The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1881-03-25
The Negroes and the South.

The census returns prove that from 1870
10 1880 the South increased more rapidly IN
incubation than the North. The same re-
turns will no doubt show that the South
gained morc wealth during the same period
titan the Nortb-relatiyely to what each Sec
ton had before, wc mean, OF c0ur3e. The
same returns ought TO satisfy every sensible
man that as the negro prefers the South to
the North, the stories are false when are
told by carpcl-blggerS and scalaWags ana
Observation-Disclosures as to his being cheated
and defIauded out OF any of his rights by
tue whites amongst whom he lives. The
southern people are the negro's best friends.
He shows 10y bis acts that he appreciates the
fact. The best cooks and other negroes in
this city prefer remaining here and work
ing for lower wages TO going 10 New YORK
or Brooklyn and working Tor higher. we
have more than once called the attention OF
our northern libcllcrs to the fact that the
negroes cannot be induced by any offers OF
any sort which the northern people nave
ever made them to live amongst the people
who pro!es, to bcwaiI their wrongs and
sym3athlZe With them because OF their I'M
fortunate condition.
For the figures quoted below from the
census we are indebted TO a northern
Journal: From 4,ii1 $50 in 1860 the blacks
advanced to 6.577.ljl il 1880. That i, The
Increase was nearly fifty per cent. III the
twenty years. Out # the whole number OF
negroes, only 1860 were found In the
northern States and Territories, while
q, O97, 4S1 were in the former slave States.
And our northern contemporary draws the
following sensible conclusion:
cit is hardly possible that the negroes
would prefer southern homes and would
Increase in the South at the rapid rate they
have done since the abolition Of slavery il
ttey were the victims OF the wholesale per-
secutions OF which we have read so much"
"Hardly," we should say. And as popu-
ation increases, wealth increases; and so
the South is quite as well off as the North
so far as the relative increase OF wealth Is
concerned. We quote again:
"This tendency OF the cOlOred popula-
ton TO remain IN the South, and to increase
most in the very States where their alleged
ill.treatment la, been made the subject OF
50 much party thunder. is very remarkable
and very significant. In South Carolina.
for instance, the blacks have Increased
about 80 per cent. In Mississippi, Louisi-
ana, and Alabama their gain has been about
the sane, and in Georgia ii has been con-
siderably more than that.
"The colored people like the South, and
evidently mean 10 remain there. They pre-.
fer 70 enjoy their freedom in the land Of
their former bondage. Only an insignificant
number of them have manifested desire TO
move nor,hward. they tend instead further
toward the Gulf of Mexico, and any pOiti-
cal aud social hardships they may have to
bear seem 20 be more enduraDle than tie
severe climate Of the North"
Because there are no such hardships. The
negroes are, we suppose, the most )nlented
laboring population on the face OF the earth.
The whites among whom they live are
rather attached TO them than prciUdiced
against them, notwithstanding that the
whites may hold with The Louisville Courier
Journal, the most progressive OF southern
Journals, that 1.-the negro vote is not mo-
rally worthy TO be considered as forming
any intelligent or Just element OF public
opinion
We commend these facts to the attention
OF all concerned. There is nothing to be
gained for the southern people by protesting
to credit the stories of wrongs which the
libelers of their section continually in
lnni1n In