Evening star., 1949-08-31
Letters to The Star
Northern Reader Would Refute
Criticism of the South

Northern Reader Would Refute
Criticism Of the South
| To the Editor Of The Star:
| The intemperate reference to the Dixie
crat TRAITORS" by Howard Horwill in The
Star of August Is calls for some fortnight
| comment to refute his argument-and why
not by Northern-born and educated man
who grew up to know scores of Union pen
| sioners, many of whom never worked a
day and some of whom had had their war
records corrected" by legislation in order
to live life of ease?
Most of the last SO years have lived in
the South and Southwest. found I had
to be re-educated. I learned that secession
| while not desirable) was constitutional and
that New England was first to consider such
step in the War of 1872. Also that there
| was strong movement in New York which,
| with several other States, had reserved the
right to secede when the Constitution orig
inally was adopted and the Sons of Liber-
ty," encouraged by their mayor, attempted
to secede in 1864. That is now dead ISSUE
having been settled by the great Civil War.
Was it "baneful' for the DixecratS to
enter an "unholy" alliance with the Repub-
! licans to prevent rubber stamp Congress
| approving the packing of the Supreme Court
| in 1885, even though the objective was ac-
| complished later, so that now the general
| public has no respect for either the Court
or the Presidency. Americans do not want
peoples court" iron curtain pattern.
The attack upon Senator Fulbright was
most unfair. He, together with Senators
Hoey, Byrd and a galaxy of others are
among the most erudite in Congress; and
no man can honestly question the integrity
of their acts which transcend party dicta-
torship.
If it is true that the Southerners formed
a group of "wilful men" in opposing the
District home rule bill. what about the
group Of equally willful men who attempted
to force the said bill down our throats after
a similar bill had been rejected in refer
endum?
Why Is 1t that the do-gooders always 60
away from home to experiment? The South
has been successful in dealing with its own
racial problems. Moses instituted segrega-
ton and Ezra enforced 1t. It guarantees
Negroes their own places of congregation as
Henry Wallace and Glen Taylor found out
to their discontinue. And why is it there
is no Negro postmaster in Minneapolis nor
Boston, plus a lot of other places where
Uncle Toms Cabin" continues to be re-
quired reading? The civil rights cry of
our opponents is sham though 1t does
prove to be good vote winning bait from
the gullible.
Let's quit talking about the Dixiecrats
betraying the Democratic Party. 1t was
the misnamed liberals that moved in with
labor autocrats in an unholy alliance that
stole the party of Jefferson, bag and bag
gage. From 1900 to 1882. as mere private
citizen or newspaper editor, I consistently
supported the Democratic ticket with one
exception and confess with sorrow my aid
In smearing that great man. Herbert Hoov-
er. But with the advent of the Blue Eagle
and kindred socialistic ideas, I have re-
pented. Splinter parties are undesirable
and even dangerous as France proves. How
ever. the conservatism of the Dixiecrats
must live, either as single party or as
part of coalition.
Fruits of War Still a Problem.
Mr.. Horwill speaks of the South as COM
prising backward areas and plainly shows
himself prejudiced and uninformed. There
| may not be as many backward areas In
the North. but they exist. There are
blighted areas In the South for which the
North IS entirely responsible. Mr.. Horwill's
reference to Gresham's Law is pedantic. If
it is applicable, it will show the intrinsic
value of such Southerners AS previously
named who refuse to be led by party ex-
pediency. placing patriotism above all things.
Following the War Between the States
the South was devastated. Practically the
entire white population was diSfranchised
and the newly freed men given the fran
chise. Carpetbaggers from the North moved
in and manipulated the controls which
levied crushing taxes on the land, to large
extent lying fallow as it did when Henry
Wallace made his experiment in New Deal
days-and he had never seen cotton plant.
Legislatures issued bonds and carpetbag-
gers pocketed the money. This is the dis
passionate account by some old men who
served in the legislature at Raleigh with
ignorant ex-slaves lolling in chairs with
their bare feet on their desks. (See Leslie's
and Harpers weeklies of that period
These were the bonds Europeans bought
and vainly tried to collect. Arson, pillage
and terrorism became general and gave rise
to hooded night riders who had no other
recourse in their disfranchisement. You
| cannot expect the South to forget its heavy
| burden and humiliation of Reconstruction
| days. It cannot forget the actual encour-
| agement of crime on the part Of the ex-
slaves by the Federal commander of New
| Orleans after the surrender.
| Taxable values were destroyed. There
was no Marshall Plan nor other aid as to
Germany today. The reaction to oppres-
| sion, with ignorance and thieyery in ascend
| ancy, was the passage Of the poll tax laws.
| Discriminatory freight rates have throttled
| manufactures for years and the South was
impoverished by sending dollars North to
buy what it produced in raw form.
Today murder IN an isolated Georgia
community Is spread on our metropolitan
front pages as mob lynching. parallel
instance in the North, If mentioned at all.
| is a gang killing-the result Of feud.
| o. G. CARRELL
Single Tax Doctrine Set Forth
As Cure for Most of Our Troubles
| To the Editor Of The Star:
Our voteless District now has sales tax
| on top of all the sneak-thief taxes hidden
| in the price of everything on which it will
| fall. However, we are faring no worse than
other parts of the country having the vote.