Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1871-10-10
Progress Of the Negro.

extract. The production which 10 {
very mastery effort, is the work o.
Mr.. L. Il. Pollard, the well known
historian of the Confederate "Lost
Cause"
"There has been lost Theory al
well as a "Lost Cause" for the South
in the lato war. Before the great
modern event and it's consequences
the popular and almost universally
received theory in the South was
that the negro if ever freed wa.
bound to retrograde, and that, after
having proved misery to himself
and nuisance to others, he would
by providential interposition be ex-
tinguished, doomed to altogether
disappear. 1t is not unusual in
Southern companies to hear such
snatches of conversation as the fol-
lowing: The niggers are dying out.
DIR. Assinine tells us that in the cir
cult of his practice they are dying
like rotten sheep. Maybe they have
diseases which are not incident to
the whites, and that they are thus
doomed to perish. What do you
think of what our newspapers say OF
the great toe disease of San Domin-
go?
Those who have been looking for
the providential radiance of the ne
gro, and have been constructing NOR
tality tables to suit themselves, must
have been surprised, waking up some
morning not long since, to read in
the newspapers an outgiving from
the United States Census, our ne plus
ultra of statistical information, We
are there given to know that since
1860 the negroes Of the South, des>
pite the experiences of the war, have
increased nearly ten per cent, and
that in the United States of to-day
there are not less than five millions
OF black people ! We can no longer
shut our eyes to what we may be un
willing to believe. The day for
prophesyiug for the black man of
America fate similar to that of its
red man is past. The fact, welcome
or unwelcOme, must be accepted
that this race, in numbers already a
considerable nation, of characteris-
ties different from the white mans,
being mixed into the society and po-
litical system of America, and is
working out there an experiment at
tended by the circumstances of q pc
euliar romance. A comparatively
small number of Africans, brought
across seas from their native wilds,
grown up into people of millions,
trained in the harsh school Of sav-
cry, but school whose benefits are
that the negro is brought to his pres
ent capacity for an experiment more
hopeful than has ever yet been
made for his true civilization, are to
be displsyed;to the world not only
as new test of the social and polit-
ical system Of America, but as a last
supreme effort to take off a reproach
that has lain for ages on tho African,
and TO meet the prejudices against
him in new arena, and under aus
pices that have never been offered be-
fore. 1t is the apparition ola new
figure and actor in the civilized
world; great historical and ethno-
logical problem to be solved anew !;
condition of things sprung out of
the dromatic circumstances ola great
war a sudden transformation that
exceeds tho surprise OF felton, .
new prospect dawned on what had
been before supposed the most hope
less and melancholy outlook Of his
tory-the regeneration of the Afric-
an.
No candid person in the South viii
deny that the general experience Of
the negro since emancipation has
been progress that in nearly every
respect Of his life BIO exhibits some
Improvement from that date. South
cru men are not very ready to ads
vertise this to the world they would
probably confess it with reluctance to
u Northern commission of inquiry
but in private conversations among
themselves, whore no pride of contro-
versy interposes, they freely admit
tIand wonder at it. The negro moves,
lie is showing the greatest eagerness
for knowledge and education; attest.
ed by the fact, for which examina-
ton is challenged, that in the free
schools Of the South, where no has
equal admission, there are more black
children than white ones in proper
ton to the population of each race
in the given community. So faT
from becoming the idle vagabond
that the pessimist theorizers would
have him after emancipation, he il
exemplarily Industrious; attested by
the fact that to-day the negro repre-
sents nearly all the labor of the
South, and admitting this test, thai
Of persons in equal condition of pow
erty and Of necessity of work, there
are far more whites than negroes
who are idle in the South. OF The
vices that were to assail and destroy
the negro in his new estate of free
dom there are no proofs; quite tn,
contrary. The terrible vice Of in
temperance, which has been the us
ual scourge of weak races, and tn,
almost unfailing incident Of a preco
cious civilization, is comparatively
unknown among the Southern freed
men. So far from being improyi
dent. the wonder is how the negr'
economies, gets so many goot
clothes and real comforts out of hi
very scanty wages. As . voter b
has shown a discretion and independ
ence that have nonpIussed the wises
Of our politicians. There were whit
wiseacres who, sometime ago, suppos
ed that the Negroes vote might b
procured by the merest solicitation
: mere wink from his employer; an
common joke in the South on tn
! Filteeth Amendment was that th
disfranehised white man might bu.
some cheap old negro to do his vot
ing for him. Never was such disaT