The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1883-10-28
COLoRED PEOPLE DIFFERING

rule, take kindly 10 Lae opIn1Oh u
the United States Supreme Cour)
declaring the civil rights act uncon-
stitutional. Some of them take &
sane view of the matter, looking al
It as reasonable men. One ]. "
Niles, of Arkansas, belongs to the
unreasoning class. Some time age
ne wrote to President Arthur al
leging that the colored people were
made to suffer grievances at the
hands of the white civil anthori-
ties. Tbs President referred the
letter to the Acknowledgement who
replied that the grievances were no!
Of such a nature that the genera
government could interfere to rem
edy them. Niles now. flies into
passion and issues an address to
members OF his rsce declaring that
their only salvation is to leave this
country AID establish themselves
in a congenial cline, where
they can form a civilization
and obtain a standing in the world
of commerce and industry. More
unwise cou 1sel could not be given,
for in no other cline and in no other
country could the negroes advance
so raEdly in the scale Of intelligence
and in the development Of the bet
ter qualities of human nature, than
here in the United States. Ii all
attempts to coloniZe the colored
people have not been pronounced
failures, none of them has been a
conspicuous success. Left to them
selves, their progress is slow indeed.
Only by association with the whites
do they progress, and when there is
such association their advance is
rapid. This is seen in the
great stride that the race
has made in this country
in the past twenty years.
The negro as a man is less than a
quarter of a century old in the
United States, and We find him in
Congress making laws for his coun.
try; in the pulpit expounding the
ology; in the sanctum welding an
influential pen; on the bench inter-
pseting laws and administering JUS
tice; in fact he is occupying posi-
tions and places of trust where both
honesty and intelligence are re-
quired. Left to himself. how long
would he have been in reaching the
intellectual plane that he now
stands upon2 In his native contin-
ent, where he has not had the ad-
vantage of white training, teaching
and association, he is the same ig-
norant, semisavage that he was
hundreds II not thousands of
years ago. Throw him again upon
his own resources and the belief is
that if he did not retrograde intel
lectually and morally he would not
advance perceptibly.
The Rev. Mr.. Laws, d colored
clergyman Of Washington, does not
agree with Mr.. Niles, but on the
c ontrary thinks this is the best
place on the globe for his race. He
expresses the correct opinion when
he says the Constitution guarantees
all the rights the colored men ask
for, and that instrument is a surer
guarantee than any class legislation
which enacted by one party may be
repealed by another. The civil
rights law, he declares, never &C
anything while it was
operative.
The fact of the matter is,
5he negroes do not require
any more law. Laws, however stern
hey may be, will be powerIess to aid
'r protect them more than they are
already helped and shielded. They
'njoy all the rights and privileges
hat the law can give than these
to every matter thai - A
roper subject for legislation. t..
balance must be the work OF the
Iegroes themselves. They must
'Vercome the prejudice that exist
y their Own good conduct, and they /
aust not expect this can be accom-
lished in day or a year. It is s
reiudica of centuries growth. and |
may take generations to entirely |
radicate it. It can be- outgrowa, aov-
yer. The colored people shoull> en-
ratulate themselves that they have
aade such marked progress in the
natter. They have reached = r4nu.