Claiborne guardian. [volume] (Homer, La.) 1877-188?, 1881-03-09
The Negro and the South.
New York Star.l

4 hSiV vi ITO NOlltlO1, nevertheless IL
is here in large numbers. and is
here to stay. Ii is not going back
TO Liberia or TO any other part of
Africa, and the often organized
"exOdus," whether sentimental or
speculative, can never amount to
more than II ripple on the surface
The last Federal census demon.
strates that the negro element in
the United States is increasing and
improving, and the vast bulk of it
is concentrated in the Southern
States, where By decree of destiny
and circumstance it is fated to re.
main. For these reasons the condi
ton and prospects of the colored
people, inseparably woven as they
are into our social and political
fabric, constitute subject of deep
interest to every humanitarian and
statesman.
Down TO score Of years ago the
mass of the cOlored race here was
sunk in dense ignorance and brutal.
izlng bondage, ranking but little
above the beasts OF the field. The
onlT fraction that possessed any
noteworthy degree of intelligence
was composed of those engaged in
domestic service, whose faculties
were sharpened and illuminated by
daily contact with their white mas
tcrs. 1t was a pitiful condition for
anything in human shape 10 be
placed in; but looking back upon it
now. many of us are prone to over.
look the true facts in the case, and
entirely misjudge the situation.
Slavery was in its essence bad, but
it was an evil inherited through
many generations aud perpetuated
by the supreme law of the land. Our
forefathers had eaten sour grapes,
and the teeth of their children were
set on edge. The vast majority OF
tue American people, Democrats as
we'll as Abolitionists, admitted this
fact, and differed only rs TO the
prope- remedy to be adopted. The
contention of Democrats was that
nothing shonld DC done in contra
vention of laws, and that emancipa.
ton when accomplished should
progress by safe and moderate
stages, so as to avoid possibly
greater ills than those from which
relief was sought.
The irresistible logic OF events
wrought out more violent solution
Of the problem and it is bootless
now to speculate on what might
have been. The Republican party,
acting under the stress of political
necessity, emancipated and enfran-
chised the negro at a stroke. Hav-
ing thus constituted him an impor
tant political factor, the same party
appointed itself his guide and
guardian, taking advantage of his
simple, credulous ignorance to make
him the willing catspaw of its
basest schemes. We need not
reiterate here the shameful story of
carpet bag disagreement or Freed
mans Bureau swindlc. Suffice it to
say that the colored man was mer-
cilessly plucked and debased by his
ostensible protectors.
Time, however, brings its reveng-
es, and today the negro is showing
that in twenty years he has made
considerable advances toward his
own genuine emancipation. He has
forgotten some things and has
learned more. He is pushing for.
ward into every walk of industry
and into the learned professions,
although obviously handicapped by
his antecedents. Even the former
plantation hands are making rapid
strides. Now that the plundering
incubus of carpet baggery is remov.
ed, the Southern States will soon be
able to immensely improve their
educational facilities, aud the color.
ed people will profit by the change.
AS they grow more intelligent, they
will divest themselves more and
more of habits of shiftless Incidence,
and will come TO clearly realize that
their best interests are bound up
with the welfare and prosperity Of
the sections in which they live.
Under this process the color line in
politics must inevitably fade away