The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1879-04-24
A New Problem.

1
columns, the negro exodus from the
south is causing widespread alarm In
that region, and new political prob
lem of great significance now stares
the planter i'm the face. AS the sub
ject is attracting such wide attention,
the Philadelphia ECening Bulletin re-
Gently interviewed number of dis
tinguished friends of the colored race
among them the venerable Lucretia
Mott. to ascertain their views regard
ing the migration. The latter was at
n loss how to account for the sudden
movement, but she could not but
think that their condition would not
he bettered. Mr.. William Still, q rep
resentative colored man, was also free
to express the opinion that he did not
believe the emigrants would reap any
advantages from abandoning their
southern homes for the colder climate
of Kansas. Mr.. William Lloyd Gar
rison, of Boston, on being interrogatcd,
said: "I regard this sudden exodus
of the black men, not as d general or
concerted scheme through the southern
states, but purely local. 1t is caused,
too, i'm my belief by. the poverty of
the colored people and by the fact that
| they are ostracized and in some cases
"bulldozed " by the white men whose
serfs they formerly were. But 1 do
not and cannot see any way to settle
the relations between the races or re-
| move the causes of discord and distrust
that now exist, unless II spirit of mu-
tual concession and liberation be fos-
tered. The lot of the colored man is
cast i'm the southern states. There he
must stay, and it will depend as much
on his white neighbor or employer as
on himself whether his condition be
prosperous or not. And the future of
the south must in great measure de-
pend on the condition of its colored
labor"
But, notwithstanding the opinions
of these distinguished philanthropists,
the panic is spreading from day to day
and the rush to st. Louis is as great as
it was week or ten days ago. The
wharf scenes in that city are described
as remarkable. 1--WE want to be
treated like white folks" said one of
the many thousands of these refugees
to reporter in that city the other
day, while waiting for the boat that
was to bear him to the promised land
of Kansas and the "day of jubilee"
In that brief sentence whole volume
of wrongs, robbery, and fraud, VIC
lcnce, fear and oppression is told.
awe want to be treated like white
folks" and therein is revealed the true
cause of the present large migration of
the colored people from the southern
states to the new regions of the north
west. The poor negroes are tired of
waiting for the good time coming"
that was promised them as the echoes
of the war died away, and they are
seeking to better their sad condition
as best they may. They were born,
bred and raised in the sunny south /;
they were endcared to their rude cab
ins; these were homes to them; they
worked and toiled i'm the blazing sun,
but the profits of their labor were
stolen from them; their rights were
trampled under foot; their feelings
were ignored, justice was denied them,
and their complaints were met with
the click of the pistol trigger. "Away
down to home" as it will always be
to them (the negro is noted for his in
tense local attachments, did not afford
them the shelter, and, what is more,
the liberty they desired. They had
been given, and in name only, rights
of citizenship that were never re-
spected; they worked and worked so
hard, but the difficulty of making a
living under the system of the plant
ers of renting lands for fixed amount
of cotton per acre only gave the profit
of their arduous labor to their former
masters, and what was left for them
was bare subsistence-nOthing more.
Seeing no prospect of bettering this
condition of things. the poor negroes
are now turning their faces toward the
northwest, and thousands are desert
ing the cotton districts of the south to
seek new homes in Kansas, the State
in which the battle against slavery
was begun, and of whose climate and
fertile lands the negroes have heard so
much, and where, they hope, they
twill be treated like white folks" No
matter how much they may suffer
from poverty nor how many hardships
they may encounter, they will at least,
they fondly trust, be treated like hu-
man beings, and their political rights
and freedom respected. A land which
promises this is the only boon they
| crave.
Elk County Court Proclamation.
VIII EREAS, the Hon. l.. ID. Wet