Year: 1878

than for the people of the North to chime


IN with the aristocracy of the South t


make the term carpet bagger" a re


proach. The term ought to have beer


seized with alacrity in all anti slavery


and Republican quarters and made {


party rallying cry Tor it holds in itsel


suggestions OF the only possible mode o


regeneration OF Southern society. The


carptt-bagger was the legitimate outcome


of the war and of the abolition of slavery


If we had any business in interfering


with the old order OF society in the
South at ALL we had the right to the only
Peaceoble means of giving effect to thai
| Interterence-to wit, to put in personal
| appearance in the South Tor the purpose


OF teaching the ignorant, of reOrganizing


labor on the wages basis, OF practicing


the professions, of guiding politics on the


majority principle.


Whoever went to the South with this
intent of course, would incur the hatred


of the old slaveholding aristocracy, and
they would attempt to brand him with


odium. The term which they chose for


this purpose is one which on its face be


trays their animus There is nothing


about the term suggestive of corruption


or wrong The Southern aris tocracy did


not take it up because they wanted to
/


mouths it was mingled whine and con-
! tempt, resultant upon their bafhed ambi
! ton. 1t is said our noses are out of joint
| Here comes the new man with the new
/ idea, end we want neither. We want


nothing that is not Southern born and
! Southern bred and that IS not loyal to
| the old regime. 1t simply meant a North
erner, Aud Northorn people have helped
this old reactionary aristocracy into pos
session of the Southern situation as OF
old by bandying about its pet term OF re-
proach. There are two prominent ex-
cuses for this course; but neither OF
them is valid The one is that the car
pet, baggers were corrupt. That is sim
ply untrue The mass of men who went
from the North to the South on the
close of the war were no worse than the
mass of men who in this generation went
from the East to the West Probably no
other emigration in this country ever
contained within itself larger proper
tion OF men and women OF high and no
bic aim than that which turned south
ward as our army came home. Teachers
went there to


''Scatter before their swift advance


The dark knesS and the ignorance


The pride, the lust, the Squalid Sloth,


Winch nurtured Treason's monstrous growth"
Citizens went there not only to make tor
tunes but to inspire Southern society
with ideas of the nobility of industry aud
thrift. And young men went there let
it be confessed, with political ambition !;
but with pure intent as reigns in the
bosoms of their fellows whom they left
in the North


But all these classes were as hateful to
Southern society as those OF base intent
They were all Jumped together as Car
pet baggers," and the good as we'll as the
bad and ind fferent, We're put under ban
Some bad men got office. That may be
true But that fact was seized upon to
create pre- judice against all Immigrants,
of Whatever character 1t was surely
possible to stigmatlzr the corrupt indi
VIduals as corrupt; to make John Smith,
it he was bad. bear the Intamy of his own
msdeeds. There is no meaner meanness
than to attempt to make class bear the
opprobrium which belongs only to an
individual man. But, even if carpet
baggers were corrupt. they We're not such
Il luSuS, such a sport in Southern expert
ence that any great astonIshment was in
place. Mississippi had had corrupt poll
tIcians under the old order-enough to
wreck the credit OF the state and to lead
to Republication


ne couIHSIl Ldl llb0u Oy
corruptly appropriating the labor of the
Negro, without pay; and 1T is not very
strange that, when the Negro came TO
legislate, he should have had an easy
conscience about voting taxes on the
owners OF the old plantations, nor strange
that some OF the new politicians should
have been ready to take advantage oi
this altered state OF things.


1t is not true that all the so-called
carpet bag governments were corrupt
Some OF them can show as good record
as has been made in legislation North or
South Neither is it true that all the
OF the carpet bag govern
ments was corruption. The world was
then wild with recklessness; a thousand |
things seemed everywhere feasible that
now seem impossible. Misjudgment is |
not malice atorethought. There was |
much OF the former III the North in leg |
lslatiOn and in enterprise, as well as in |
the South, and disaster has overtaken it |
here, as well as there. But when it |
comes to corruption, what has been the |
gain in handing back the governments |
Of the South to the old aristocracy? To |
no single carpet bagger can be traced the
gigantic corruption of the present treasu
rer OF the State OF Missouri who was put /





condition.


No. We have allowed the South to
put in our mouths a term whose only |
Specification III the minds of the old aris
tocracy is denial of any results of the
war, philan thropic, industrial, or politi
cal


The other excuse is that Southern so
riety must rest on its natural basis
Pray what Is the natural basis OF South
rrn society? The only natural basis of
society that Republican, a Democrat
can conceive OF is the free expression OF
individual opinion, and then of indiv1d
nal will, through the ballot For that
principle the carpet.bag governments
stood, and there is no such array of evi
1ence as to compel the belief that a sue
cesstul issue would not have been
wrought out for Southern society on that
basis-allowance being made for errors
and even corruptions inevitable to the
condition.


The question comes: Is the shotgun
policy the "Datural basis of society
Ii Is said we must deliver the Negro to
his natural protectors. Are we doing
hat? Who Is a mans natural protector
the man who puts pistol to his ear
and III that attitude gives directions
The Negro has never gravitated to his
old master He has come to vote his old
ticket only by compulsion.


We are told that man going South
finds no trouble, if he minds his own
business and does not meddle with
Southern affairs. But what does man
OF any generuusuess OF spirit or spunk OF
character 90 South tor, except 10 meddle
with Southern affairs as he wants to?
Suppose We could not stay at the North
W.. lat ulpua Northern .ff,Irs II |