Morning journal and courier., 1884-11-29
THE RACE PROBLEm IN AMERICA

Thanksgiving Day Discourse at Cen-
 ter Church by Rev. pr. Newman IlSmyth "A Great Moral Quest1On
 Which Must be So1ved-What Shall
 be the Future Of the Republic on the
 Race Question2-A Grave RespOnsf-
 bI1tty-Hov Shall it be Met?
 A brilliant and very able discourse was de- hvered by Rev. Dr. Newman Smyth at Cen | ter church on Thanksgiving day, treating of 1 a very important moral question lying back
 of our national politics, the question of the ! status of the colored race in America, a prob lem by no means settled yet.
 The sermon was delivered at 8 union ser
 vice of the Center and United churches The
 topic was "The Problem of Providence in
 this Country" The speaker said there were two kinds of questions in the political histo-
 " of this country. One pertained strictly 1 to the administration of the government in the narrow sense of the phrase; the other question pertained to the life of the people. | The latter question was first in political inn portance and this was just the time to con- 1 slider the great race problem-the supreme
 national problem of this country to-day. This problem had got to be solved in the lifetime
 
 | these races which form population shall be assimilated and rendered harmonious in l their relations as citizens of the republic, whether all shall in fact become one united people. The question for us to work out is whether all these races can be thus assimi-
 lated and united, so that all shall be equal
 in their rights and privileges and the quail fcations requisite by law for citizenship. On
 this Thanksgiving day, this national day, let
 us consider this question full of moral and national import and significance. The speaker then alluded to the race problem in
 the North and to the common schools as a powerful solvent of the problem in the southern States. He had something to say against any appeal to race prejudice and re- igious bigotry, remarks which have peculiar significance if they might be applied to re- cent appeals of that character in our own city. The speaker then cited various statis-
 tics showing the leavening effect of the com
 mon school system in the North in diffusing
 intelligence among the masses. He then
 turned to the negro problem at the South and gave an enumeration of many facts re- garding the state of education, or rather lack of education, among the masses at the South. The speaker then proceeded to say that here at the South were the two races-a fixed fact. The two races must coexist together in some relation. What shall that relation be? What is the prevailing sentiment down South with regard to the eolored race going to be! He spoke of the idea of a white mans government and quoted the views of some men at the South like Dr. Haygood, of Geor- gfa, who grasps the idea that the white race at the South cannot rise by keeping the colo1ed race down. It was of great impor- ffNE site, is to prevail. The speaker then took up the subject>of the notable extent of illiteracy at the South, matter in which the whole country is interested He said that in the ! entire South nearly one-third of the voting population-white and colored taken as a whole-could not read their ballots Also the number of whites who could not read have decreased instead of increased in the last decade. The speaker here insisted upon the great truth that the whole country is interested in the well being and moral as well material prosperity of every section of the country.
 The speaker then considered the possibili- ties. The first was the idea of keeping up a white mans government at the South that whites alone shall rule. It followed that if the white were to rule the col ored race the latter race must be kept in a perpetual condition of serfdom. And further if that is to be the policy it must be legalized and the constitution of the United States must be changed. Our constitution, the speaker continued is not adapted to keeping 8 race under a race of serfs. With a white mans government will will have to have ulti- mately military government. The speaker said he did not care to look any further down such road.
 Then the second possibility was a condition of politics at the South which should result in dividing the blacks; and so face the color line in that fashion. The speaker said that 4I<,, !, s-.I.L L ! ephemeral and not permanent, and political [ accidents did not settle social questions. To make such division permanent an infusion of new ideas in the lives and minds of the people must first occur.
 The third possibility was the cooperation of the two races in freedom and under law for their common prosperity Can this possibility be accomplished2 And how can this great desideratum be brought \ about? The answer is, by the education of ' both races. That, said the speaker, is the ! only possibility in the case that has any point at some length. He said also that the I fifteenth amendment to the constitution pro- vides that the majority shall rule-that the I minority shall not rule the majority. Take { that principle out and you remove the keel ! from the ship. Take that principle out in I one one State and you put all the States in peril. We are traitors to the future of the republic if we yield one iota of that principle.
 The speaker then spoke of the fact that po- itical opponents who have tried to do their duty as citizens may we'll sit down together at the same Thanksgiving board, but men who did not care for their country's vital in terests and assumed the freezing role of in different, sneering spectators might well look to the dogs for their portion.
 The speaker then drew picture of the scene when Lees forces had surrendered at Appomattox, and went homs through the E Union lines sharing the Union rations, to be- | gin again our national history as common k country. If we men at the North try to do our whole duty there may come another day from E he Lord when the second chapter of the 5ragic history of Africa in America shall close n Thanksgiving of peace, the day when the E negro shall remain freeman and citizen l upon the land where his race is fruitful, but shall disappear forever a problem from the history of this country, whose liberty shall be aw for all nations and tongues,