The Greenville times. [volume] (Greenville, Miss.) 1868-1917, 1885-02-21
Editor Mcclure on the Race Problem.

l have not seen an intelligent
politician or business man in the
South who does not look upon the
now assured general division Of
the colored voters with grave sp-
prehension. The race issue in
politics, although largely broken
in recent elections, coerced the
practical unity OF the whites. The
conflicts of ambition were subor-
dinated TO the common peril of
negro supremacy, and the whites
were compelled to stand together
to avert 1t. There was no field for
free lancers in politics among the
whites, and their jealousies and
conflicting aims were suppressed
by supreme necessity to which
all bowed without question. Now
the issue of black unity and
of black supremacy is an issue of
the past. The colored voters
will be Indifferent to politics, as q
rule, except when appeals to their
ambition and cupidity recall them
to active efforts. The field is thus
opened to the long smothered am
bition of the whites, who would
gladly have rudely jostled each
other in the race for promotion,
and the blacks will be appealed to
by disputing aspirants. These ap-
peals will not be made to the in
telligence or to the integrity of
the blacks, as such appeals would
be proftless. They will be made
to their ignorance. to their preju.
dices, to their cupidity, to all their
baser qualities, not as ambitious
politicians do In the North, and
there is grave danger of thus in
augurating a general sweep Of po-
litical Generalization in both races.
The Southern people possess just
the same human nature that other
people possess. They are likely
TO be just as ambitious and as
mean In promoting mean ambition
as the average American politician
in every section Of the country,
and with an immense colored vote,
nearly equaling the whites in all
the Southern States, and superior
in numbers In South Carolina and
Mississippi, and In the lowest
strata of ignorance, idleness and
superstition, what must be the
harvest of the obliteration of the
race line in Southern politics
This Is the most serious race prob
lem the South has ever attempted
to solve, and l share the apprs.
tensions Of the more intelligent
Southern people, that the last
stage of the race issue will be
vastly worse than any of the
past.
THE NEGRO NORTH AND SOUTH.
There is much unreasonable mis-.
conception 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 sections of the
country. The black man can NO
more sit at the table Of the most
blatant Republican in the North
than he eau sit at the table Of his
old master in the South. The
same social laws govern all peoples
and they are immutlble. Politi.
clans theorize differently in cleo.
tion campaigns, but there their
theory ends. The prejudice oi
race is fve.f fold stronger in the
North than in the South. The
Northern people have no love fol
the black man, and even those
who battled for his freedom anG
enfranchisemsnt, as rule, cher
ish vastly moro profound preju
dice of race than do the Southern
people. While the North main
tains its deep prejudice Of race
the people of the South have {
general aud strong sympathy fol
the negro. Nearly all of then
have played with the negro il
childhood, have been nursed b,
the black "msmma," and hav,
grown up with more or less affec
ton for them. Classify it in wha
type of affection you may, it Il
none the less an affection tha
tempers the hard, unyielding preju
dice of race that prevails in tn,
North. This distinction between
the Northern and Southern peo
pie on the race question will pre-
pare the public mind in the Nortl
for the dissipation of another un
founded sectional prejudice that
8 deeply rooted there. The edu
cational facilities for the blacks ar,
better in the South to-day thar
fhpv ara In tho Narth in pronor