[228] Ibid. Aug. 20, 1889.
[229] Ibid. Aug. 22, 1889.
[230] Ibid. Dec. 23, 1889.
[231] Ibid. Jan. 17, 1890.
CHAPTER X
As has been heretofore stated, George William Curtis, the most eminent representative of former abolition sentiment, at that date (1888), still alive in the United States, had propounded a query to the author concerning political advantages obtained through the possession of the suppressed vote swelling the electoral strength of the States, possibly compelled to suppress its exercise.
Hampton, the most illustrious representative and “one of the most distinguished leaders”[232] of the overthrown slavocracy, had, in his reply to a press interview, indicated how little desirous he thought the South was of retaining any advantage based on its possession, and his lieutenant, Butler, elaborating the argument, had pressed for a diffusion of the Negroes throughout the United States.
The fates gave Mr. Curtis the last word.
In Harper’s Weekly in the early part of 1891 appeared an editorial entitled “A Sign of the Times.” It was in part as follows:
“The associations, which under the general name of Farmers Alliance, are organized throughout the country, are a sign of the times not to be overlooked. They are the political form which is given to a feeling which is observable on all sides, extending quite beyond the circle of those who actually take part in such associations.... The mainspring of the movement is hostility to what is called the aristocracy of wealth. This hostility is due to the conviction that consolidated capital commands special privileges, which are denied to the greatest industrial interest of the country, that of agriculture.... The most striking illustration of this movement was that in South Carolina. A Farmers Convention composed of white Democrats, who were opposed to what they called the aristocratic Democratic Ring, made the present Governor ‘Ben’ Tillman, the Democratic candidate. His main appeal was to the poor whites or ‘buckra’, as they are called, and despite the fact that he was opposed by Judge Haskell, a representative of the old governing class, who had the good will of most of the colored leaders, Mr. Tillman was overwhelmingly elected.... Tillman’s election, which was a signal defeat of the old Democratic regime in South Carolina was followed by the defeat of the chief representative of that regime, Senator Hampton, for re-election to the Senate.... One striking incident in the campaign was the speech of a colored Republican, who opposed Judge Haskell and who said that Tillman had made both the whites and the Negroes readers and thinkers.”[233]