Hesperian student / (Lincoln [Neb.]) 1872-1885, March 01, 1877, Page 67, Image 7
The South. G7 & V I I iv i fK l' V haughty people must have been, is to shut everything from view and imagine our selves in their position. Human nature is the same the world over, and mclhinks wo would scarcely he able to contain our selves. But, as wo said, thoir spirit for opposi tion was broken, and they wholly with drew from politics the main reason being that their loaders were disfranchised. And now a swarm of unemployed army officers, ofllco-sofkers, (called by the south cm people "Carpet Bagger") and mission aries, Hocked thither to enlighten the ne groes and take the lead in allairs, which was easily done since the blacks knew not how to do anything, and blindly fol lowed those who claimed to be their friends and benefactors. The condition of affairs after the mighiy struggle and revolution, as it is graphically portrayed by a writer in the Atlantic Monthly, must have been ten ible. This writer acknowl edges that many of those who followed close upon the heels of our. war may have been sincere, and ofttimes did good to the negroes; but he claims, und justly, we be lieve, for it is only In accordance with hu man nature, tha the most were only un principled olliee-seekcrs and money-makers. They were men who cared nothing for the reconciliation of the two races, or the prosperity of the South, so long as they could be filling their pockets with ill gotten gains. Taxc were run up to an enormous extent to supply these corrupt ofllcials and their friends with means to revel in luxury at the expense of tnose in whom they took no interest. All state, even county, officers reveled in luxuries unheard of before, and such as would not be folerated here for an iustant. Men who were beggars one day grew amazingby rich the next. The negroes were allowed, at first, the minor ofllces, concerning the duties of which they knew nothinir, and in the majority of cases were so ignoraut that they could only sign doc uments by a cross. In time they filled higher ofllces and soon learned from the white oflico holders to love luxury, and also, how to extort money, rightly consid ering themselves as much entitled to it as their leaders, so tit it they soonoutrivalled the so called " Carpet Baggers " in their headlong career. Crimes of all sorts were on the increase. It is said that it was al most impossible to convict a nngro since juries were composed, for the mo3t part, of blanks. With crimes on the increase and no chance of punishing the guilty, with taxes advanced to such an extent that it was almost impossible to pay them ex cept by allowing their lands to be knock ed offundi-r the sheriff's hammer, could we expect that the southern whites would long remain quiet and allow their all to be swept "away by hungry olllce seekers and especially by those who wereformely made to come and go at ther bidding? The Ku Kluxand WhitoLcague organizations were the outgrowth of this conditou of things. The southern whites, seeing they could not obtuiu relief through the lawt took it into their own hands to punish crimes committed against them. The young men, not having been brought up to labor, found it more con genial to threaten, beat and shoot down defenseless, and in, the majority of cases, innocent negroes. Finding that by so do ing they could cower down the blacks, they scoured the country during political campaigns, threatening, shooting, haug ing and butchering the defenceless col ored populace. This condition ofaffaks has now existed for many years and the blacks are so afraid of the whites that, in many places, they live hidden away in the swamps and forests, only coming forth to plunder the neighboring country and ap ply the torch to the property of their for mer masters, but who are now their dead ly enemies. And now we have the spectacle in our country of two races in open liostility to each other. The one, shooting and butch ering; the other retaliating by plundering and destroying property with fire. In stead of affairs becoming better as time