Morning journal and courier., 1882-04-20
Thursday Morning, April 20. 1882. l
"MIsPLACED PHILANTHROPY"


 The splendid gift by John T. Slater, of Norwich of $1,OOO,OOO for the education of the southern blacks is not appreciated by ssme of the southern Bourbons. The editor of the Nashville (Tenn) American calls it misplaced philanthropy, and another in. stance of the turn that philanthropic ideas take among men of wealth at the North and of the peculiar narrowness of view that seems coupled with so much generosity. He con- tinues: ''To us who, having passed our lives among them, know the negroes well, and know that this pleasant tempered race is satisfactorily working out their own des- tinies, this seems the fancy of distorted mind, and though the free offering of means to purpose like this is not, it is true, bad in itself it is relatively mistaken conception of duty and seems more the outgrowth of prejudice than intelligent observation. For if the negro is as yet lly-edueated, are not also thousands of whites within the radius encompassed by the daily walks of the donor of this sum and would it not seem that gen uine philanthropy, intelligently directed, would seek to ameliorate the ignorance and unchecked vagabondism of communities nearer to the donor 2"
 The 'smorbidness'' that conceives and nurses such ''mistaken notions" and so much misplaced sentiment" as Mir. Slater has shown strikes, says this editor, the southern mind at once, and while the desire to do good deed is apparent and merits hearty rec ognition, and while the South does not object
 z1Al- borders, the, manner of it's application is looked upon as something akin to the folly of sending mission money to Booriboola-G Cha, when tenement starvation and pestilence are rife at home. The editor concludes his re- nnarkable article as follows: 'It is a marked peculiarity of the northern mind, but it is 8 folly we may well condone, as it is one of the indirect means which are observable, and which are seconding natural causes in shap- ing the negro's future, The implication must not pass unheeded, nevertheless, that facili- ties for the education of this race are with held them, for in many southern towns they enjoy advantages unknown among the whites. They not only have schools provided for them at the hands of the white taxpayers, but, owing to natural indolence and the in- difference of the negro to the comforts of life, their children are left free to attend school throughout their first years, while the impoverished whites aro forced to utilize the still undeveloped strength of theirs in the daily struggle for livelihood. In comment ing upon the subject we pass by the material advantage of having large sums of money like this spread out over the South. This is but one evidence of the inevitable ebb and flow of wealth, and we simply draw attention to the misconceived notion of the negro's status and original character and the mis- placed sympathy made evident in cases of this kind"
 These are truly generous sentiments and they will strike the northern mind'' quite as pleasantly as Mr.Slater's misplaced sym pathy'' is said to have struck the southern mind Perhaps Mir. Slater will make an apology to that branch of the southern mind represented by the Anericaaa's editor. And perhaps he, or some other philanthropist, will be morbid" enough to make donation for the education of that kind of mind. It evidently needs something done for it.