The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-07-05
THE FREEpMAN,s PROGRESS.
He Il Fixture in the South-HIs Material
Social and Political Position.

AutefN1eW Win fFOl. NJ Il. Greeners
My trip satisfied me of the permanence Of the
negro. II ever had doubts of his improve
ment and progress, all are removed now, and
am AN optimist on this subject. AS laborer or
peasant class, the negro is to-day better housed,
has better food, wears better clothes and has
less difficulty in getting hold of the soil than
any like class in Europe. He is not yet an un-
hampered citizen, for his vote is only counted
as the dominant party pleases, and the law IS IN
many cases perverted to discriminate against
him. He is thrown into the penitentiary for the
most trivial ofenses, and thus DISTINGUISHED,
and the chain gangs are filed with
these unfortunates. Yet the negro is more
essential to the prosperity of the South
as a free man than he was as slave, and
Southern white people readily acknowledge the
fact have not been south since 1877, and
hence was prepared to notice the improvement
or retrogression. observed more pride of race
among our people, more independence Of charac
ter, greater neatness of dress, desire to enter
business, and thirst for education equal to that
just after the war.
What of the educational and social condition
Of the negro2a
The colored teachers are doing great work.
They are the heroes and heroines of our race
and the work they are doing is working silent
revolution Their missionary labor is affect
ing the social life. the home as well
as the school OF course, prejudice
still exists at the South. Caste feeling
always dies hard. had chance to feel it
during my trip, when ordered from frst-class
car, or when refused a meal at dirty inn at
Taccoa, in Georgia, or when | saw separate
waiting rooms for colored people at railway
stations, while the same colored people were in
close proximity in other relations in life. In
the five instances in which was ordered into a
second-class coach | invariably refused to 60
and was left undisturbed. But the South in this
respect is no worse than the North was thirty
years ago"
YES continued Mr.. Greener, the colored
people are improving socially. | met many of
them holding responsible positions bust
ness ness men men, physicians, lawyers, q sole.
the city, State and county organiza-
tions. In two instances saw poor white beg
CARS appealing, not in vain, to the teachers of a
colored school for aid. In Alabama met a col
ored graduate of Hampton and the Buffalo Med
zeal School, who had passed the local board of
examiners after five days examination"
Are the negroes pretty generally acquiring
landl"
In every State they are becoming land own
ers. made particular inquiries in regard to
| that. The land is cheap and the negro is the
laborer You see him in the cotton-feld of
course but also in the tobacco factory, walking
| IN the street, building the railroads He is the
carpenter the wheelWright the hackman often
owning the stable, the blacksmith, the brake
man on the railway; in short, he is the black
arm of the South
How about politics2"
WELL there is a good deal Of feeling, but the
white people affect to be Indifferent and the
colored people conceal their interest Still un-
der the surface there is deep concern on both
sides. The Democrats are or of the most ultra
type;but there are already signs of disintegration
The younger men are open to conviction Sew
eral with whom | conversed freely were favor
able to Blaine, as one put it. because he has de-
cided opinions on questions affecting American
interests. II q fair canvass could be had, and
an aggressive campaign urged, believe the Re
hlioQO fickaf would n0ll a IN
every Southern State, while North Carolina
West Virginia and possibly Florida could be
| carried
"The South is on the eve of political break -up,
English capital is an entering wedge in all the
Southern States. The foreign element, too is
! gradually controlling trade. One sees the same
names on the street signs that you find in Broad
way, and Samuel Of Posen' is on every train.
| AS if to compensate for the negroes political
majority, there seems to be more consideration
| paid to those negroes who have acquired COM
petetence or attained position in their respective
| localities Among white clergymen politicians
and business men with whom conversed
found an unvarying interest expressed in the
neRros advancement and qualification at it.
| The fact is the grand movement of the Nine
teenth Century has at last reached the South
In spite Of inherited prejudices and the
disposition to cling to exploded theories of gov
eminent and race, the South will divide sooner
than the North, for there is still left at the
South, beneath preiudices and effete notions and
customs, a love of the ideal which many of us
had begun to think extinct The South has not
istopheles is on the ground, attempting to drive
q bargain
is there any truth in the reports Of disaffec-
ton among the colored people2
Nothing could be more absurd. The leading
colored men of the South will support the Re-
publican national ticket. General Logan
always was their second choice Mr. Dancy, a
colored Republican of North Carolina, sec
onded Logan's nomination at Chicago in an
eloquent speech. Naturally, they were for
Arthur at first, but having done their duty
to him, and shown they were not mere polti-
cal vanes, they are now solid for the whole
ticket Bolts, kicking and independent move
meuts do not affect them, and am glad of it.
they know what the Republican party stands
for, and they are unanimous in its support Our
people respect Mr.. Curtis for his anti-slavery
services, but they cannot follow his political
lead The colored peoble of the South will vote
for Blaine and Logan, because they are standard
bearers of the party--if they get chance to
vote at all They know that as no responsibility Of
candidate can ever make the Democratic party
respectable, so no criticism on Republican lead
ers can change the record of the Republican
party Every colored man talked with held
this view. The negroes are much more practical
politicians than the Independents give them
credit for"
But there are some colored independents at
the North, it is said
III w n6res MOI q nAlnIul; not a bakers dozen
of weight and character in the United States.
We have just enough Of them to prove our hui
manity and that all the fools are not confined to
the white race. We have Representatives in the
jails and asylums, and, of course, we must have
some Independents and fewer Democrats be-
heye our canvass ought to be pushed at the
South. If Mr.. Blaine could speak in North
Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee and Alabama /
think he would revolutionize those States
There is great curiosity at the South to hear and
see him. know the colored people and am
sure they may be depended upon, first and last,
to support the Republican ticket
Raising the Dead.
Medical Record.