The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-09-09

l good men in the south who hold to re- | publican principles in national politics.
 but I do say that there is not re-
 publican in the south who holds to the
 republcanism of the north on the negro
 question, as it Is held by republicans in
 the north. This difference between re- l publicans in the north, and those who
 call themselves republicans in the south,
 is as wide apart as human nature made
 the white and black races. I turn back l in memory and wonder that any southern
 man can hold to republicanism. even Tn
 national politics.
 In 1865 the federal army. 100000 strong
 passed In review up Pennsylvania ave-
 nue, taking four days in which to pass the reviewing stand. in front of the White House in Washington These veterans
 were heralded as victors in war, yet they carried with them no prisoners, as was
 the wont of victorious armies in days of old.
 In few days upon well equipped rail- roads, this great host of soldiers, along
 with ether hundreds of thousands from
 other armies, were all at their old homes
 and were received in every town, vil- lage and city with open arms and joy
 ous acclaim. They were feted and treated
 as >mea who had fought and won a great
 and hard fight
 In a few weeks time the soldiers blue disappeared and these hundreds of thou sands of soldiers had like the snow on an April day, melted back into civil life, talk
 ing up peaceful pursuits.
 How was it with the losing Confederate
 soldier? What was the future to bring him?
 When Lee surrendered to Grant, the
 Army of Virginia was paroled, and a
 few days thereafter the Army of John
 son joined Lees veterans as paroled sol
 diers. Grant with his greatness as a sol
 dier knew how soldiers who had been
 foemen worthy of his steel, should be treated. and the veterans were given
 their horses to take home with them,
 orant remarlling in nis quiet, unobtrusive
 way to Lee. Your soldiers will need them
 to put in their crops with"
 The army of Lee and Johnson started for home.
 JnOSe with nOTSSS lOOh lildii OhACi .
 took railroad trains, when they could. but the south was not at that time very well equipped with railroads, so that
 walking was the lot by far of the great est portion of the discharged Confederate veterans.
 And what a returning! To a country desolate, at the hands of war houses and
 homes. towns, villages, cities in ruins, or
 partially so. A chimney standing all alone
 was all that greeted the eye of many a sore footed, weary returning soldier. Wife and children, with the loss of home, scat
 tered with friends. The bare land, rank
 in vegetation. being uncultivated so long
 was all he had left.
 l The negro, the labor of the south, had
 been destroyed turned upside down by | emancipation. Conditions such as never
 before confronted a people anywhere In the world. confronted the returned sol
 der of the south.
 l None of these conditions caused the Con federate to cry out. because they knew 1 they were the result of war. and they
 had been in that war and returned home with the honor due brave soldier. Had this been all, no one would ask the ques- ton why southern men, even some Con federate soldiers, hold to republicanism in national politics. The war was not fought by republicans, even If it was
 brought about by that party. The north
 without thought of politics. that Is the plain people who made themselves sol
 diers, fought to preserve the union, and
 today the south agrees with the north
 that it was and has been best for all
 that the war closed with sound union.
 This was all Lincoln asked.
 But let us come to the answer to my
 "why?" One wonders at a southern man,
 and one who during the war in the south,
 or one born and reared in the south since the war, should claim to be a republican.
 The northern republican politician
 had two ideas always in mind. One was
 he claimed to preserve the Union, the other was ways and means to destroy the democratic party, that the repub- lican party should control the nation. The press of that day kept fully be- fore the north this idea, under the guise of patriotism Every lie that could be thought out was heaped upon the dem- ocrats of the north. Disloyalty of the democracy in the north, as we'll as against the south was the cry. Gov ernor Morton of my own state. Indiana was one of the most enthusiastic in this line of politics. Yet with all his hatred of the south, and of northern democrats, after the war was over and negro suffrage the key note" for tn @ republican campaign in Indiana. at Richmond, in that state, took the most
 stringent attitdue against negro suf- frage He was a senator from indinana at this time, and prior to the war he had been a democrat. He was called to Washington at once by the radical oligarch Stevens, Wade, Chandler and others, who were then the rulers of the republican party, and rulers of tn @ south in Congress, He was given to under stand that if he persisted in his opposition to negro suffrage, that he must get out of the party. He was told
 that making the negro a voter would make Indiana a republican state; that Illinois. Ohio and New York would be taken from the doubtful column, if negroes were made voters. Morton readily seized the opportunity to do that he had failed to do during the war. kill the democratic party politi- cally by turning in favor of negro suf
 frage. Today Indiana Is republican
 or1,, on account of the negro votes. The