Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-03-09
A sombre View of the Freedman


No single view of the freedman in any
/ specified locality can give the right per-
! spective. The former slave States present
a notified surface Of bright and dark spots,
with the pretty sure encouragement that
/ the darkness is on the whole gradually
merging into light. Miss Porter of Lou
isiana, Southerner and eX-slave holder,
| presents in the New Fork Independent a
| startling and reliable view of the extra
ordinary relapse whiclTis going on among
the negroes of her locality. The New Or
/ leans P1Gdgu1le asserts that her cOlOrs are
/ none too vivid, and that She conclusions
/ to which they point are negro Ignorance,
/ superstition idleness, gross immortality
and race prejudices." Dr.. Tucker, of
| Mississippi, details his own experience
/ and observations to the effect that the me-
/ groes of his region are approaching stats
/ OF barbarism. Rev. 5. d. Mcdonnell
| writes in the C3urch ReUiele for Decem-
Der that DR.. TTeker's gloomy picture is
/ substantially true. "They are practically
| pagans; here and there an Uncle Tom,
but for one such aahundred thousand saw
ages" While this last remark is eztrava-
CANT 1t is not much mitigated by a cores
pondent OF the st. Louis Christian AdUo-
cate who writes from Mississippi concern
ing parts of that State and Louisiana:
TO one accustomed to Western enter
prise and push there is an utter absence
here OF every element of prosperity.
mere are absolutely no improvements 90
IHg on and no indications of thrift. The
whole country seems to be under terri
bic nightmare. The towns wear a de-
serted, sleepy appearance, while the farms.
are dilapidated and look as if they were
only half cared for. The explanation of
all this, to my mind, 10 to be found in the
swarming population OF idle negroes
which is maintained at the expense of
everything else" Describing the highway
from Vicksburg leading out to the ma
tional cemetery (where t6,700 Federal sol
dlers are buried }, this correspondent says:
"Ihe whole road was lined with negro
cabins, and before every,door the inmates
swarmed, basking in the sun, and as con-
tented and happy as the day is lOng-his
Ideal OF happiness to have nothing to do,
rarely working from choice. and having
little idea of accumulation
The worst of 1t is, according to Miss
Porter, that in the parts of Louisiana
which she knows, ''nothiRg is being done;
no schools Cor if any, the merest farces) J,
no missionaries, no efforts made Of any
kind" Rev. Mr.. Mcdonnell. speaking for
the Episcopal church, says, "Our church
as SUCH has not yet touched the negro
race" AS it seems tOsIs, his assertion is
altogether too unmanly and inert. 1.-The
church people in the South did not do it
in the past and cann2b do it now. The
oAAuPAS blutu Is lub1 die lOO pOOT anu
much more lamentStiOn in this strain.
''FOr twenty years thay have been trying
to rebuild their waste places. They have
all they can do to feed their own sheep.
During all these yeaEs-alsO they have been
compelled, by no fault Of their own, to re-
gard the negroes as their political oppo>
nents." Such HELPLESS and retrospective
wailing as that is the most discOuraging
eature of all. But, as the New Orleans
Eecdyu1e admits: 'sHOrtunately or unfof-
| tlnately this problem of the great horde
CT emancipated negroes going back in
some quarters. SO rapidly to barbarian,
must be dealt with, and the sooner the
| better" How shall the negroes retrcees-
( sion best besstayedg 'sThis is not a cues
/ tiOn," the RieaqaRle well says, (which af-
| fects the Welfare of the negro only. Bar
| barism upon, an extended scale lisa poi
sonous element which sooner OF later
must AFFECT the whole body polite, What
| then 10 to be d0ne" We would say that
it might be we'll for these Southern Jere-
/ miahs, to visit Hampton institute, have a
| good talk with Gen. Armstrong, and take
fair look at the increasing industry,
morality and prosperity of the emancipa-
| ted negroes in that section and in many
| ether Southern localities fall of promise
( for both races; where they have ceased
crying poverty and the war, shaken the@-
selves from the dust ana gone to work in
ia cheerful and manly fashion.