government has. to the extent
of the opportunity thus offered, en-
deavored to impose and fasten negro
rule upon us-and at no period has this