Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1885-01-27
a Northern Editors Impressions.

In letter from New Orleansto the Phila'
delphia Times, Col. A. K. Mcclure, for many
years leading Pennsylvania republican,
makes the following statements concerning
the relations of the white and eolored races
at the South
There is much unreasonable misconcep
ton in the North Of the relative condition
of the blacks in the North and in the South.
The prejudice of caste is just equally strong
in both sectious OF he country. The black
man can no more sit at the table Of the most
blatant republican, in the North than he can
sit at the table Of his old master in the South.
The same social laws govern all peoples, and
they are immutable Politicians theorize
differently in election campaigns, but there
their theory ends. The pre- iudice of race i5
five-fold stronger in the North than in the
South. The Northern people have no love
tor the black man, ami even those who bat
tied for his freedom and enfranchisement, as
a rule, cherish vastly u,ore profound preju.
dice of race that do The Southern people.
While the North maintains its deep preju-
dice of race, the people of the South
have general and strong sympathy for the
negro. Nearly all of them have played
with the negro in childhood, have heeD
nursed by the black mamma and have
grown up with uore or less affection for
them. Classify it in what Type OF ahectlop
YOU may, it is none the less an affection
that tempers the hard, unyieding prejudice
Of race that prevails in the North. Ihls
distinction between the Northern and
Southern people on the race question Will
prepare the public mind in the North for
the dissipation of another uniounded Sec
tiona prejudice that is deeply rooted there.
The educational facilities for the blacks are
better in the South to-day than they are in
the North, in proportion to The facilities
protiered to all South Carolina employs
and pays out Of the State treasury more
black teachers than are employed in all the
States of the North, and Alabama employs
LOO colored male teachers and 500 colored
female teachers And they provide the
best means for fitting the colored people
for teaching The normal schools for
whites and blacks in both Alabama
and South Carolina are exactly equal,
and the treasury of the State is largely
drawn upon to qualify the colored race for
teaching itself. North Carolina, Georgia,
Mississippi, and indeed M ost of the old slave
States, each sustain more colleges for the
blacks than do Pennsylvania or Massachu-
sets; aud just as educational facilities have
increased for the whites, whether in COM
mon or normal schools or in colleges, they
have been equally increased for tue blacks
so far as State appropriations have aided
them. In Georgia the colored university
ranks with the white university, and even
in Mississippi, presumably the most Bour-
bon of Southern States, the State does much
more for the collegiate education OF the
black race than does Pennsylvania. | have
heard Southern men complain of many fea-
lures of their local governments, but have
vet TO hear the first one to complain OF the
equal education of the two races. And what
is true in the matter Of education is equally
true of the recognition of the black race in
Southern politics. found four colored
democratic members in the South Caro-
lima Legislature, nominated and elected
mainly by white votes, and in Mobile
and New Orleans the black policeman,
appointed by democratic authority, is met
on every street, and has worn the insignia
of police power for years before o
democratic mayor in Philadelphia first re-
cognized the colored voter as entitled to
wear the star and blue. In South Carolina
alone there are more black democrats in
representative Office than there are blacks
of all parties in all the States of the North
PENNSYLVANIA and Philadelphia, where the
black voters hold the balance of power IN
both city and State, could not elect colored
man to the Legislature or to any other hon.
orable or lucrative Office, in the strongest
republican district; but South Carolina
democrats elect him to Office, with all the
lingering prejudices OF the relation of master
and slave. The intelligent and dispassion-
ate Northerner, who closely observes the
relationsof the two races North and South,
is forced to confess that, with all our boast
ed superior devotion to the black race, and
with all our assaults upon the South for the
oppression Of the blacks, the negro is better
treated by the South than by the North. |
regret to make such a confession but it is
the plain truth that We theorize about the
elevation of the black race with little prac-
tice in accord with our teaching, while the
South theories little on the subject and
practices more than it teaches in the con-
siderate care of the emancipated slaves