3f ff
Vol. XV. ,
LINCOLN NEB., NOVEMBER 26, 1903.
No. 27.
THE HEW SOUTH
A Retrospeetlre and : Prospective Yiew
of the South byi Xdrthera Man
Editor ' Independent: A new south
is coming to the front. This must be
kept in mind by those who would
found a new party. The new south
will demand protection instead of tar
iffs for revenue only,
' r There are places In the south, now,
where the negroes do not know that
they are free. But this will not al-
i.i, ways be so. Ever since the civil war
they have been gradually .gaining in
knowledge and prosperity. Northern
capital has been going there. Mills
and factories have also been : going
there. Gradually the south is becom
ing northernized. The negroes, as
well as the whites, , are feeling this
new force.
There is a great deal of discussion
throughout the country with reference
to repealing the, 14th and 15th amend
ments of the constitution of the
United States. Why do they want to
repeal these amendments? Why not
'' also ' repeal the : 13th amendment,
which declares that "neither slavery
nor involuntary servitude ... shall
exist within the United States, or any
; place subject to? tneir jurisdiction?"
! The 14th amendment declares that "all
' ' persons born or naturalized in the
: f ' United States, and ' subject to the jur
isdiction thereof, are citizens of the
' . United States and :of the state wherein
" they reside." This declaration Is
; ' , " broad; enough to , include negroes as
well as foreigners, because negroes
are "persons, born" in this country;
and, therefore, ' we have a solemn,
constitutional declaration that negroes
are citizens not ; only of the United
States, but of the state wherein they
reside. This gives colored citizens
all the rights that white citizens have,
and If this amendment can be re
pealed, the 13th amendment abolish
ing slavery will also bo "repealed and
become null , and void, ; : , " i
The object of repealing the 14th
amendment then is to deprive negroes
of all the rights of citizenship, which
would certainly reduce them to slav
ery. ' The 15th ' amendment declares
that "the right' of citizens of the
United States to vote shall not be de
. nied or abridged, by the; United States
or. by any state on account; of race,
color or previous condition of servi
tude." This gives our. colored fellow
citizens the same right of suffrage
that our white fellow-citizens enjoy.
It does not, 'however, give them the
right to vote, if they are ignorant and
don't know what civil government
means; but It does give ignorant ne
groes the right to vote, .if ignorant
white m,en have the right. In other
words, it . makes ignorance among
white people as bad as ignorance
among black people. It says that the
right to "vote shall not be denied or
abridged on account of race, color or
t previous condition of servitude,"
which means that the vote shall not
be given to the white, man unless it
is given to the black man on the
same conditions; that If the black man
13 disfranchised on account of ignor
ance, the white man must be dis
franchised for the same reason; that
if the black man is disfranchised on
account of poverty, the white man
must be disfranchised on the same ac
count. It docs not compel the states to con
fer the suffrage upon th" blacks, but
it doog prevent the states from dis
criminating against the blacks on ac
count of their color. It'1s a glorious
declaration" and will eventually help
the states to make suffrage depend
upon intelligence and virtue. It .will
bo a great benefit to the south.
The several states can make such
laws aj they please on thin subject,
provided they give equal right to alt
and special privlle to none; but If
the supreme court of the I'nlted State
End that there U discrimination
against ner.n' either by making a
ptato w or by adopting a state con
atltutlon. the court will aet aaido the
atate htiUute or lat ronMlt'ttlon at
null nnd void and compel the atatea
to mako equal law a.
The new party nmt rUt the
movmont fr rilUm th tlth and
15th amendment, an a movement n
tended to revive uiro aUvery; If not
io Intended, thl I at leaat the ten
dency; nod tho flvUUatlon of our day
revolt from any aiwh tendeney.
If th otjevt of repealing the llth
and 15th atneodnjttiti Ja not to keep
colored people in slavery, what is the
object? i
If the 14th amendment Is repealed,
then negroes cease to be citizens, un
less the state ' legislatures choose to
make them citizens . And the states
tuat seceded and thereby produced
civil war (simply because Abraham
Lincoln was elected president and it
could be seen that there could be no
more slave states and that slavery
must be restricted to the states where
it was)certainly will reduce negroes
o slavery, as soon as the 14th amend
ment " is repealed. This ' amendment
certainly maKes them citizens, and if
the southern people do not Intend that
negroes shall be citizens, what do
they intend that they shall be? There
is no middle ground. They must eith
er., be citizens or else reduced to the
condition of horses, cattle and other
animals, that can be bought and sold
and treated as property. Should these
people be reduced to merchandise?
If we repeal the 14th amendment
and go back to the constitution, as we'
had It, before the civil war, then we
shall be called upon to allow the
southern states to count three-fifths
of the slaves in making up the num
ber of representatives which each
state is entitled to in the house of
representatives In congress. The con
ttitution readson this subject: "Rep
resentatives shall be apportioned by
adding the whole number of free per
sons . . . three-fifths of all other per
sons." Here "all other' persons" means
negroes. If, then, we repeal the 14th
amendment and make negroes slaves,
these slaves (or property) shall be
counted, in making up the number of
representatives each southern slave
state will be entitled to in congress.
Do the southern people want to do
this? Do they really want to make
slaves out of their negroes and yet
have them counted as almost equal to
their owners," in making representa
tion in congress? If so, then a white
man, by owning a lot of slaves, can be
very powerful in congress, and wealth
would go to make up representation of
the southern states in congress, while
freemen would make such representa
tion of the north.
After the civil war, by force of the
14th amendment, negroes became citi
zens of the United States and of the
state wherein they reside. What
would be gained .by going back to
days previous to the civil war? Why
not go forward and try to make good
citizens out of negroes instead of re
ducing them to slavery again? Have
not they improved since the , war?
Don't many of the ex-slaves own the
plantations that their masters once
owned? Haven't many of them be-
"! "f A HI tl A fVirvO Captain Blllingsley Com-
I I A fl M A IVI I IN meats on Recent Lavatory
Vyi-l-rl llrlUJ9 Experiments.
Some people have confidence of hav
ing clean hands with chunks of char
ity. Others again think there is great
efficacy in kindness. t v
Justice alone wilf clean that which
is soiled. Young Rockefeller is of the
opinion that a great - Sunday school,
created, dominated and maintained by
him . and through . which . he injects
scriptural wisdom will give him clean
hands.
John By- Rockefeller,' the father of
the Sunday school saint.who has done
more diplomatic grand larceny, scien
tific bunko work, and brought more
distress to fireside homes than any
other trust magnate on earth, thinks
he is cleaning hl3 hands with col
lege and church donations. Even
Lincoln is about to get some of his
blood money.
Andrew Carnegie, who probably has
crushed less competing steel plants
than any trust lord, bitt who has gar
nered rich harvests on fictitious val
ues, is in the hand-washing business;
is handing out public library packages
all over the land.
J. Picrpont Morgan is soaping his
hands for a redeeming and purifying
wash by donating to the city of New
York a well filled art hall near the
scene of most of his gigantic robberies.
The bold trust buccaneer, Charles
Schwab, gave summer outings to
many boatloads of impoverished hu
manity, hoping thereby to cover his
dirty hands with a halo of charity.
Ho has faith that he can thus post
pone or frighten away avenging jus
tice. . . , i
The modern champions of greed and
enemies of society are resorting to
many artifices to escape the services
of justice. - Justice will refuse such
alluring overtures. She demands an
answer. She wilj not accept such
soap, water, towel and sponge as an
atonement. . She is ; blind to them, ',, ,
- Justice says to the 'oppressor and,
despoiler, "there is blood on your
hands." "Macbeth has, murdered
sleep." You are In the broad day
Usht of righteousness, and your palms
are soiled with dirty dollars. , You
tried to murder justice and "Banquo's
guest will not down." Only justice
can clean your hands.
To the venal vanTpires, justice says
to their pleadings for a continuance,
"You have swindled and impoverished
men, women and little ones. You have
heaped sharp stones in their path
way of life. You seek the remission
of sins at the confessionals of priests,
editors and statesmen, followed with
rich gifts. I will none of it the men,
women and children are still pinched
and starving from your greed."
The day of reckoning must come.
You cannot with unwashed hands
conjure up some miracle to save you.
The time is coming when justice will
challenge again the dirt on your
hands. "The mills of the gods grind
slowly, but exceedingly fine." You
men with unclean hands, do you ob
serve that roses have left the cheeks
of the children of your victims? They
are working hard to give fathers and
mothers a chance to live.
L. W. BILLINGSLEY.
Lincoln, Neb.
Mark Foster's Plan. Knowledge of Populism. I
Mr. Foster's letter quoted on one of
the editorial pages this week la
worthy of consideration. He ask a for
one thousand volunteers who are able
to expend fl a year a dollar every
three month to Join him in propa
ganda work. Ilia plan la thla: Pend
Th Independent a dollar for four 3
month aubstrlptlona. all to be sent
to tho 8ubrrlhi'r,a own addrea. Hand
the papers out where they may do the
mnt cood. At the end of three
montha aend another doiUr, and thua
keep It up fir the year.
A Kfeat many of The Independent'!
mm rlbr;i l;eep a fl! of their papers
and for thit rean dUUke to perma
nently part with their file copy.
Heme. If any number of The Inde
pendents readers wUh to Join Mr.
Porter In thtt propaganda work, w
will rahke the following termai
Five coplea to one address for $1 ft
year one for your own uae and four
to give away. The l can bo paid
quarterly, a dollar at a time, or alt
at once aa the aubn rlber prefers.
Let no reader of The Independent
attempt thla unle h la abundantly
able to a pa re the money. It would
add wonderfully to The Independents
circulation and usefulness, and Rive
an Impetus to the revival of populUm,
t havo a thousand men join Mr. Fos
ter In the work h m:Keta; but a
Rood many of Th Independents tct
worMra r.nnnot afford to apeinj quite
at much. However, there are no doubt
tiore than a thousand im The Inde
pndent'a Iht row who might do ro
without n'onenlenfe.
KuppoiM we ee how miny will join
Mr. Foster. Mention "Mark Awter'a
I'lau" when yvni write.
come very intelligent citizens? Why,
then, move backward instead of for
ward?1 If we should attempt to go
backward, would it not produce an
other civil war? If the determination
on the part of the north to restrict
slavery to the states Where it was,
produced a civil war, Why would not
a movement to revive slavery now
n rt n 4 ir 1 nrA.9
In the old ante-bellum 'days the
slave owners who ruled the south,
preached and believed in free trade
(or tariff for revenue only). This
was caused hv siaverv. isui me ume
is coming when negroes and, white
folks will preach and believe in pro
tective tariffs. They will see that the
backward ( sfate of manufactures in ;
the HBdtrth will need protection, whe
ther the north needs Jt or not. And
they will be as determined fn favor of
protection as they were once in favor
of free trade. The same men or their
descendants who once talked free
trade will be found to talk the oppo
site doctrine. This we, are certain to
see. And, If we see this, we shall only
be seeing what we saw in the south
before slavery became a prominent
issue, because it is a fact, that previ
ous to 1820, when slavery became the
paramount issue in our national poli
tics, and to a large extent In state
politics, the south believed in protec
tion, much more than the north did.
It is also a fact that after 1820 the
.south became more and more in favor
of free trade, while the ' north be
came more and more in favor of pro
tection. The cause was slavery. The
south found, or thought she found,
that wealth could be Increased . more
rapidly under free trade than under
protection, while the north found that
wealth could be produced more rapid-'
ly under protection. The, cause of this
change of opinion, was slave- labor in
the south and free labor in the north.
The south found slave labor profita
ble; the north did not. The climate of
the south demanded negro labor;
and, -inasmuch as negroes could not .
exist the south without being de
privedUof citizenship and reduced to
slavery, slave labor became a neces
sity. The ruling class there, the land
owners, who . were the only Wealthy
people, demanded slave labor, because
it.was about the only labor they could
get and it was the cheapest labor in
the world. Instead of this the north
Invented machines and in this way
partly did away with the necessity of
slavery. The northern machines
proved a little cheaper than the south
ern . machines. ,
It is a fact that manufactures In the
south are In their infancy, compared
with the north. This will make pro
tection much more necessary for the
south than for the north. The south
will have to travel over the same
ground industrially that the north has
been traveling over. In the south la
bor is cheaper than in the north. This
will make capital more profitable
there than in the north for many
years to come, if the policy of protec
tion is continued. This will cause
capital to leave the north and go to
the south. The great and growing
country of the future, then, is the
south, provided only the policy of
protection-is kept up; if not kept up,
slavery will be restored; If not re
stored, progress of the south, In
wealth and intelligence, will be slow..
The new party, then, must go for
freedom and protection if it would
find favor in the south.
J NO a I)K 1 1 ART.
Jersey City, N. J.
The same Doston literary critic from
whoso letter a quotation was made,
has sent "a supplementary nolo"' on
the same question. In this she says:
"There la one term of great valu
which The Independent uses, and I
would be glad to see it adopted by
every writer dealing with political af
fairs, It b the term 'partisan (inan
ity.' The more a writer studies that
term, thrt more uaeful It will appear.
What la It that makes fannera who
sell everything In a free trade market
and buy everything In a hiRh tariff,
protected market, go out Into a cam
palicn, nnreh long dUtanie.t, carry
aooty, itreany larup and about for
hlKh tarltTa? The wholii thin tan b
numtned up In the two worda, partl
fan Incantty.' That tella the whole
tnth and to tell It In any othr way
would require rtdumna. The name two
word etiUfn the action of thoiuandt
of other men wage-wnrkira amen?
the number,
.
