The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1908-09-17
WHY The Solid South.
Richmond News Leader.

which editorially discusses Mr.. Taft y
recent speech at Hot Springs, adj
dressed to the people OF the South.
The Herald says:
"In his speech at Hot Springs, Mr..
Taft spoke OF the ''Solid South and
expressed the hope that it would be
broken this year He spoke more
as a well wisher for the South than
as a Republican candidate. Indeed
this great hearted man is always an
American first and Republican at
forwards, and cares much more for
his country and all parts OF it than
he does for his party.
"He calls attention to the few
Southerners who occupy influential
positions in the national govern
ment. The result is. he says. that
the SOuth's interests are either neg
lected nor else dealt with by men who
have only a slight, when they should
have an intimate. acquaintance with
it's conditions. The cause Of this is
that during a Republican admins
tration the South which is Democrat
land has not helped in the election is
not considered, but naturally, Repub-
Leans are chosen us officials and ad
visers. In Democratic times, these
places are given to Democrats who
will help to continue the Democratic
successes in hard won States. The
South is always considered Demo-
cratic asset, and need not be kept in
line with such patronage
| Tho ponnhlicon 1oa1orC and MANY
newspapers at the North are strange
ly Inconsistent, blind and fOrgetful
in their consideration Of political
| conditions in the South. The one
possible hope and opportunity for
the Southern people to divide politi-
cally is in the extinction Of the negro
vote While that vote remains a fac
tor in our politics, present or posi-
BILE, the white people are prevented
by the instinct of self-preservation
from dividing Whether it should
be so or not, it is, Il hard fact that
when white men in this section are
required or induced to cater to the
negro vote steady degradation and
| deterioration of both races result al
ways. The white man who forces
| himself to associate with negro poll
| ticians and to defer to their preiu-
dices and ways and to seek their favor,
loses his self respect, realizes that he
has lowered himself helplessly in the
opinion of other white people and at
the same time devote his energies to
debauching the negro. A few days
ago we printed an article describing
horrible conditions in Mcdowell coun-
ty, West Virginia, where the negroes
although in the minority, hold the
balance of power. Their local white
officials not only connive at viola
tions of the Sunday and liquor laws
by negro clubs where white and negro
men and women get drunk together,
but actually participated in these or
gies. seeking to hold the favor of
their negro constituents by personal
and social intimacy. Refined and
pure white women school teachers
are required to have their certificates
passed upon and their accounts ap-
proved by drunken and lecherous
negro men, school officers. PrOba-
bly, Northern people can hardly real
| ize how horrible, how unspeakably
| horrible, such conditions as these are
to Southern white people. Yet when
we try to free ourselves from this
OverpOwering and lettering issue. to
leave ourselves free to think and act
regardless OF the color line, the Re-
publicans and the Northern news
| papers and people undertake to undo
| the work and to force us back to a
condition in which we must fight for
| our lives and our civilization and
are forbidden to know any political
| consideration except the protection
OF our local affairs against negro rule
and influence
Aside from all this. the Republican
party is associated in the minds of
many thousands of Southern voters
| with the horrors of the recOnstruc-
ton period and with the negro in
power in our politics. The people of
the North generally are inclined to
leave the South to work out it's own
| internal problems in it's own way:
| but always there are people like
Crumpacker and Foraker keeping
before Us the threat that unlimited
Republican power in the Federal
government and the influence of the
Northern negro agitation in the Re-
publican party may bring renewed
| prosecutions, renewal of the attempt
to re-establish negro power in this
section.
Aside from this, again, many
thoughtful Southern people who can
think regardless of the negro ques-
ton and who can put old wrongs and
insults behind them and look to the
| future and to the welfare ofthe whole
country, feel that it is dangerous for
the Republican party or any other
party to have unObstructei and un-
limited sway. They believe that an
opposition party should be MAIN
tanned and with enough organization
and strength to make it a menace
and a check to the party in power.
Therefore W bile not at all enthusias-
tic Tor Mr. Bryan and repudiatingd dis
| tlnctly some of his theories and de-
clared purposes, they believe that the
| destruction or extinction of the Demo-
cratic party organization would be IA
calamity. They contend that if the
South can do no more, she can hold
herself as a nucleus around which
the conservative forces of the coun-
try may rally, as a foundation on
which the Democratic party of the
country may be re-established if the
Republican party, drunk with power,
goes too far in the direction of CEN
trailzation or any other vicious course
threatening the welfare and progress
OF the republic. This position is alb
solutely just and unassailable.