Part 6 — CHAPTER XXIV (continued 6)

[2075] See Willet, “Workers of the Nation,” Vol. II, pp. 701, 702.

[2076] Willet, Vol. II, p. 714.

[2077] Washington, in Atlantic Monthly, Vol. LXXVIII, pp. 324-326.

[2078] Somers, p. 166.

[2079] Southern Magazine, Jan., 1874.

[2080] Somers, p. 117.

[2081] Somers, p. 159.

[2082] Southern Magazine, March, 1874.

[2083] “Southern States,” p. 131.

[2084] The prosperity of several large commercial houses in Alabama is said to date from the corner groceries of the ’70’s.

[2085] Somers, “Southern States,” pp. 159, 272; Harper’s Monthly Magazine, Jan., 1874; King, “The Great South”; C. C. Smith, “Colonization of Negroes in Central Alabama”; Southern Magazine, Jan., 1874; The Forum, Vol. XXI, p. 341; Hoffman, p. 261; Hammond, p. 191. See also Appendix II.

[2086] A northern traveller in the Alabama Black Belt in recent years says of it: “The white population is rapidly on the decrease and the negro population on the increase.... There are hundreds of the ‘old mansion houses’ going to decay, the glass broken in the windows, the doors off the hinges, the siding long unused to paint, the columns of the verandas rotting away, and the bramble thickets encroaching to the very doors. The people have sold their land for what little they could get and moved to the cities and towns, that they may educate their children and escape the intolerable conditions surrounding them at their old beloved homes.... These friends have largely gone from the negro’s life, and he is left alone in the wilderness, held down by crop liens and mortgages given to the alien. Land rent is half its value; the tenant must purchase from the creditor’s store and raise cotton to pay for what he has already eaten and worn.” C. C. Smith, “Colonization of Negroes in Central Alabama,” published by the Christian Women’s Board of Missions, Indianapolis, Ind.

[2087] See also Edmunds, in Review of Reviews, Sept., 1900; Dillingham, in Yale Review, Vol. V, p. 190; Stone, “The Negro in the Yazoo-Mississippi Delta”; Stone, in Quarterly Journal of Economics, Feb., 1905; Gunton’s Magazine, Sept., 1902 (Dowd); Brown, in North American Review, Dec., 1904; Census 1900, Vol. VI, Pt. II, pp. 406-416; Harper’s Monthly Magazine, Jan., 1874, and Jan., 1881; Stone, in South Atlantic Quarterly, Jan., 1905; Kelsey, “The Negro Farmer”; Hammond, “The Cotton Industry.”

Another solution of the problem is often suggested, viz. the crowding out of the blacks from the Black Belt by the whites—especially northerners and Germans—who want to cultivate the Black Belt lands, who settle in colonies, and who have no place for the negro in their plans of industrial society. The Black Belt landlords are becoming weary of negro labor, and some are disposed to make special inducements to get whites to settle in the Black Belt. In Louisiana and Mississippi, Italians have replaced negroes on many sugar and cotton plantations. Georgia and Alabama, in order to make the negro work, have recently passed stringent vagrancy laws, and the planters are talking of Chinese labor. For the opinions of those who favor white immigration to the South, see the Manufacturers Record, the Atlanta Constitution, and the Montgomery Advertiser, during recent years. There is a general demand for foreigners who will perform agricultural labor.

[2088] Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test., p. 879 (Lowe); N. Y. World, Dec. 14, 1867, Aug. 15, 1868.

[2089] For information in regard to the Radical congressmen: Barnes, “History of the 40th Congress,” Index; Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test. (Clanton, Lowe, Lindsay); Harper’s Weekly, May 1, 1869 (picture of Spencer); Elyton Herald, ——, 1868; Montgomery Mail, July 25, 1868; N. Y. World, Feb. 15 and Sept. 22, 1868; Alabama Manual (1869), p. 32; N. Y. Herald, ——, 1868.

[2090] Pike was the only county that never fell completely into the hands of the Radicals.

[2091] “North Alabama Illustrated,” p. 50; Montgomery Advertiser, July 13, 1866; N. Y. World, April 11 and July 23, 1868; Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test., pp. 187, 188, 881, 1815, 1956; Acts of Ala. (1868), p. 414; (1869-1870), pp. 157, 336; Beverly, “Alabama,” p. 203. A vivid description of the first session of the reconstructed legislature was published by Capt. B. H. Screws, “The Loil Legislature.”

[2092] Tradition says that what is now known as the Davis Memorial Room was the one thus used.

[2093] Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test., pp. 231, 881, 1411, 1424, 1468; Weekly Mail, March 24, 1869; Independent Monitor, Jan. 11, 1870; Report of Investigating Committee; Miller, “Alabama,” p. 254; “Northern Alabama,” p. 50; oral accounts of former members.

[2094] Acts of Ala. (1868), pp. 67, 71, 79, 212, 305, 352.

[2095] Senate Journal (1868), pp. 168, 176, 297.

[2096] Acts of Ala. (1868), pp. 113, 129, 133, 350, 407, 414, 421; (1869-1870), p. 451; Montgomery Mail, Feb. 24, 1870; Annual Cyclopædia (1870), p. 12.

[2097] Annual Cyclopædia (1870), p. 13; Journal (1869-1870), passim; Brown, “Alabama,” p. 268.

[2098] Annual Cyclopædia (1870), p. 19; N. Y. Herald, Aug. 17, 1868.

[2099] Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test., pp. 90, 91, 187; Senate Journals (1868-1874).

[2100] Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test., pp. 189, 239, 240, 324, 435, 523, 962, 1421, 1590, 1816, 1819, 1820, 1957; Herbert, “Solid South,” p. 53; Coburn Report, p. 256; N. Y. World, April 11, 1868; Montgomery Mail, April 21, 1870.

[2101] Annual Cyclopædia (1870), p. 13.

[2102] Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test., p. 510; Augusta Chronicle and Sentinel, June 13, 1866; Selma Times and Messenger, June 9, 1868.

[2103] Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test., pp. 93, 103, 104, 358, 435, 1878; N. Y. World, Nov. 3, 1868; Coburn Report, p. 512; Herbert, “Solid South,” p. 60.

[2104] Annual Cyclopædia (1870), p. 14; Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test., pp. 91, 1177, 1178, 1179, 1242; N. Y. Herald, Sept. 27 and Oct. 26, 1868; Report of Sec. of War, 1869, vol. I, p. 88.

[2105] McPherson’s scrap-book, “Campaign of 1868,” Vol. I, p. 156; Vol. V, pp. 43, 45, 46, 48, 49; Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test., pp. 95, 360, 502, 1956; N. Y. World, Sept. 12, 1868; G. O. No. 27, Dept. of the South, Oct. 8, 1868; G. O. No. 38, Dept. of the South, Nov. 10, 1868; Tuskegee News, July 29, 1876.

[2106] N. Y. Times, Sept. 7, 1868 (speech of Judge T. M. Peters).

[2107] Nordhoff, “Cotton States in 1870,” pp. 85, 86; Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test., pp. 185, 209, 210, 434, 435, 1879.

[2108] Miller, “Alabama,” p. 256; Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test., pp. 84, 182, 183, 216, 232, 311, 356, 357, 378, 379, 512, 531, 1038, 1625; McPherson’s scrap-book, “Campaign of 1870,” Vol. I, pp. 55, 61; Annual Cyclopædia (1870), pp. 16, 17; “Northern Alabama,” p. 50; Montgomery Mail, Aug. 20, 1870 (Union League Appeal).

[2109] Somers, “Southern States,” p. 132; Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test., p. 225; Miller, “Alabama,” p. 256.

[2110] Somers, “Southern States,” pp. 167, 186; Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test., 214, 232, 381, 423, 1299, 1371, 1558-1561 (see also the whole of Lindsay’s testimony); “Northern Alabama,” p. 50; Annual Cyclopædia (1871), p. 11; Miller, “Alabama,” pp. 259-261; Beverly, “Alabama,” p. 204.

[2111] Montgomery Advertiser, Sept. 23, 1872.

[2112] Report of Joint Committee in regard to election of George E. Spencer; Taft, “Senate Election Cases,” pp. 558, 562, 574-578; Annual Cyclopædia (1872), pp. 11, 12; (1873), 16-18; Memorial of General Assembly (Radical) to President, November, 1872; Coburn Report, p. 716; Senate Journal (1872-1873), pp. 15-86 (“Court-House Senate”); Senate Journal, 1871 (“Capitol Senate”), Appendix; McPherson, “Handbook of Politics” (1874), pp. 85, 86; Acts of Ala. (1872-1873), p. 532; Acts of Ala., 1873, p. 156; Montgomery Advertiser, Nov. 12 and 24, 1872; Jan. 4, Feb. 22 and 23, 1873; Southern Argus, Nov. 22, 1872; Jan. 10, 1873; Herbert, “Solid South,” pp. 57-59; Miller, “Alabama,” p. 261.

[2113] Coburn Report, pp. 230, 262, 267, 271, 274, 280, 525, 528, 529; “Northern Alabama,” p. 51; Tuscaloosa Blade, Nov. 27, 1873; Montgomery Advertiser, Sept. 27, 1872.

[2114] See Coburn Report, pp. 154, 161.

[2115] Montgomery Advertiser, March, 1870; Report of Inspector of Penitentiary, 1873-1874; Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test., pp. 230, 244, 1220, 1380, 1384; Acts of Ala. (1869-1870), p. 28; Washington, “Up from Slavery,” pp. 83-90; N. Y. World, Feb. 22 and April 11, 1868; Tuscaloosa Monitor, Dec. 18, 1867; Coburn Report, pp. 108, 110, 161, 203, 204, 295; Clowes, “Black America,” pp. 131, 140; Herbert, “Solid South,” p. 59.

[2116] Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test., pp. 71, 233, 390, 391, 881, 1815, 1816; Coburn Report, p. 861; Huntsville Democrat, 1872; Straker, “The New South Investigated,” pp. 24, 41, 57; Ala. State Journal, May 20, 1874; McPherson’s Scrap-book, “Campaign of 1869,” Vol. I, p. 57.

[2117] International Monthly, Vol. V, p. 220; Coburn Report, p. 527; “The Land We Love,” Vol. I, p. 446; Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test., pp. 390, 391, 405, 411, 926; Riley, “Baptists of Alabama,” pp. 321, 322, 329; Clowes, “Black America,” pp. 53, 131, 140, 144; Murphy, “The Present South.”

[2118] See also Ch. XXII.

[2119] Charge of Judge H. D. Clayton to Barbour County grand jury in Coburn Report, p. 839; Report of Montgomery grand jury in Advertiser, Oct. 20, 1871; Tuskegee News, March 16, 1876; Little, “History of Butler County,” p. 111; Tuscaloosa Blade, Nov. 19, 1874; Coburn Report, pp. 524, 1219; Montgomery Advertiser, Nov. 27, 1873; Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test., pp. 230, 1175, 1179; Scribner’s Monthly, Sept., 1874; Herbert, “Solid South,” pp. 63, 67.

[2120] Ala. State Journal, Jan. 14, 1874.

[2121] State Journal, March 10, 1874. The justice who performed the ceremony in one case gave as his excuse that the woman was so bad that nothing she could do would make her worse.

[2122] Montgomery Advertiser and other Montgomery papers of March 5, 1873.

[2123] Coburn Report on Affairs in Alabama, 1874, pp. xiv, 341, 519, 520, 521, 743; Montgomery Advertiser, Oct. 23, 1902.

[2124] See State Journal, Jan. 10 and Feb. 1, 1874.

[2125] A few years ago Strobach offered to tell me all about his political career in exchange for $50, but died before he could begin the account.

[2126] Coburn Report, pp. 225, 230, 272, 280-282; State Journal, May 20 and 27, 1874; Montgomery Advertiser, Oct. 23, 1902.

[2127] See Coburn Report, pp. 225, 282-288.

[2128] Coburn Report, pp. 118, 135, 145, 151, 279. When the Coburn Committee was in Opelika, Washington Jones, colored, appeared before it and demanded that the promises made to him be fulfilled. He wanted the mule, the land, “overflow” bacon, etc. The committee got rid of him in a hurry. See Coburn Report, p. 135.

[2129] Coburn Report, pp. 59, 63, 106, 118, 122, 142, 181, 641; State Journal, June 10, 1874.

[2130] Coburn Report, pp. 58, 59, 92, 106, 136, 275, 295, 296, 416, 641.

[2131] Coburn Report, pp. 58, 59, 106, 203, 204.

[2132] Coburn Report, pp. 59, 63, 109, 118, 119. See also Ku Klux Rept., Ala. Test., pp. 1072-1075.

[2133] Coburn Report, pp. 58, 59, 61, 118, 278, 280, 308, 317, 320, 446.

[2134] The State Journal of Aug. 1, 1874, has a list of extracts from Democratic papers from 1868 to 1874, showing the change of attitude in regard to the negro.

[2135] Tuskegee News, June 4, and Aug. 20, and Sept. 10, 1874; Coburn Report, pp. 120, 860, 861, 1231, 1232, et passim; Eufaula Times, July 30, 1874, quoting from the Birmingham News, Shelby Guide, and Eutaw Whig; State Journal, June 24, 1874.

[2136] Opelika Times, Aug. 22, 1874, condensed; Coburn Report, pp. 97, 100, 104.

[2137] See testimony of Dunbar and Gardner in Coburn Report, pp. 101, 209, 210, 300, 302; Opelika Daily Times, Sept. 30, 1874.

[2138] State Journal, June 16, 1874. For a typical readoption of this platform see the resolutions of the Tuscaloosa County Democrats in State Journal, June 24, 1874. “Old Whig” in the Opelika Daily Times, Sept. 30, 1874, proposed that the whites “fall back upon the old Wesleyan doctrine ‘to prefer one another in business’;” “Give the Radicals no support;” “The adder that stings should find no warmth in the bosom of the dying victim.”

[2139] Opelika Times, Oct. 14, 1874; Coburn Report, pp. 97, 103-104.

[2140] Coburn Report, p. 856; Annual Cyclopædia (1874), p. 15.

[2141] Coburn Report, pp. 99, 101, 856, 859; Opelika Daily Times, June 29 and Oct. 3, 1874; Montgomery Advertiser, Oct. 23, 1902.

[2142] State Journal, June 4 and 27, 1874; Coburn Report, p. 881; Annual Cyclopædia (1874), pp. 15, 16; Tuskegee News, July 2, 1874.

[2143] The division was as follows:—

District Distributing Points Pounds

First Mobile, Selma, Camden 55,851

Second Montgomery 44,402

Third Opelika, Talladega, Seale 41,802

Fourth Demopolis 53,663

Fifth and sixth Decatur 31,278

[2144] Senate Journal, 1874-1875, p. 7.

[2145] For full account of the bacon question see Ho. Doc., No. 110, 43d Cong., 2d Sess.; also Tuskegee News, June 4, Aug. 27, and Sept. 24, 1874; Coburn Report, pp. 36, 50, 69, 207, 241.

The following list shows how one distribution was made in October, just before the elections:—

County Pounds

Montgomery 14,151

Lowndes 8,283

Butler 4,235

Dale (to P. King, Haw Ridge) 2,482

Barbour 4,527

Bullock 5,169

Pike (to Gardner and Wiley) 2,066

Henry 1,036

Clay 3,000

Randolph 2,000

Coosa 3,000

Elmore 3,500

Talladega 7,500

Lee (to W. H. Betts) 9,792

Russell (to W. H. Betts) 2,390

Walker 2,178

“To G. P. Plowman, by order of Charles Pelham, M. C.” 1,000

[2146] Coburn Report, pp. 59, 60.

[2147] Annual Cyclopædia (1874), p. 13; Coburn Report, pp. 247-254.

[2148] The Tribune, Oct. 7, 8, and 12, 1874; The Nation, Aug. 27, and Oct. 15 and 27, 1874; Annual Cyclopædia (1874), p. 12; Foulke, “Life of O. P. Morton,” Vol. II, p. 350. The Hays-Hawley letter was first published in the Hartford Courant and in the Boston Daily Advertiser. It is also in the Coburn Report, pp. 1254-1260.

[2149] N. Y. Tribune, Oct. 7, 1874; Coburn Report, pp. 244, 245, 1221, 1226, 1241, 1247, 1264, 1266.

[2150] Coburn Report, p. 512.

[2151] Coburn Report, p. 931.

[2152] Eufaula News, Sept. 3, 1874; Coburn Report, p. 855.

[2153] Coburn Report, pp. 679, 681, 746.

[2154] Coburn Report, pp. 514, 515, 681, 1239.

[2155] Coburn Report, pp. 680, 682; “An appeal to Governor Lewis from the People of Sumter.”

[2156] Coburn Report, pp. 236, 244, 245, 289, 291, 702, 1201, 1231-1235.

[2157] Union Springs Herald and Times, quoted in State Journal, June 13, 1874.

[2158] Coburn Report, pp. 130, 948.

[2159] For information in regard to the campaign of 1874 I am indebted to several of those who took part in it, and especially to Mr. T. J. Rutledge, now state bank examiner, who was then secretary of the Democratic campaign committee.

[2160] Coburn Report, pp. 125, 530.

[2161] Coburn Report, pp. xix, 43, 80-84, 427, 434, 476, 794, 850, 851, 949, 1200-1204; Tuskegee News, Nov. 5, 1874; State Journal, Oct. and Nov., 1874.

[2162] Annual Cyclopædia (1874), p. 17; Tribune Almanac, 1875.

[2163] Coburn Report, pp. 239, 253, 701, 703; The Nation, Nov. 30, 1874; Tuskegee News, Dec. 10, 1874.

[2164] In the code of Alabama (1876), pp. 100-120, is printed the “Constitution (so-called) of the State of Alabama, 1868,” as the code terms it. The last three amendments are thus noted, “Adoption proclaimed by the Secretary of State, Dec. 18, 1865” (or July 20, 1868, or March 30, 1870). The other amendments have notes stating date of submission and date of ratification by the state. See code of 1876, pp. 27, 28; also code of 1896.

[2165] The negroes voted against it. Some of them were told that, if adopted, a war with Spain would result and that the blacks, being the “only truly loyal,” would have to do most of the fighting against the Spanish, who would land at Apalachicola, Milton, and Eufaula. See Tuskegee News, Dec. 9, 1875. See also in regard to the new constitution, Tuskegee News, June 3, 1875; “Northern Alabama Illustrated,” pp. 51, 52; Annual Cyclopædia (1875), p. 14; Ho. Ex. Doc., No. 46, 43d Cong., 2d Sess.; “Report of the Joint Committee in regard to the Amendment of the Constitution.”

[2166] Most whites believe that eliminating the negro has solved the problem of the negro in politics. It seems to me that this is a superficial view. The black counties are still represented in party conventions and legislature in proportion to population. The white counties are jealous of this undue influence and would like to reduce this representation. The party leaders have been able to repress this jealousy, but it is not forgotten. Before it will submit to loss of representation the Black Belt, it is believed, will gradually admit to the franchise those negroes who have been excluded, and they will vote with the whites. Such a course will undoubtedly cause political realignments. Notice on the maps that the Republican strongholds are now in the white counties. The “Lily Whites” are increasing in numbers.

[2167] These views are set forth most clearly by Alexander Johnston in Lalor’s “Cyclopædia of Political Science,” Vol. III, p. 556. See also McCall, “Thaddeus Stevens,” and his article in the Atlantic Monthly, June, 1901; Blaine, “Twenty Years”; Schurz, in McClure’s Magazine, Jan., 1905; Grosvenor, in Forum, Aug., 1900.

[2168] For a belated recognition of the reasons for this, see H. L. Nelson, “Three Months of Roosevelt,” in the Atlantic Monthly, Feb., 1902.