The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1886-04-14
LET THE NEGRO ALONE.


just themselves. There need be no conflict,
for their lives are diverse. There need be no
antagonism, for there Is no rivalry. Left to
himself, the negro seeks and needs no better
friend than his white neighbor and employer.
From the cradle to the grave the white man
and the black have the kndlcst feelings to-
wards each other a negro nurse rocks the
white mans cradle; a negro nurse arrays
him for the grave; and negro servants and
neighbors shed honest tears at his funeral
There is the most cordial friendship between
white man and negro and yet no social inter
course. Neither seeks it, nor will ever seek It,
Thus they live together on the same soil, next
door neighbors, with distinct social systems;
not on different social planes or levels, as Is
sometimes charged, for their lives arc so dis
tinct there is no medium Of comparison--no
higher no lower-but entirely apart. There
let them live, pursuing their course in
PARALLEL LINES OF PROGRESS,
never meeting, never coming in conflict, but
each helping the other when their interests
are mutual, the white man helping his weak
er brother whenever possible, as the negro
knows so we'll how to obtain help, and as the
Southern white man knows so we'll to bestow
it-a UNIQUE relationship understood nowhere
else.
The foregoing remarks, Mr.. Editor, show
that in answering your third question, 'Must
we look for a new class to supply the ncsro's S
place on the farm pin my opinion, we need
not. There is great need Of Improvement in
him as labOring class. 1t is true that among
the negroes, as Prof. White says, "thcre is a
low state OF morality and little disposition to
acquire property But
LET Us BE PATIENT.
Chastity and the one-wife family system dis
tinguishcd our Tcutonic race in the dawn OF
history. 1t is not surprising that the negro
and ncyress are unmindfal of the sanctity of
the marriage VOW when we reflect that their
progenitOrs Of three or four generations back
practiced polygamy and polyandry, and that
among their not-diStant cousins in Africa to-
day chastity is an unknown and unknowablc
virtue.
AS to their learning to acquire property,
this, too, is q virtue of slow growth among in
fcrior races. TO lay up something for the
morrow; for rainy day, or for winter; for
next year; for sickness and old age; for one
children and heirs; these, in rough, arc the
successive steps in the arduous and slow task
of learning economy; and the negro n IS hard
ly arrived at the point of saving up for next
year. But he will learn in time, and we must
be patient with him. The Germans have a
provcrb, "When cmptyine out the bathing
tub, don't throw out the baby AS farm la
borer he cannot be dispensed with in the
| I, nd In utlont him the
Southern farmer and, planter would soon
spoil the white laborers and unfit them for Ia
Dor. Nor can we get on without the negro in
many other kinds Of work. For example, as
HoUsE-sERvANTs;
with all his and her faults, and they are not
few the Southern housewife prefers the negro
and his wife to the white servant. The negro
nurse, the negro cook, the negro houSemaid,
the negro scrving-man-what Southern wo-
man, who values her peace Of mind, would
exchange those faithful and kind hearted SER
wants for white ones, no matter how much
more competent they may be? Kind hearts
are more than competency, and broken crock
cry is easier to stand than broken contracts.
In regard of scientific and intensive farm
ing" as a "substitute for the present labor sys-
tenn in the South" it becomes me to say but
little, seeing that neither with the plow nor
with the pen am l a farmer. Thus much only
shall say: That it would seem to me that
scientific and intensive farming can surely be
carried on by a scientific and intelligent far
mer, even though his laborcrs be not "intelli-
gent and scientific" but only stout, likely, ne
gro field hands. It is not clear to me that
Prof. White is right in saying "wc must live
independently of this class Of labor" I have
tried to Show that it is useless to seek for a
substitute for negro labor, but that we must
make the most Of it. Efforts to Introduce
white laborors have been made in the South
crn States with the invariabc result of failure
to keep them in the field. The white lahorcr
will not remain laborer where the negro is
his rival, equal or competitor.
Prof. White says, ave must work for mmi-
grafton" This brings me to answer your last
question as to Northern and foreign
IMMIGRATION.
Undoubtedly immigration must be looked
to as the cure for many of our troubles, but
not the immigration of white laborcrs from
the North and from Europe as a substitute for
lllc ii"o o''S '' ~
white peasantry which shall by some process
displace and Supplant the negro. l have ell
dcavored to make plain that such a substitu-
tion, even if desirable, is not possible. What.
then. is the remedy? Will Prof. White per-
init me to suggest that what the South needs
is not white pcasantry, but largely increas-
cd ycomanry?
4 YEoIANIy.
By this term mean that class of white citi
zcns generally known as small Garmcrs-mcn
who with hired negro labor work farms Of fif-
ty, Il hundred or two hundred acres; If they
own the farms they till, so much the better.
There are many such in the South, but their
numbers should be, and with wcll-dircctcd ef-
fort could be increased tcnfold. Injured to
work with spade and plow from hoyhood,
they do not play the gentleman farmer, but
take their place in the field with their hired
negroes, and not only see them do their work,
but set them an example. They do not aspire
to be planters they do not deal in futures
and try to make fortunes by speculation;
they arc simply farmers who make tn" earth
yield her increase for the support of their FAM
lies. They arc not rich, nor arc they III haste
to be rich but they arc wcll.to-lo, and their
thrift and frugality keep them out Of debt and
thus independent. Perhaps The most prosper
OuS county i'm South Ctroina owes lis pros
pcrity to the unusually large number OF such
small farmers within its horlcrS-a ycomitn-
ry to be proud of--sucl u ycum;.nry as to my
thinking, the Southern States need above all
things else.
1t was just such ycomanry that about the
second ulartc. of last century came Into the