The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-01-24
EIGHT GOVERNORS OF ALABAMA
f84-1901
No. 2-Some Further Inside Conditions
1874-190t

/ speech the President directed Frederick
Seward, assistant secretary of state, tc
read, from an upper window, proclama-
ton from him which would be published
in the morning papers. The proclamation
WAS substantially an announcement TO the
southern states that complete restora-
tion of the union was their privilege.
They could elect their representatives,
chose their senators and return whence
they had departed in perfect freedom oi
action.
| BY appointmnt the Alabamian presented
himself at the White House the next day,
April II. The President promptly entered
the room, greeted his visitor, drew close
| a large chair, threw both legs over an
arm and listened eagerly. The change in
tho military situation left no ground for
pursuit of the original purpose of thu
visit of Mr.. Blbb. He rose to retire. The
President, selling the lappels Of his coat,
| babe him be seated.
| MIR. President was the inquiry, what
| is to be the status of government IN the
| southern states?"
Let your governors convene the 1egfs-
| la.ures, chose senators, order the eec-
ton of representatives and come back to
your places in the union,' was the an
swer a
do you mean that the state govern
ments elected by the states of the Con-
federacy during the war are valid nows'
| Certainly You have no Others"
| What Is to be done with our civil and
military leaders?"
There will be no revenges."
docs your emancipation proclamation
| free all the slavesY'
| mo. / have right to emancipata
slaves. My proclamation applies to those
! within the union military lines. Congress
has sent out to the states an article or
| amendment setting all free. II that is
ratified. I shall be In favor of paying for
| them"
Mr.. Bibb published "A full and circum-
| star tial account of his expedition, include
ing a report of his interview with Mr..
Lincoln. As quoted here, the exact mean-
ing is given and the words practically.
| The proclamation read by Seward to
the multitude was not published. Mr..
Bibb expressed TO the President on his
| interview his disappointment that the
morning papers did not contain 1t. The
President explained: Friends to whose
Judgment must eoncede something came
and advised delay for few days, but
1t will be published
Two days after this most significant and
historic interview came the assassination.
The fact attested by the two Incidents
here related. going to show the purpose
and opinions of Mr. Lincoln at the close
, | of the war, regards results of the
war, Is of prime and pivotal Importance
to American history.
The rise and fail of the Confederacy Of
, fered the opportunity to the revolutionary
/, element which. in its execution, we know
as reconstruction. II was opportunity thar
failed in the attempted slave insurrection
of 1886, opportunity failed again in John
Brown of 1859, but opportunity chat
would have been sought relentlessly In The
! union until realized.
! The recovery of the south from recon-
struction was due to the Indispensable
wisdom and courage of her people. Many
Incidental facts of relief appear. Among
oh fhp dtoa nj the
I revolutionary element. that controlled. In
5 the political availability of the freedmen.
: The new allies proved to be incapable of
: party incorporation. They brought no
resources Of mind wealth into the party.
The more free the negro became to set up
for himself, the less was his perform
ance. He was the cotton producer. Cot
! ton was the main export crop OF the
United States The same negro popula-
ton produced in the five years next before
the war. about 70 per cent more cotton
than In the five years next following
emancipation. The future became alarm
ing to commerce.
Those southern people who know only
so much of the ante-bellum politics of the
country as the commerce In books and
the contemporary newspapers find It
/. profitable TO print. may well be confused
by the records OF earlier times. 1t Is to be
considered that the character of the peo-
pie of the dominant section so years ago.
or long prior TO tnat date, does not nOlQ
J quite ia st to them now. The explanation
Is in the partially of the operation of
the federal government. Direct favors OF
legislation and positive distribution of
J patronage have worked marvellous results
upon the benehclaries. Suddenly yard
stick democracy has been transformed
into an arstocracy of refinement un-
) equaled. The public and private Libraries
of the northern states. the public and pri-I
rate collection of works of art the great
; book and journalistic publishing houses.
the noble public and private hospitals and
houses of refuge, the proud universities
and the schools. the temples and tbs
, charities, the hotels and the public car
riers, challenge the wonder OF the world.
: while they multiply. The federal treas
ury is the sectional almoner. Tariff pro-
tected industry, statute favored banks, In
! discrimnately rewarded pensioners. mo-
nopoly Of the honors and emoluments OF
t government offices. grossly unequal dis
bursement of federal revenues by means
) of internal ACKNOWLEDGEMENT for
? army and navy rlean wealth easily won
, by the favored. Wealth accumulated
! means a class cf people of leisure, of re-
fined manners and lofty thought The
! federal debt is now a fixed institution
upon which the Industrial life of the land
! Is founded. The glory of the country SO
years ago was that there was no federal
debt.
JOHN wITHERSPooN DUBOSE.