The Dayton forum. [volume] (Dayton, Ohio) 1913-1949, 1938-01-21
BY BEN DAVIS, Jr.
Associate Editor. Crusader
Newa Agency

President Roosevelt's brief refer
ence TO the Reconstruction era, in his
Jackson Day address last Saturday,
did not do justice TO this historic
period during which the fight for
democracy and progress in America
was greatly enriched.
1t was the momentary freedom
which the Negro people enjoyed dur
ing this period which was vital fec
tor in advancing the cause of de-
mocracy and progress in the South.
This reference Of the President
was in sharp contrast to the remain
ing portion of his address which dealt
new and powerful blows against the
Wall Street mdnopolies and their
present rapacious campaign against
the American people.
The President stated:
s'He abraham Lincoln), too,
fought for the morals of democracy
--and had he lived the South would
have been allowed to rehabilitate it,
self on the basis OF those morals in
stead OF being reconstructed by
martial law and carpetbaggers."
Block Progress Today
AS matter of fact, it was and
is the failure Of plantation-mill
owner reactionaries to carry through
a DEMOCRATIC rehabilitation Of
the sen..h: that makes such progress
sive measures as the elementary con-
stitutional rights of the Negro, wages
and hours legislation and Supreme
Court reform SO vitality needed in
the South today.
After the Civil War, the reaction
aries in the Republican Party gained
control of that party, abandoned the
fight for democracy and progress IN
the South, and completely deserted
the newly-freed Negro people. These
reactionaries completed that betrayal
by making allies with the Negro
hating officials of the South who
controlled the Democratic Party.
Thus unholy alliance gave a free
rein to the reactionary Southern Of
ficials who promptly instituted Ku
Klux Klan rule OF terror and lynch
ing against the Negro people, dis
franchising them, driving the poor
white workers and sharecroppers
deeper into the mire of poverty and
suffering.
/ Example Of Democracy
! The martial law and carpetbag-
gers" period which President Roose-
velt refers to was history's most
outstanding example of democracy
| in the South.
In this all-too-short Reconstruction
, period the Negro people were in the
! vanguard for democracy in the en-
tire South, working brilliantly not
only for their rights but for the
whole oppressed population. The
reactionary historians, of course, say
| the reverse. Negroes served i'm State
legislatures in South Carolina, Flori--
da, Georgia, as well as in the United
States Senate and House, with credit
to their people and to the nation.
Negro legislators set up the first
! public educational system in the
South, fought the brutal chain gang
| system, and battled against reac-
tionary restrictions which disfran-
chised the poor whites of the South
as well as themselves. {See Recon-
struction: the Battle for Democracy,
by James S. Allen.)
Rebels OF Today
President Roosevelt criticizes this
period reconstructed by martial
law and carpetbaggers.a
But let's see who are the "unre-
constructed Southern rebels Of to-
day. The Tory Republican New York
Herald Tribune, spokesman Of the
fascist-minded Liberty Leaguers
answers the question.
| In d glowing tribute to the die
hard reactionary Democrat Senator
Carter Glass On the occasion of his
s0th birthday, the Tribune called