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A GREAT PROBLEM.
the negro question in the
SOUTH.
The Solution Proposed by the Party
of the People—Equal Rights to
All, Special Favors to None.
[From advance sheets of an article in
the Arena for October, from the pen of
Hon. Thomas E. Watson.]
The Negro Question in the South
has been for nearly thirty years a
source of danger, discord and blood
shed. It is an ever-present irritant
and menace.
Several millions of slaves were
told that they were the prime cause
of the civil war. That their eman
cipation was the result of the triumph
of the North over the South. That
the ballot was placed in their hands
as a weapon of defence against their
former masters. That the war-won
political equality of the black man
with the white, must be asserted
promptly and aggressively, under the
leadership of adventurers who had
swooped down upon the conquered
section in the wake of the Union
armies.
No one, who wishes to be fair, can
fail to see that, in such a condition of
things, strife between the freedman
and his former owner was inevitable.
In the clashing of interests and of
feelings, bitterness was born. The
black man was kept in a continual
fever of suspicion that we meant to
put him back into slavery. In the
assertion of his recently acquired
privileges, he was led to believe that
the best proof of his being on the
right side of any issue was that his
old master was on the other. When
this was the case, he felt easy in his
mind. But if by chance, he found
that he was voting the same ticket
with his former owner, he at once
became reflective and suspicious, In
the irritable temper of the times, a
whispered warning from a Northern
“carpet-bagger,” having no justifica
tion in rhyme or reason, outweighed
with him a carload of sound argument
and earnest expostulation from the
man whom he had known all his
life; who had hunted with him
through every swamp and wooded up
land for miles around; who had wres
tled and run foot-races with him in
the “negro quarters” on many a Sat
urday afternoon ; who had fished with
him at every “hole” in the creek ;
and who had played a thousand
games of “marbles” with him under
the cool shade of the giant oaks
which, in those days, sheltered a
home they had both loved.
In brief, the end of the war brought
changed relations and changed feel
ings. Heated antagonisms produced
mutual distrust and dislike—ready
at any accident of unusual provoca
lion on either side, to break out into
passionate and bloody conflict.
Quick to take advantage of this
deplorable situation, the politicans
have based the fortunes of the old
parties upon it. Northern leaders
have felt that the cry of “Southern
outrage” they could not only “fire
the Northern heart,” but also win a
unanimous vote from the colored
people. Southern politicians have
felt that at the cry of “Negro domin
ation” they could drive into solid
phalanx every white man in all the
Southern states.
Both the old parties have done
this thing until they have constructed
as perfect a “slot machine” as the
world ever saw. Drop the old, worn
nickle of the “party slogan” into the
slot, and the machine does the rest.
You might beseech a Southern white
tenant to listen to you upon questions
of finance, taxation and transporta
tion ; you might demonstrate with
mathematical precision that herein
lay his way out of poverty into com
fort; you might have him “almost
persuaded” to the truth, but if the
merchant who furnished his farm
supplies (at tremendous usury) or
the town politician (whonever spoke
to him excepting at elction times),
came along and cried “Negro rule”
the entire fabric of reason and com
mon sense which you had patiently
constituted would fall, and the poor
tenant would joyously hug the chains
of an actual wretchedness rather
than do any experimenting on’a ques
t: n <4 iite;e sentv.nent.
I hthe Northern Democrats
• ave ruled the South with a rod of
i «.,i i r twenty years. We have had
ru-qiiicbce when the time-honored
ih i.iciples we loved were sent to the
re;,.- and new doctrines and policies
dos-pised wore engrafted on our
platform. All this we have had to
do io obtain the assistance of North
ern Democrats to prevent what was
called “Negro Supremacy.” In other
words, the Negro has been as valu
able a portion of the stock in trade
of a Democrat as he was of a Re
publican. Let the South ask relief
from Wall street; 16t it plead for
PEOPLE’S PARTY PAPER, ATLANTA, GEORGIA, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 1892.
equal and just laws on £ nance; let
it beg for mercy against crushing
taxation, and Northern Democracy,
with all the coldness, cruelty and
subtlety of Mephistopheles would
hint “Negro rule”: and the white
farmer and laborer of the South had
to choke down his grievance and
march under Tammany’s orders.
Reverse the statement, and we have
the method by which the black man
was managed by the Republicans.
Reminded constantly that the
North had emancipated him; that
the North had given him the ballot;
that the North had upheld him in
citizenship ; that the South was his
enemy, and meant to deprive him of
his suffrage and put him “back into
slavery,” it is no wonder he has
played as nicely into the hands of the
Republicans as his former owner has
played into the hands of the North
ern Democrats.
Now consider: here were two dis
tinct races dwelling together, with
political equality established between
them by law* They lived in the
same, section ; won their livelihood
by the same pursuits ; enjoyed to
gether the bounties of a generous
climate ; suffered together the rigors
of cruelly unjust laws; spoke the
same language; bought and sold in
the same markets; classified them
selves into churches under the same
denominational teachings; neither
race antagonizing the other in any
branch of industry; each absolutely
dependent on the other in all the
avenues of labor and employment;
and yet, instead of being allies, as
every dictate of reason, and prudence,
and self-interest, and justice, said
they should be, they were kept apart,
in dangerous hostility, that the sordid
aims of partisan politics might be
served!
So completely has this scheme
succeeded that the Southern black
man almost instinctively supports
any measure the Southern white man
condemns, while the latter almost
universally antagonizes any proposi
tion suggested by a Northern Repub
lican. We have, then, a solid South
as opposed to a solid North ; and in
the South itself, a solid black vote
against the solid white.
That such a condition is most
ominous to both sectigns and both
races is apparent to all.
If we were dealing with a few
tribes of red men, or a few sporadic
Chinese, the question would be easily
disposed of. The Anglo-Saxon
wonld probably ffo just as he pleased,
whether right or wrong; and the
weaker man would go under.
But the Negroes number 8,000,000.
They are interwoven with our busi
ness, political and labor systems.
They assimilate with our customs,
our religion, our civilization. They
meet us at every turn, —in the fields,
the shops, the mines. They are a
part of our system, and they are
here to stay.
Thoie writers who tediously wade
through census reports to prove that
the Negro is disappearing, are the
most absured mortals extant. The
Negro is not disappearing. A South
ern man who looks about him and who
sees how rapidly the colored people
increaase, how cheaply they can live
and how readily they learn, has no
patience whatever with those statisti
cal lunatics who figure out the final
disappears nee of the Negro one hun
dred years hence. The truth is, that
the “black belts” in the South are
getting blacker. The race is mixing
less than it ever did. Mulattoes are
less common (in proportion) than
during the times of slavery. Mis
cegenation is further off (thank God)
than ever. Neither the blacks nor
the whites have any relish for it.
Both have a pride of race which is
commendable, and which, properly
directed, will lead to the best results
for both. The home of the colored
man is chiefly with us in the South,
and there he will remain. It is there
he is founding churches,* opening
schools, maintaining newspapers,
entering the professions, serving on
juries, deciding doubtful elections,
drilling as a volunteer soldier, and
piling up a cotton crop which amazes
the world.
11.
This preliminary statement is made
at length that the gravity of the sit
uation may be seen. Such a problem
never confronted any people before.
Never before did two distinct races
dwell together under such conditions.
And the problem is, can these two
races distinct in color, distinct in so
cial life, and distinct as political
powers, dvell together in peace and
prosperity ?
Upon a question so difficult and
delicate no man should dogmatize—
nor dodge. The issue is here : grows
more urgent every day, and must be
met.
It is safe to say that the present
status of hostility between the races
can only be sustained at the most
imminent risk to both. It is leading
by logical necessity to results which
the imagination shrinks from contem
plating. And the horrors of such a
future can only be averted by honest
attempts at a solution of the question,
which will be just to both races, and
beneficial to both.
Having given this subject much
anxious thought, my opinion is that
the future happiness of the two races
will never be assured until the politi
cal motives which drive them asun
der, into two distinct and hostile fac
tions, can be removed. There must
be a new policy inaugurated, whose
purpose is to allay the passions and
prejudices of race conflict, and which
makes its appeal to the sober sense
and honest judgment of the citizen
regardless of his color.
To the success of his policy two
things are indispensible—a common
necessity acting upon both races, and
a common benefit assured to both—
without injury or humiliation to
either.
Then, again, outsiders must let us
alone. We must work out our own
salvation. In no other way can it
be done. Suggestions of Federal
interference with our elections, post
pone the settlement and render our
task more difficult. Like all free
people, we love home rule, and re
sent foreign compulsion of any sort.
The Northern leader who really de
sires to see a better state of things in
the South, puts his fingers on the
hands of the clock and forces them
backward, every time he intermeddles
with the question. This is the literal
truth, and the sooner it is well under
stood, the sooner we can accomplish
our purpose.
What is that purpose? To out
line a policy which compels the sup
port of a great body of both races,
from those motives which imperiously
control human action, and -which will
thus obliterate forever the sharp and
unreasoning political divisions of to
day.
The white people of the South will
never support the Republican Party.
This much is certain. The black
people of the South will never sup
port the Democratic Party. This is
equally certain.
Hence, at the very beginning, we
are met by the necessity of new poli
tical alliances. As long as the whites
remain solidly Democratic, the blacks
will remain solidly Republican.
As long as there was no choice,
except as between the Democrats
and Republicans, the situation cf the
two races was bound to be one of
antagonism. The Republican Party
represented everything which was
hateful to the whites; the Democratic
Party everything that was hateful to
the blacks.
Therefore a new party was absol
utely necessary. It has come, and
it is doing its work with marvellous
rapidity.
Why does a Southern Democrat
leave his party and come to ours ?
Because his industrial condition is
pitiably bad; because he struggles
against a system of laws which have
almost filled him with despair ; be
cause he is told he is without clothing
because he produces too much cotton,
and without food because corn is too
plentiful; because he sees everybody
growing .rich off the products of
labor except the laborer; because the
millionaires who manage the Demo
cratic Party have contemptuously
ignored his plea for a redress of
grievances and have nothing to say
to him beyond the cheerful advice to
“work harder and live closer.”
Why has this man joined the Peo
ple’s Party ? Because the same
grievances have been presented to
the Republicans by the farmer of the
West, and the millionaires who con
trol that party have replied to the
petition with the soothing council
that the Republican farmer of the
W est should “work more and
talk less!”
if he were confined to
a choice between the old parties, the
question would merely be (on the
issues) whether the pot were larger
than the kettle—the color of both
being precisely the same.
111.
The key to the new political move
ment called the People’s, Party has
been that the Democratic farmer
was as ready to leave the Democratic
ranks as the Republican farmer was
to leave the Republican ranks. In
exact proportion as the West received
the assurance that the South was
ready for a new party, it has moved.
In exact proportion to the proof we
could bring that the West had broken
Republican ties, the South has moved.
Without a decided break in both sec
tions, neither would move. With
that decided break, both moved.
The very same principle governs
the race question in the South. The
two races can never act together
permanently, harmiously, beneficially,
till each race demonstrates to the
other a readiness to leave old party
affiliation and to form newones, based
upon the profound conviction that,
in acting together, both races are
seeking new laws which will benefit
both. On no other basis under
heaven can the “Negro Question”
be solved.
IV.
Now, suppose that the colored
man were educated upon these ques
tions just as the whites have been;
suppose he were shown that his pov
erty and distress came from the same
sources as ours; suppose we should
convince him that our platform prin
ciples assure him an escape from the
ills he now suffers, and guarantee
him the fair measure of prosperity
his labor entitles him to receive—
would he not act just as the white
democrats who joined us did ?
Would he not abandon a party
which ignores him as a farmer and
laborex-; which offers him no benefits
of an equal and just financial system;
which promises him no relief from
oppressive taxation; which assures
him of no legislation which -will en
able him to obtain a fair price for
his produce ?
Granting to him the same selfish
ness common to us all; granting him
the intelligence to know what is best
for him and the desire to attain at,
why would he not act from that mo
tive just as the white farmer has
done ?
That he would do so is as certain
as any future event can be made.
Gratitude may fail; so may sympa
thy, and friendship, and generosity,
and patriotism; but, in the long run,
self-interest always controls. Let it
once appear plainly that it is to the
interest of a colored man to vote
with the white man and he will do
it. Let it plainly appear that it is to
the interest of the white man that
the vote of the negro should supple
ment his own, and the question of
having that ballot freely cast and
fairly counted, becomes vital to the
white man. He will see that it is
done.
Now let us illustrate: Suppose
two tenants on my farm; one of
them white, the other black. They
cultivate their crops under precisely
the same conditions. Their labors,
discouragements, burdens, grievan
ces, are the same.
The white tenant is driven by
cruel necessity to examine into the
cause of his continued destitution.
He reaches certain conclusions which
are not complimentary to either of
the old parties. He leaves the de
mocracy in angry disgust. He joins
the People’s party. Why ? Simply
because its platform recognizes that
he is badly treated and proposes to
fight his battle. Necessity drives
him from the old party, and hope
leads him into the new. In plain
English, he joins the organization
whose declaration of principles is in
accord with his conception of wffiat
he needs and justly deserves.
Now go back to the. colored tenant.
His surroundings being the same and
his interests the same, why is it im
possible for him to reach the same
conclusions? Why is it unnatural
for him to go into the new party at
the same time and -with the same
motives ?
Cannot these two men act together
in peace when the ballot of the one
is a vital benefit to the other ? Will
not political friendship be born of
the necessity and the hope which is
common to both? Will not race
bitterness disappear before this com
mon suffering and this mutual de
sire* to escape it? Will not each of
these citizens feel more kindly for
the other, when the vote of each de
fends the home of both? If the
white man becomes convinced that
the Democratic party has played
upon his prejudices, and has used his
quiescence to the benefit of interests
adverse to his own, will he not de
spise the leaders Who seek to perpet
uate the system ?
V.
The People’s party will settle the
race question. First, by enacting
the Australian ballot system. Sec
ond, by offering to white and black
a rallying point which is free from
the odium of former discords and
strifes. Third, by presenting a plat
form immensely beneficial to both
races and injurious to neither.
Fourth, by making it to the interest
of the both races to act together for
the success of the platform. Fifth,
by making it to the interest of the
colored man to have the same patri
otic zeal for the welfare of the South
that the whites possess.
Now to illustrate. Take two
planks of the People’s party plat
form :—that pledging a free ballot
under the Australian system and
that which demands a distribution of
currency 1o the people upon pledges
of land, cotton, etc.
The guaranty as to the vote will
suit the back man better than the
Republican platform because the lat
ter contemplates Federal interfer
ence, which will lead to collisions
and bloodshed. The Democratic
platform contains no comfort to the
negro, because, while it denounces
the Republican programme, as usual,
it promises nothing which can be
specified. It is a generality which
does not even possess the virtue of
being “glittering.”
The .People’s party, however, not
only condemns Federal interference
with elections, but also distinctly
commits itself to the method by
which evnry citizen shall have his
constitutional right to the free exer
cise of his electoral choice. We
pledge ourselves to isolate the voter
from all coercive influences and give
him the free and fair exercise of his
franchise under State laws.
Now couple this with the financial
plank which promises equality in the
distribution of national currency, at
low rates of interest. The white
tenant lives adjoining the colored
tenant. Their houses are almost
equally destitute of comfort. Their
living is confined to bare necessities.
They are equally burdened with
heavy taxes. They pay the same
high rent for gullied and impoverish
ed land.
They pay the same enormous
prices for farm supplies. Christmas
finds them both without any satis
factory return for a year’s toil. Dull,
and heavy, and unhappy, they both
start the plows again when “New
Year’s” passes.
Now the People’s party says to
these two men, “You are kept apart
that you may be separately fleeced
of your earnings. You are made to
hate each other because upon that
hatred is rested the keystone of the
arch of financial despotism which en
slaves you both. You are deceived
and blinded that you may not see
how this race antagonism perpetu
ates a monetary system which beg
gars both.”
This is so obviously true it is no
wonder both these unhappy laborers
stop to listen. No wonder they be
gin to realize that no change of law
can benefit the white tenant which
does not benefit the black one like
wise; that no system which now does
injustice to one of them can fail to
injure both. Their every interest is
identical. The moment this becomes
a conviction, mere selfishness, —the
mere desire to better their condi
tions* escape onerous taxes, avoid
usurious charges, lighten their rents,
or change their precarious tenements
into smiling homes, will drive these
two men together, just as their mu
tually inflamed prejudices now drive
them apart.
Suppose these two men now to
have become fully imbued with the
idea that their material welfare de
pends upon the reforms we demand.
Then they act together to secure
them. Every white reformer finds
it to the vital interest of his home,
his family, his fortune, to see to it
that the vote of the colored reform
er is feely cast and fairly counted.
Then what? Every colored voter
will be thereafter a subject of in
dustrial education and political teach
ing-
Concede that in the final event, a
colored man will vote where his ma
terial interests dictate that he should
vete; concede that in the South the
accident of color can make no possi
ble difference in the interest of
farmers, croppers, and laborers; con
cede that under full and fair discus
sion the people can be depended
upon to ascertain where their inter
ests lie—and we reach the conclu
sion that the Southern race question
can be solved by the People’s party
on the simple proposition that each
race will be led by self-interest to
support that which benefits it, when
so presented that neither is hindered
by the bitter party antagonisms of
the past.
Let the colored laborer realize
that our platform gives him a bet
ter guaranty for political independ
ence; for a fair return for his work;
a better chance to buy a home and
keep it; a better chance to educate
his children and see them profitably
employed; a better chance to have
public life freed from race collisions;
a better chance for every citizen to
be considered as a citizen regardless
of color in the making and
enforcing of the <flaws, —let all
this be fully realized and the race
question at the South will have set
tled itself through the evolution of a
political movement in which both
whites and blacks recognize their
surest way out of wretchedness into
comfort and independence.
The illustration could be made
quite as clearly from other planks in
the People’s party platform. On
questions of land, transportation and
finance, especially, the welfare of
the two races so clearly depends
upon that which benefits either, that
intelligent discussion would neces
sarily lead to |just conclusions.
Why should the colored man al
ways be taught that the white man
of his neighborhood hates him, while
a northern man, who taxes every
rag on his back, loves him? Why
should not my tenant come to re
gard me as his friend, rather than
the manufacturer who plunders us
both? Why should we perpetuate a
policy which drives the black man
into the arms of northern politi
cians.
Why should we always allow
Northern and Eastern Democrats to
enslave us forever by threats of the
Force Bill?
Let us draw the supposed teeth of
this fabled dragon by founding our
new policy upon justice—upon the
simple but profound truth that, if
the voice of passion can be hushed,
the self-interest of both races will
drive them to act in concert. There
never was a day during the last
twenty years when the South could
not have flung the money power
into the dust by patiently teaching
the Negro that we could not be
wretched under any system which
would not effect him likewise ; that
we could not prosper under any law
which would not also bring its bless
ings to him.
To the emasculated individual who
cries Negro supremacy, there is little
to be said. His cowardice shows him
to be a degeneration from the race
which has never yet feared any other
race. Existing under such conditions
as they now do in this country, there
is no earthly chance forNegro dom
ination, unless we are ready to ad
mit that the colored man is our supe
rior in will power, courage and in
tellect.
Not being prepared to make any
such admission, in favor of any race
the sun ever shone on, I have no
words which can portray my con
tempt for the white men, Anglo-
Saxons, who knock their knees to
gether, and through their chattering
teeth and pale lips, admit that they
are afraid the Negroes will “domin
ate us.”
The question of social equality
does not enter into the calculation at
all. That is a thing each citizen
decides for himself. No statute
ever drew the latch of the humblest
home—or .ever will. Each citizen
regulates his own visiting list—and
always will.
The conclusion, then, seems to me
to be this: the crushing burdens
which now oppress both races in the
South will cause each to make an
effort to cast them off. They will
see a similarity of cause and similarity
of remedy. They will recognize
that each should help the other in
the work of repealing bad laws and
enacting good ones. They will be
come political allies, and neither can
injure the other without weakening
both. It will be to the interest of
both that each should have justice.
And on these broad lines of mutual
interest, mutual forbearance and
mutual support, the present will be
made the stepping-stone to future
peace and prosperity.
All persons "wishing to correspond
■with the State organizer, Knights of
Labor, will communicate with J. F.
Foster, State organizer K. of L., Rox
ana, Ga.
HON. TOM TOSOIFS BOOL
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ITS TITLE—-
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Besides Arguments, Facts, on aS
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—ALSOfi—
Speeches of the “Nine* at this Sesvloot
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THE NATIONAL WATCHMAN,
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A PEOPLE’S PABTY PAHfflfe
An FbntaolsN WefflyT
puHLismsn at
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uLder the Direction of the Congxesgftaatt
Committee of the People’s Party*
IST. A.. dun ninto-
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Among the contributors wilL bp—
Senators W. A. Peffer and J. IL Kyle i Cbn
grestmen T. E. Watson. John Davis, Jdmr
Simpson, W. A. McKeighan, B. F. Clover, J.
G. Otis. 6. M. Kem. K. Haltorsen. T. E W'ffin
W. Baker, pr. M. G. Ellzy, and many other
well known Writers.
TERMS, - - - FIFTY CENTS PER YE AB.
Twenty-five cents until Nov. 9, 1892,
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THE NATIONAL WATCHMAN CO.,
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7