Republicans wary of Southern hospitality

On this day in 1886: The New York Tribune responds to North Carolina’s efforts to attract Northerners and their investment capital:

“Every such movement is deserving of and receives the heartiest encouragement. . . . But [Northerners must know] that if they cast in their lot with the people of North Carolina they will be perfectly secure in all their political rights and privileges. Everybody knows that in portions of the South unless one swears by the Democratic party the community in which he resides will make it unpleasant for him. He may not be positively maltreated, but he will be let alone in an emphatic manner.

“We rejoice at the assurance that comes to us that North Carolina has set her face against this un-American, suicidal policy; that she welcomes alike Republicans and Democrats and proposes that they shall have equal rights. Inviting immigration in this spirit and offering superior inducements, there is no reason why she should not increase and multiply.”