I
believe it to be the duty of the general government to appropriate money
to assist the people to improve their railroads, rivers, and assist in
like new enterprises.
Another important question, that of labor, I believe can only be settled
by legislation. I believe it to be for the interests of the people of the
south to have the vagrant freedmen removed, as they are the cause of
continued strife and tumult.
I am sure we do not want the scenes of St. Domingo and Hayti repeated in
our midst. I believe such will be the case if they are not removed. If
elected, I shall urge upon the general government the duty of colonizing
the negroes; it being the duty of the government to do this, as we are
deprived of that amount of property, and the negroes should be removed
where they can be distinct and by themselves. It is impossible for the two
classes to exist equal together, for we would always be liable to
outbreaks and bloodshed. We must either educate them or abolish them, for
they know but little more now than to lie all day in the sun and think
some one will look out for them. Though free, they cannot yet understand
what freedom is, and in many cases it is an injury rather than a benefit.
It would be better to have white labor than to try and retain the black.
Another important point--a great debt has been contracted by the federal
government. The south cannot pay a proportion of that debt. I am opposed
to repudiation, but am in favor of relieving the south of the internal
revenue tax.
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