Newspaper Page Text
6
THE CONSTITUTION
CLARK HOWELL Editor
ROBY ROBINSON Business Manager
Fatcred at the Atlanta PactofTiee aa Secanil
Clacc Mail Matter, Nar. 11, 1873.
THE WEEKLY CONSTITUTION, only $1 per
annum. Clubs of five, SI each; chibs of ten,
$1 each and a copy to getter-up of club.
WK WANT YOU—The Constitution wants an
agent at every postoffice in America. Agent's
outfit free and good terms. Jf you are not
in a club, we want you to act as agent at
your office. Write ue.
CHANGE OF ADDRESS—When ordering ad
dress of your paper changed always give the
old as well ae the new address. Always give
postoffice, county and state. If your paper
‘b not received regularly, notify us and we
will straighten the matter.
IF YOU SEND US AN ORDER for new sub
scribers, please allow us a week to get the
names on the list and paper started before
you write a complaint, as we are very much
ciowded now.
DO NOT FORGET to make your renewals In
time. Watch your direction lag and see
when your subscription expiree. The next
six month wbl be full of interest and- you
should not miss a single copy of The Con
stitution. ciend your orders at least a week
in advance to make sure. It may not <ake
week in every Instance, as we use the
greatest diligence to get them on our mail
ing list.
The Prosperous South!
Whether the "bear talk” that is
heard in certain financial centers is
genuine, or only a part of the play to
affect speculative markets, we are
not prepared to say. While we would
deplore a fresh era of hard times, we I
would not be surprised to see it. hap
pen to those who have manufactured
out of paper and water the great wads
of "undigested securities” that are now ;
qhoking the exchanges in the east.
But let what will come to those gam- ■
biers in trusts and boom companies, I
we are sure that no financial panic, i
big or little, can affect seriously the '
business of the south. Our people are
a simple people as to speculative en
terprises and do not venture upon
those treacherous waters. Almost all
the business done in the south is bot
tomed on conservative investments
and for purposes of substantial indus
try and certain profits. A ease now
and then may occur where some enthu
siast attempts a corner or a trust in
imitation of the eastern plungers, but
the failure of such an effort does not
disturb business except in very lim
ited circles.
The prospect of the growing cotton
crop are such as to give assurance that. ;
we are to have at least two more years
of financial ease in this section. The ;
farmer can now sell his average yield
of cotton months ahead in the market
around 10 cents per pound. That fact
alone means a gain of millions of dol
lars over last year’s returns and is an .
insurance that our great staple indus- j
try cannot suffer greatly, if at all. by
anything the speculative industrial
centers may do. With a large cotton I
crop at such figures the south will be i
able to support her people and indus I
tries largely by her own capital.
We have natural resources and man
ufacturing advantages which readily
discount the offerings of any other sec
tion of the union. Conservative, far
seeing men known these tilings and
are showing a disposition to transfer
capital and operations to the south
rather than keep them subject to pre
(jirious money and labor conditions ■
elsewhere.
in the financial panics of 1573 and
1893 the southern people suffered less
than those of any other section. Few
er of our banks failed and fewer haul:
rnptcies in legitimate business were
recorded against ns. Our people do
business on close and safe credits,
a rule.
And eat h panic that has come since
the civil war has served to attract wid- I
er and more serious attention to the
security and profit of doing business
in these southern states. After each
of them our fields of raw materials
have been more closely inspected ami
larger volumes of capital seeking sta- '
ble conditions of employment ami
earniing power have been invested in
southern fields, forests and factories.
The people of the south have only
to maintain the integrity of tin ir cred
it, be conservative in operations ami
keep within the limits of wise economy
to find themselves independent of pan
ics and the supporting power ol for
eign help.
With our fields whitening to the har
vest of a crop second only to the out
put of a gold mine, our people largely
out of debt, our enterprises supported !
by unfailing markets and our social
and industrial conditions undisturbed i
by warfares between the terribly rich j
and the terribly poor, the southern I
people should smile at their prospects
and laugh the lugubrious prophets of
evil days to scorn and silence. The i
south is all right!
Some Coincidences.
How things happen! Ami who is i
able to account for them?
During a recent convention of per
sons from ail parts of the union, held j
in this city, a speaker at a public I
meeting said something about lynch- j
ing in the south that perhaps a lew of i
his hearers mistook for a palliation of :
the offense. A distinguished ex i
federal general from Ohio arose and
indignantly stalked from the meeting,
condemning the speaker with a show
of savage spirit. But next morning
he read in The Constitution that at
the very moment when he exhibited
nis indignation here a mob at Marion,
in his own state of Ohio, was fractur
ing the Sabbath evening in an endeav
or to lynch a negro man. It was a
very sad coincidence, wasn’t it?
few days ago we received by mail
a book by Hon. S. C. Cross, member
of the West Virginia legislature, enti
tled “The Negro and the Sunny
South ” Tlie front ot the book bears
the portrait of the fierce and cross
looking Mr. Cross and a graphic repre
sentation of a negro tied to a stake
and being consumed by angry flames,
while hateful white men stand around
and howl with satisfaction. Altogeth
er it is a hot book—lurid in language
and incandescent with indignation
against the south's treatment of the
negro. Mr. Cross is also a republican.
But just as we were getting deeply
interested in the pyrogenous contents
of the Cross book the telegraph wires
began to tell the auftil and grewsome
story of how a negro had been skinned
alive, mayhemmed from head to foot,
greased with oil and burned in strict
accordance with the model pictured
on tiie cover of the aforesaid book, by
a West. Virginia mob!
It is another bad coincidence. We
confess we cannot account for such
occurrences, and we are awaiting
further light from the Hon. Samuel
Creed Cross, of Martinsburg, W. Va.
Southern Cottons in China.
Secretary Hay has succeeded by the
wisdom and persistence of his diplo
macy in securing tiie open door policy
in Manchuria. His success will be
hailed and praised by other countries
whose statesmen have tried and been
baffled in attempts to achieve what he
has so consummately brought to pass.
It is a gain for them second only to
the vame of the concessions to his
own country and the trade of its peo
ple.
A notable and praiseworthy feature
of Secretary Hay’s negotiations was
the noble resolution not to confine his
diplomacy to the selfish behoof of tiie
United States. Looking afar he saw
that the way of wisdom lay in mak
ing the supreme demand for a uni
versal principle—the equality of com
mercial privileges throughout the
world. This equity is a policy that
tiie United Slates may need often to
appeal to in the future. Therefore it
was the highest order of statesman
ship that made him plant himself on
tiie principle that ho would not. accept
preferential privileges for this country,
but insist upon open ports for tiie
whole world. This is the gain for
universal civilization and commerce
that, will win for him a great fame for
generations to come.
The success thus attained is of spe
cial importance to the south and in
the same hour that his triumph is an
nounced our consul in Neuchwang
warns ns that the Russian cotton man
ufacturers of Moscow are to be our j
strong competitors, no less dangerous I
than those ot England, Japan, France I
and Germany.
The south ought to be able to man- I
ufacture tiie goods required in the
Chinese markets more cheaply than
any oilier country on the globe. Our
facilities for transportation are better
for reaching the entry ports. We can. :
if we will, undersell the world in :
north China cotton goods markets. |
Here is the place and now is the '
time for tiie southern mill men to get
together and ascertain just what they |
must do to monopolize those markets. '
Whatever can be learned as to the '
goods demanded, the terms of delivery
and payment, packing and transport
should be carefully investigated and
adopted. It is the south’s opportunity
to open a secure market for millions
of bales of cotton goods that can be
more easily and cheaply made here
beside our fields than by any of our i
competitors. Delay in preparation ami ■
invasion will be dangerous. Wiiat we I
neglect others are sure to eagerly ap- '
propriate.
I
The Suffrage Issue.
It is practically assured that the
next session of tongress is to be cele
brated with wiiat may result in a mem
orable agitation of Hie suffrage ques
tion. If tiie republicans choose, as
they probably will, to make tiie bill
that Congressman Hardwick, of this
slate, will introduce the foundation for
the debate, they will also charge that
the agitation comes up from the south ,
ami tiie democratic party. That will
give the radicals among the republi
cans a happy reason to resurrect and
swing tiie bloody shirt once more in
the fort front, of a presidential cam
paign.
it is, perhaps, a neeessaiy outcome
of political conditions in this country
that the question of the right of a state
to contro» its suffrage privileges on
equitable, constitutional terms should
be delivered over to partisan discus
sion ami decision. But the United
States supreme court has said that
suffrage matters are political ques
tions within tiie purview of congress
and subject to no other interference
by the courts Ilian judicial interpreta
tion under such acts as congress may
constitutionaily i ass.
Such being tiie status of the elec
toral privilege issues tiie only tribunal
that! can deal with them at first hand
is congress ami to it tlmy must go. It
would, however, have been better if
congressional discussion and action
could liave been postponed until the su
preme court of the nation had been ap
pealed to in some direct case to pass
upon the full scope and effects of the
fourteenth and fifteenth amendments.
Just now' there is a growing and
strong expectation by eminent, legal
and political authorities, north as well
as south, that the supreme court will,
if h it free from tiie Intrusive influ
ences of an acrid political campaign
over the subject matter, eventually ami
definitely decide that the fifteenth
amendment supersedes and nullifies
the fourteenth amendment and throws
the whole matter of the control of the
suffrage back to the states, conditioned
only by the said fifteenth amendment.
That would be a just and equitable
decision as between all states and citi
zens. It would conserve the represen
tative system intended by the fathers
of the government and conserve tiie re
sults of the civil war in their true ef
fects, namely, the freedom and equal
citizenship of the negroes. Suffrage is
an incident and not. an integer of citi
zenship. Such a -ecision, therefore, i
would at. once and amicably settle the |
whole suffrage question as a national I
issue.
England's Struggle for Self-Support. I
A singularly crass statement, is ;
made in Gunton's Magazine in reply
to a correspondent. It. is to the ef
fect that England's "free tra.de policy
encouraged foreign markets for her
manufacturer but it ruined her agri
culture and has kept a large portion
of her population in a state of stereo
typed poverty.”
As a matter of historical fact the
calculation was made so long ago as
the time of Samuel Pepy tnat -whenev
er the English people grew so numer
ous that the United Kingdom would
have less than two acres of productive
agricultural lands per capita the na-
TIIE WEEKLY CONSTITUTION: ATLANTA, GA., MONDAY, JULY 20, 1903.
tion would cease to be self-supporting
and compelled to seek the food of her
people abroad. And that calculation
was made upon the basis of the cheap
order of living possible to the masses
of that distant era.
England came to that very condition
at about the time predicted and the
corn law riots warned her that she
must open her doors to the food stuff
producers of the world, notably Amer
ica, and hence came the broadness and
persistency of her free trade policy.
Shut England off from the grain fields
of all other lands than her own and
her people would perish in a. month as
Sennacherib’s army did in a night.
Because she could not. encourage
her agriculturists to produce more
than their tillable areas could
yield, and that was insufficient
by large measures to meet the
home demand, she abandoned all
protection for her farmers until now,
we believe, through her agricultural
rates act she pays theifi a bounty to
keep busy in their fields and not over
crowd her manufacturing districts.
Now that American and continental
competition have overtaken and pass
ed her manufacturing power, and she
is losing trade all over the world,
even in her own colonies, there is need
for a new policy. Mr. Chamberlain
thinks he has found it in an imperial
zollvereiu. He does not propose to
establish this protective federation at
a single stroke, as we do with our Mc-
Kinley and D'ingley systems, but by a
creeping up process of preferences ac
corded between the great factories of
the mother country and the granaries
and cattle ranches of the colonies, in
this plausible programme he hopes to
close the English thumb over the co
lonial fingers ami so create a compact
fist of defense for all British pi nples
and their trade interests.
Tile open secret of British diploma
cy is to secure territories that can pro
duce breads! tiffs and cotton and make
of them increasing markets for Brit
ish manufactures. This is the only
way now left to her to emancipate her
people from dependence for bread
upon America and foster reciprocal
trade between herself and her colo
nies. h is Mr. Chamberlain's only
scheme by which to get tlio nation
back to tiie enviable condition of self
support.
—— —• —- -
Governor Nlorthen on Public Schools.
in another column we print some ex
tracts from tiie address made by ex-
Governor Northen, before the sum
mer school for teachers at Athens.
Few men in the state are so well
fitted to discuss educational topics
ably and wisely as is ex-Governor i
Northen. He has given practically 1
tiie larger part of his life to successful I
teaching and during his terms as gov- 1
ernor impelled the state to better and !
broader methods of public instruction.
His whole head and heart are enlisted
in the great work of promoting public
schools that shall be competent to
abolish the curse of illiteracy from our
people.
Notable in the first instance is Gov
ernor Northen’s appeal for the substi
tution of a board of public school com
missioners. composed of trained edu
cators, for tiie present perfunctory
board. Not. for a moment disparaging
the intelligence and zeal of the state
officials who compose that board, but
who were selected for oilier purposes
than the intimate administration of
schools, he truly argues that a board
of experts is as essential for the right
education of our youth as for the reg
ulation of railway rates and the con
duct of prisons. We do not think the
argument of tiie ex-governor on that
point, can be gainsaid for a moment.
In the next place he finds that Geor- I
gia lias not. now the system of primary I
schools commanded by tiie const it u- ■
tion of the state. Measured by that
instrument he declares tiie present
system a substantial failure, disap
pointing in results and dissipating tiie
funds by large measure.
it. is in a sense incontestable that
the phrase "tiie elomentary branches
of an English education only,” contain
ed in the constitution of 1877, has been
turned into rubber by the legislation
since enacted and, as under the “gen
eral welfare” clause of the national
constitution, much lias been foisted
upon our present system that it
should not carry.
The plea for longer school terms
and more efficient teaching are itera
tions of demands that have been
voiced continually by The Constitution
arid are becoming more strenuous
every day. The way to secure these
tilings by the process of local taxation
is as plain as a turnpike and only the
reactionary spirit of a false economy,
or the meanness of pure and puerile
greed prevents the application of the
remedy.
It is a fair and ominous note of
warning sounded to the people when
Governor Northen tells our teachers
that if ever any workmen would be
justified in laying down their tools
and forsaking their work our poorly
liaid teachers of Georgia would be
those workmen. There is not a negro
ditching along our railway lines who
is not better paid for his work than
the average Georgia teacher in our
rural districts And the great pity ot
the poor schools that result is the de
population of the farms by people who
are moving to towns where their chil
dren can got. full terms of schooling,
while other people refuse to re-occupy
the farms because to do so means ig
norance for their children.
The ex-governor’s address is one
that wo can heartily commend to tho
consideration of every patriot in or
out of the general assembly.
The Black Veil of Illiteracy.
The bar sinister of southern illit
eracy was advertised at Hie recent
meeting of the National Educational
Association, ami by southern men.
in away to cause every thoughtful
and patriotic citizen of the south to
do one of two things—cither hang his
iiead in helpless shame or lift it up
with a stern resolution that by the
grace of God and the power of his
ballot that bar shall be removed as rap
idly as time and money will cooper
ate to that end.
It is going to cost a large expendi
ture of patriotism and cash to do the
work, but unless this generation of
southern men and women is more
sordid, mean and stingy than that
which bore the burden of the bloody
battles, poverties and fortitudes of the
great war of the 60’s the work will be
done in the same high spirit of pride
and chivalry.
First, let us look at the suggestive
figures from the last census presented
by Rev. Edgar Gardner Murphy, of
Montgomery, Ala., in his address in ’
Boston. They are as follows:
Xhereat'c in our southern states more
than J,n00,000 souls, 10 years of age ami
over, who cannot read and write; more
than t>o per cent of the colored population,
and nearly 16 1-2 per cent of tiie White.
Ol tiie native white population of our
while country 10 years O s age and over,
the south has 24 per cent, but of the na
tive white illiteracy of our country, the i
south has 64 per cent.
| there are in the United States 217 coun- j
ties in which more than 20 per cent oil
tiie white men of voting cannot read I
and write. Two liundr ( ] aln ] twelve of!
these counties are in our southern states.
The total number of the illiterate, ]0
years of age and over, j tl our southern
states, exceeds the num:, r ~f the aggre- ‘
gate population of the states of Alabama '
ami Louisiana. Tiie white illiterates of
the. south, an army of 1,1170,0(11) souls, ex
ceed in number the aggregate while
population of the states of Florida and
South Carolina.
Taking a few of our states individually,
we find that there are 54,000 white illiter
ates in South Carolina. The white illit
erates of Georgia are but 12 per cent of
tile white population 10 rears of ago and
over, but their number exceeded in 1900
tiie number of the ajign ■. it,, white popu
lation of Georgia's tin,, largest cities—
Atlanta, Savannah and Augusta.
Tl’.e white illiterates of Tennessee ex
ceeded in 1900 Hie ntinil,,.i- ~f the total
wliite population of tier six largest cities -
Nashville. .Memphis, Kn< v i 11< •, Chatta
nooga, Clarksville and I kson.
The wliite illiterates of Alabama (near
ly 15 per cent of the white population of
10 years of age and over) exceeded tiie
number of the aggregate white population
of iter fifteen largest cities, including the
cities of Birmingham, Montgomery, Mo
bile, Anriiston, Ftoren ■■■ Selma. Talla
dega and Tuscaloosa, and tlie number of
the white illiterates of North Carolina.
19 1-2 per cent, is more than double the
number of the combined white population
of her sixteen largest cities.
We print the above calculations at.
length because they are of such tre
mendous import. They show the urg
ency and insistence ol the burden that
is upon us in destroying the curse of
illiteracy among our people.
When it is proposed to go at thte
upas tree with ax and grubbing-hoe,
there is a wail that. Georgia, for in
stance, is "too poor” 10 pay the price
of oil neat ing her people. That is ab
solutely not true. Whenever a state
gets to that, point it is too poor to be
a state end would be bettor off to
revert itself to the status of Porto
Rico and the Philippines, where tiie i
national government provides the ed- .
ueational establishment and pays the ;
bills.
There is no such real parsimony !
ami greed among Georgians as so 1
many allege. Up to this date the
people have done well, but. they can j
do better and legislators brave enough I
to do the better things will be honored ,
rather than condemned.
Think of Atlanta, Savannah and 1
Augusta consolidated into one city, 1
filled with Georgians above ten years !
of age, and not a soul among them
able to read a signboard or address a i
letter for help tv the outside world! ,
A Democratic Opportunity.
The surplus receipts of the govern
ment for the year ending June 30,
ultimo, were over $,7'.’.00n,000. This
surplus is covered into the treasury
and withdrawn from circulation until
congress shall be tempted into some I
new schemes f<>r spending it. Mean
while the financial interests of the
country are asking for legislation that
will expand the curt'my system so
as lo maintain in the frrents of trade
a sufficiency of mom . to support the
enormous bulk of our *• rnal ami in
ternational commerce.
The republicans, under Lie lead ot
Aldrich ami Hanna, are trying to patch
up some sort of simulacrum of a cur
rency relief measure to be passed by
the next congress. A glam over the
proposed provisions will not satisfy ;
tin* calm and conservative bankers of ,
the nation that it will malt rially re
lieve Hie situation. On the contrary,
it will, no doubt, embody a scheme I
that will be cumbersome to legitimate .
business and easy to be employed tor
the benefit of tiie plungers and specula
tors in commodities, stocks, bonds and
that great mass of "undigested secu
rities” that J. Pierpont Morgan says
is depressing the market.
We believe the financiers of the
country at large ate making a. reason
able and necessary demand for an
elastic, expansive currency. Their ob- 1
ject is to make possible the conserva- ,
tion of local and legitimate enterprises .
that, require credit and ready supplies ,
of currency loans <_t. living rates, i
Plentiful money is cheap money and
these bankers whose prosperity de- '
pends less upon Wall str- 1 gambles
than upon the sustentation ami profits I
of their immediate patrons are de- .
manding currency enlargement in the
interests of tiie people quite as much
and sincerely as for their own profit.
Here is a magnificent chance for tho
competent finance stat' -men of tho
democratic party to show wisdom and
political generalship. ’i’liey should
not content themselves with merely
offering factional party opposition to
the Aldrich-Hanna scheme of currency
relief, but they have the broad oppor
tunity to formulate and unitedly pre
sent to congress a better and more
popular plan for a. safe and satisfac
tory elastic currency than any the re
publicans will offer. The confidence
of the business world is a desideratum
flic democrats cannot afford to despise.
The way will open to them in Novem
ber to show to the nation that with
out disturbing the consensus on the
gold unit of values they can. if charged
with the responsibility by the popular
voice, give to the nation a currency
system adequate to every emergency
of trade and progress, every dollar of
which will be sound as minted gold
and stand upon a foundation as solid
as Gibraltar.
•
SPANISH COIN WILL BE SOLD.
It Was Captured at the Surrender of
Manila.
Washington, July 15. S rctary Root
has written a letter to the state depart
ment relative to the sale of the Spanish
coin, mostly coj)pi r, captui’ I at the time
of the surrender of .Manila l > the Span
iards to the Americans. Tli- ,< e :l >)d other
coin., were ordered to be sold in order to
put tin new system of f’liilippine cur
rency in operation. Tiie Span' ■' valuation
placed on the coin is about $250,01X1. When
the sale was ordered adve) tiseinents were
publislied in Spain as well as in the
J'liilippines. Tiie Spanish government did
not bid, but about, the time the bids were
to bo opened, lilevi a protest saying they
wanted to bid. This was followed by a
protest to the state department, making
a claim for tile money as possible proper
ty mentioned in tiie treaty "f peace.
This claim was forwarded to Secretary
Root, who replies in his letter to the
state department, that tiie war depart
ment and tiie Philippine government will
consider tlio filing of the'claim by Spain
as a withdrawal of tiie protest against
the sale under the advertisement, ami
the coins will be sold to the highest
bidder, unless the state department secs
some objection to this proce e fi* n S- R is
expected that Secretary Boot's action
will be considered as final.
Weekly Constitutions “sig
SOME fifty years ago there was a
dogmatic old squire in the seven
teenth district of this, Cass county,
whose name was Jim McGinnis. He had
plenty of what is called good horse sense,
a determined will and abundance of
prrjudice. He won the J. P. machine in
that district; for about twenty years, ami
his limit Judgment in a case was the law
of the set tb>mont. Nobody dared to ap
peal or carry the case up for fear of
offending him and losing the next case
they had in his court.
One time a fellow sued another fellow
for tli- hire of a negro. Judge Parrott
was on one side, and Colonel Abda John
son on tl’.e oil tier, and when the ju<ge
started to re.id his law from Greenleaf
on "Evidenei Colonel Johnson stopped
him and made the ‘point that Mr. Green
leaf was a. very smart man and had writ
a power of good law, Hut that he was
a yankee and lived in Boston am] knew
no more about hiring negroes than a.
h, athen knows about Sunday. The old
sauire asked for the book, and looked
over the (title page, saw that It was
printed in Boston and so he ruled it out
of his court, and Parrott lost Ids case.
The squire said that Mr. Greenleaf lived
a little too fur oft’ to be familiar with
tile business.
I've seen a good many pieces of late
about the negro and the grealt southern
problem. The people up north begin to
a iipil th.it they can’t see through it.
North Too Far Away.
Ever since the war they have been
tilling us what to do with the darkies,
and they have been watching us to see
whether we did it or not, and they ac
tually ihink we would put 'em back in
.- In very again if we could. They are in
earnest about this business, I reckon,
for some of 'em die and lea.ve a whole
passel of money for the poor negro and
I’m glad of It. 1 wish that mole of 'em
would die and do the same thing, but
what I rise to remark is 'this; They know
no more about the negro than Mr. Green
leaf did. and th.dr judgment ain't worth
a cent. I would not give a farthing for
any man's judgment about darki> s who
hadn’t been burn and raised with 'em
and owned 'em. It takes a long time to
learn the traits and instincts of a race
of people. The yankee never will know
wiiat tiie negro is, for he never knew
him in a state of Slavery. The yankee
wlio camo south sixty years ago, and
-domiciled with us know all about him,
and 1 will take their opinion, but. when
I hear these modern ones philosophizing
mid dictating about him in a consequen
tial manner, I unconsciously raise my
foot to kick somebody. There are lots
of folks up about Boston who are look
ing over their sfie-dacles at us, and didn't
know they had a. Tewksbury almshouse.
If they would lower their sights they
would have a power or work to do at
home. I bought a leather purse for Mrs.
Arp one, and she won’t use it for it
came front B isiton. and she is afraid it
was made out of a human hide that
was tanned from Tewksbury.
I've got no pathetic sentiment about the
nigger? The vankees passed a whole l"t
amendments to the constitution to
put him on an equal footing with us.
; wially anil every other way and they
were tiie first to ’ break ’em. If the In
dians had been down here in place of
th.- nigger, tiie whole yankee nation
would have been their friends, but now
they in,' th ir enemies and keep driving
them farther rind further into tlio wilder
ness and (’heating 'em our of all tiie
government gives 'em. XVe have got. to
study ia just like we do horses and
cattle The All zlo-S’i xon lias got his
traits and instincts and so has the In
dian and tlio nigger and tiie heathen
Chines . We cuss tho Jew and the
It ilian. and why shouldn’t jve consider
iw nigger with the same philost»plty.
Some folks seem to think we owe him
a good deal because lie didn’t cut up ami
rip around during tiie war, but 1
lie didn’t care anything about it and lie
don’t care now. It is not bis nature.
It, h.”'l little rather have a master than
not (> Ir.rVe him. and the truth is most
of ’em iiave got ’em and they always
will have ’em.
Slavery Was Humane,
We axe tired of all this nonsense about
slavery. It was no blot. It was nature.
Tiicre arc a heap of people now lu the
South Who look upon slavery like it was
Aclian’.s wedge of gold and perished under
th. eo.td'mnatioti of God and man, but
I don’t want anybody to teach my chil
dren any such slarulers, lor I know it
was in 'the main a humane institution,
and if the nigger Is any better off now
than he )ised to be, 1 can't see. The
whites are better off. a long ways, but
the nigger ain’t. I’v- great respect for
tiie old time darkies. I kn «w lots of ’em
I would tight for- It’ 1 was t 0 sec :l
man imposing on my good old faithful
tri.'id. Tip. I would fight for him like
1 would light for my children. 1 love
those good old darkies. 1 am willing
to live with 'em and die with ’em. and
Ire buried witli ’em in the same grave
yard an I when Gabriel blows his horn
i cm rise from the d. ad with ’em with
out anv fear tli.it It will destroy the
hilarity of the occasion, as General
| Toombs said.
Loves Old Darkies.
I love these old darkies, not as my
■ equals, but as X love my children. .1 love
' them because they love me and are de
pendent upon me. Tiie relation between
' tiie wliite and black race is by nature
i one of jirotection on the one side and
■ dependence upon the oilier, and when it
I eeases to be that 1 iiave no use for the
Snigger. It is always a pleasure to me
■to befriend ’em when they want my
friendship and my help, but when they
! aspire to be my equal and put on indc
i pendent airs. I’ve got no further sym
pathy. I iiave been raised to look upon
; negroes as cliildren, cltildren in youth
' and children in manhood and old age. 1
didn't iiave any band in making 'em tliat
1 way. It is their human nature and they
I can’t help it, and 1 iiave a soveteign
contempt for any effort their people are
! making to change their relation to us, sot
i it can't be done.
! Tiie education of the nigger is a hum-
J bug, so far us to make him a good citizen.
1 It has been tried already, and lias proved
I a failure, ilis best education is one ot
I contact, close contact with tiie wliite
! race. If we will let the negro alone and
! kei p him out of polities he will get along
’ very well and there will be no problem to
■ solve. I’liere never would iiave been any
! problem if lie had b. 1 n let alone. He lias
ino business witli office or in tiie jury
! box or in the legislature, and lie never
! will have. This is a white man's govern
i uh 'nt and the wliite man must govern it.
I The Anglo-Saxon is tiie dominant race.
We don’t want the Chinaman nor Hie In
! dian t.i make our laws. As a laborer and
a servant and a dependent 1 had rather
I have tiie negro than any race upon earth,
i i.ml that relation to us just suits him, and
when you try to lift him out of it yo_:
| make him a fool and a vagabond and ren
der him unhappy. 1 don't want him a
! slave any more, for his slavery was no
j advantage to us. J had a lot of 'em my-
I self and I know they w. re no profit to me.
They were no profit to anybody except
ii few exacting masters who made of
slavery nil the "foul blot" there ever was
in it. 'l’ll're is no problem to solve un
less wo make one.
The white folks can't all be Vander
bilts and the niggers can't be wliite folks.
Lot 11s all lie content witli our destiny
and not. fuss around because somebody
else is bettor off. l.et tis take things as
wo find ’em ami do the best we can.
Folks are very much like horses. If you
breed ’em too tine they are not fit for
the wagon or plow. We have sot to have
different sorts of folks, and nature knew
it, or she wouldn’t have made ’em differ
ent.
P»a-allel of the Indian.
This morbid sympathy for the poor
negro is wasted. XVhy not have it f° r
the Indian? We robbed him of his land
and run him off and have been cheating
him ever since. He is, by nature, of <1
higher order of humanity than tiie negr >.
Ho has more pride and more emotion. »! ’
has more revenge and more gratitude, for
these two tilings always go together. You
can't wean him from the forest, for that
Is his nature.
Tiie negro loves to depend upon tiie
wliite man and the white man loves the
homage es tiie negro. It suits and fits
both races anil I hope it will stay so, 1
heard an old physician say that lie had
never seen a great-grandchild that de
scended from mulatto parents in a mulat
to succession. Tin- crossing of races has
never improved tiieni. Not even will tiie
Jew and tiie Gentile mix with harmony.
Joint Rtiudolpli boasted of his Pocahontas
blood, but 1 reckon it run out in John,
lor that was tiie last of it- History
makes ro record of two races living to
gether 111 peace unless one was in a state
of dependence upon the other. Our mod
ern philantliropists are deceiving the ne
gro when they flatter him witit a ca
pacity equal tu the whites in fitness to
invent or to govern, or to rise to tiie
heroic or tiie sublime. 11 eckon if one
of our millionaires was to die and leave
his money for tiie education of poor wliite
children it would be a violation of some
of tiie constitutional amendments. We
want to help tiie negro, but we want him
to help himself first. Jle lias got to work
cut Us own advancement by industry
and by saving what he makes before
education will do him any good. Dr.
Mayo, of Boston, was the superintendent
of education in that state, and lie said.
"Tiie negroes must bo told that no
people in any land was ever so marvel
ously led by Providence as they liave
been for 250 years. Indeed all the good
there was in a slavery was for them,
it was that severe school of regului
work, and that drill in the primeval vir
tues which every race must get at the
Start and their slavery was a. charity
school, compared with the desolation and
tyranny by which tiie European na
tions came up to their present civilized
lite. If tiie southern freedmen now He
down in stolid indifference to their future
they will deserve all that their most con
temptuous critics say of them."
This is sensible talk. There is no foul
blot in that view of slavery and it is
good talk to the negro. What tlio had
negro wants is less chaingang and more
whipping and the bad white man should
lie punished the same way.
BILL ARP.
J’rank jC. Stan/on.
Taking His Ease.
How can a fellow take his ease
An' g t ills fill o’ rest
When till the time the singin’ breeze
Blows blossoms on his breast,
An’ cattle bells are tinklin'
'C'rost meadows, east an’ west!
An’, flshin’ In the river,
The fish so pull the rod,
It’s doin’ all the noddin’
When the feller qrte r nod!
But there's life—thank heaven!—in all the
air.
An' life in every clod!
Log Cabin Philosophy.
De righteous man lias a hard time in dis
woiT en sometimes he feel ez lonesome tz
a gray owl in de daytime.
.Many people not only cuts up dev
shines in dis life, but hopes ter raise
sand at de resurrection.
Es dey wuz ter take hell out de Bible
dey'd be plenty folks in dis country dat
would soon raise it.
De man who spends half ills life climb
in’ ter de mountain top is so tired w'en he
gits dar he don't appreciate de scenery. ,
•** * *
Any Time.
Any time's de good time—
Hea r me sayin' dat!
W’en de melon's feeble.
Possum lookin' fat!
Come ’long, believers—
Dis de happy day!
Ituther freeze in winter
Dan plow de lan’ in May!
Any time’s de good time—
Give de worl’ a chance!
Money play de fiddle,
En de dollar's in de dance!
Come ’long, believers —
Hall de iiappy day!
Ruther freeze in winter
Dan plow de lan' in May!
♦ • ♦ • ♦
Brother Dickey's Philosophy.
Don't mind a man w’en you hear him
sayin’ de devil’s ter pay, kaze de devil
is de most patientest creditor in de coun
try.
De sayin’ is dat Poverty teaches les
sons ter folks, but w’en I sees him corn
in' I mighty quick decides that 1 don’t |
need no eddication.
Es dey wuz a railroad runnin’ ter heav
en, some folks would wake up too late
ter ketch de train.
Dey's so little er de place whar Satan
live at preached in dis day en time, dey
has ter nut steam heaters in de churches
ter eliinatize de sinners.
On the Way.
lake shadows are we flying
Where thick the shadows throng;
How brief the time for sighing—
How brief the time for song!
How brief the longest story.
For all its love and light;
And wli.it to life is glory,—
So swiftly comes tiie nightl
We heed no solemn warning,
Beneath a morning sky.
But Love scarce lisps “Good morning!
Before Love weeps, "Goodby!”
* * * * «
The Ancient Growler,
The land, so bright and sunny.
Can dress herself in silk
And feast on milk arid huney.
But - We
Don’t
Drink
Mllki
To harvests full and plenty.
Right soon their hats they'll doff.
The bead will rim the moonshine.
But—we've
Done
Swore
Oft'
It's a halleluia story-
in the country, far and nigh.
And we d rise to 'heights of glory.
But—we
Just
Can't
Fly!
♦*♦ * *
A Georgia Prophecy.
Heat de Oven, honey.
Make de kittle steam!
Soon will come de money
1 been seein’ in my dream!
Bacon in de smoke house
Swingin' sum de beam,
En de jingle er de money
I been seein’ in my dream!
Weather brisk en sunny—
Whippin’ up de team;
Soon will come de money
1 been seein’ in my dream!
Sarpe {Plunkett.
WHEAT most everywhere is ready
for milling and we all thank God
for tiie year’s bread that is in it.
There has been an overabundance of
rain and it disturbed the threshing of
wheat some little, but no farmer in this
neck of the woods has any good right to
complain. The wheat yield has not been
the very best, but the fall off in wheat
has been more than made up by the good
oat crop, and so the most chronic grum
bler finds very little to base his com
plaints upon in this year of our Lord,
1903. , . ,
Tiie truth is that the grain harvest
just now being wound up seems to have
more of the good old times in it than
anv we have had since the war. Even the
girls went out into tiie harvest fields
this year and brought water and cheered
the boys, and hunted for partridge eggs
just as' they used to do when birds were
everywhere and we had no thought of
their destruction. That these birds are
being protected now more than for twen
ty years back may be guessed from the
fact that one pretty girl that I know
found a nest this year with forty-seven
in it and she refused to disturb them
herself or allow any one else to do at).
Thifi struck mo as being so prettj' in
the girl tliat I stood and looked at her
as a young fellow held her hand and
plckfff a ’’treadsalve” out of her finger
and wished that I was young again that
I might court and get closer to her than
I can ever hope to get as old as I am—
it is bad to grow old, especially for some
reasons.
I’erhaps these girls going out in the
harvest fields did about as much to delay
work as it did to inspire the workers, but
tt goes to spice the occasion with a
sweetness that must be felt to be under
stood, and I will remark byway of paren
theses, that a man as old as me has no
hope of ever feeling that way again, but
as old as I am 1 can remember how it
used to bo and I rejoice to see the same
sweet things going on again.
The signs are all good in this neck of
(he woods to the effect that hoys and
girls are soon to understand that a life
on file farm 1s not the pleasureless thing
that they iiad come well nigh believing
it was. Os course a few fools will still
think and insist that all the opportunities
He in tiie towns and respectability and
prestige lies in the professions. We will
just let these fools go on to town and
let them join in the ranks of the profes
sions till it won't be long till to be a
countryman will mean that one has sense
and manhood and prosperity. The towns
as a town don’t care, but the professions
had better mind how they lower their
standards to meet the capacities of these
fools. The day is not far distant, and 1
predict with confidence, when those seek
ing for intellectuality will go to the men
of the hoe and to the women of the
country homes. This is coming, and it
will be quicker than you imagine, when
1 to be a farmer will mean sense, prosperity
and that will sound the highest title of a
gentleman. And tho women of the coun
try homes will be the "ladies” of this fair
land.
But, to return to the harvest and the
work of the threshers. Even now I
can hear the zoon of one of these ma
chines over at Brown’s, and the whistle
of their little engine squeals as if striv
ing to thrill tho whole settlement. 1
don't like these little old squealing en
gines. They strike me as something ir
reverent to God’s great plans. When
they are tooting around on the hot ami
barren hills they are inviting custom
from the cool and inviting water mills
that sit in sucli delightful nooks along
the streams. But there is no use for me
to object and there is no denying the
fact that one of these little old engines
with a barrel of water and a cord of
wood will thresh more wheat, grind more
corn, furnish more power and kick up
more fuss than the prettiest mill that
stands upon the best mill site in Geor
gia. The one at Brown’s today squeals
and fumes and surges to make more
noise than Niagara ever dreamed of.
Things all work in God’s own way, 1
reckon. If you had told a farmer fifty
years ago that a wheat crop could be
gathered’, threshed and carried to mill
without the use of oxen, he would have
thought yon crazy. An ox was a big
thing in old-time harvests. They got
the wheat out of tiie field and away to
some gin house or mill to be threshed,
but now these little old engines roll into
the fields and do the work with sucli a
hustle and self-importance till an old
time Georgia ox is too sorry to even
bo eat by the poorest folks of town—
.J 1 ’ •' v, ant western beef now and so the
Georgia ox Is a tiling of the past. Tho
mule and the horse will go the same wav.
before very long, but I am still a "boxer"
and a "boxer" IT] remain.
All this is wonderful to an old man, but
it has come so easy that young folks con
sider it nothing—our old-time ways are a
joke to them. Whilo the most of old peo
ple ate silent on these old-time things in
tear ot being laughed at, yet you may be
sure that they remembe r it all and tliat
it is a very sweet memory, too, and In
their hearts they doubt if the world has
grown any better by the passing of the
old and the coming of the new.
1 can remember when people only had
biscuit once Or twice a week. If cliildren
in those days got biscuit on Sunday morn
T e i .° r ? reakfa st they were satisfied and
delighted. Now they got biscuit three
times a day o r they will know wliv they
don t and move on to find a more pros
perous place of abode. So wags the world.
1 have watched and considered until my
head gets dizzy on these things to it
last conclude that it is not ‘wii.it we
used to be nor what wo are going to be,
bur. what we arc right now that counts
As all tiie signs are good and a spirit of
satisfied contentment is taking possession
of tiie country homes and country life,
X rest myself content tliat all things will
work out for the Lost.
I he coming - of these threshes as thev
do come is a matter spiced with a va
riety of sensations. You learn that it is
coming, but you don't know exactly
when It will come, u might come fif
teen minutes before dinner, breakfast, or
supper, or at midnight. We profit by the
uncertainty of their coming and have
something a little extra from the time
the squealing engine gets in hearing.
1 hree days ago we thought they would
be at our house for breakfast, and so
we had a threshers' breakfast. Then we
were certain they would be on hand at
dinner, and so we got a threshers' din
ner. We would hive swore—in fact we
did swear-that they would be on hand
at supper, and so we got a threshers'
supper. So it had been running for
three days before it did eventually come,
and Brown gained 17 pounds in wieght
and I am heavier myself. But every
bitter has its sweet, as the saying goes,
and we are liable to fa]] off now fully
as fast as we gained to make up for
what our women folks call the terrible
extravagance of threshing wheat.
SARGT: PLUNKETT.
Pious Henry.
Exchange: Henry Watterson has the
secret ot happy living, without a doubt.
He says: "When I stump my toe, I do not
damn the universe for my carelessness;
but, instead, I thank God that I did not
break my neck.”