Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1886-04-29
TIE SOUTHERN NEGRO.
WIOELY-OIVERGENT VIEWS HELD BY
THREE CLASSES OF WHITES.
The CoIored Man "Is a Very Initiative
Animal -" Has an Original Genius 90
"Hs. Native Capacity Equal to That
of the white"


Animal Has an Original Genius
"Hs. Native Capacity Equal To That
of tn. White"
"Niggers ant got no sense naturally-all
they know they sort o pick up from
white folks Then it sort o stews up IN
tn ir heads an they git 1t out in their way,
and you all call it big nigger sense
This ora Iular statement by native with
whom | rode on the Richmond " Danvile
road sums up the real opinion Of the mass of
uneducated southe uers. They are person
ally liberal friendly & all men, and kind to
the co Ored people; but they are skeptical
about the results of general education And
1t is IA striking proof of the native liberality
of the solthrons that they are pra 'tically
unanimous in favor of popu ar education,
despite their wide divergence Of views as u
! the result Each maintains that the
re ult will justly his own opinion, but
al want to see the experiment fully and
fairy uicd After talking with lUO men in
/ \ irginia and many in North Carolina, |
sum up that the south has three opinions, as
follows:
WHAT ONE CLASS MAINTAINS.
One cas- maintains that all the progress
50 far made 10y the colOred southron and
: they admit 1t is great is simply the result
of ,on>CiOus or unCon >CiUus i'll, ,tation The
negro, they say, Is u very imiSatiVe animal
he i surrounded b. progressive white
opuution, and the attritIon of free soci-
ETY. forces HIM along Ind in support of
their theory they point TO these suggestive
facts: That all or nearly all the noticeable
progress of tine CO ored people Is IN the white
states and Ountles, where the negro can no,
rul or take the initiative, but follows the
leai of the white ma jorIty, while in the
black counties one must take sight 10 see
that he moves at all They point to the de
graded condition Of the co.ored men in the
black towns and the black suburbs OF white
towns, ani mos oil all 10 the sea islands OF
South Coroina and few other districts
where the negro Is monarch Of all he sur
veys
There they ssk me to observe, he is sta
tiOnary or retrograding; his religion is run
ming down to a sort of transpiantei fetch-
ism his industry is titful and unorgani Ell
and his morality consists in not getting
caught They also assert with vehement
emphasis, that every smart niger in the
nlied states is a miscesene-generally half
white or more-and running over the lcng
list Of tasnUel colored men from Douga
" anu
Williams, the DEFY me to point TO one tai
entei man in the nation who was not some
eau asian blood in him The reported pro
gress in high central Africa, they say,
proves nothing, or rather it confirms their
view for that is an Arab and Mohammedan
civilization, imposed upon the negroes by
conquest and, VIII It Is more those are not
negroes OF the caste Fl ON which our sla, e.
,ntna In short fh,.y maintain that aIl this
Loasted progress, absolutely all of it. is the
result of imitation anu uIIscegenation
4 much smaller class maintains that the
negro has an original genius and a ca acity
Tor civihzation whicn Is developing in Al
rica without attrition, aud much Iaster in
this country with it They conCede his
pres lit infer iOrity TO the white, but think
a good zeal Of it due TO slavery. They have
much to say Of a general law OF develop
ment 10y irtue of which every race of man
has been once on top or is to be, just as
every dog has his day and as the negro has
not had his day, IL Is TO come While he
row Is, and may long remain, inferior to the
white, yet We can not say what
are the sources OF utilization We
can not exp ain why people long stagnant
suddenly begin to progress, yet sucn has
been the case with other races, and will be
with the negro
CLIMATE AND CIVILIZATION.
They incline TO the view that climate is
slowly changing the race; that even the
full blood Is not rs DlacH or As pro- ogn4thous
As be was century aso, and that in time
Civilization will bleach him to a degree not
now conceived of, with a corresponding
~rectIfcai!oa of the Iacial angle When
thsy grow confidential, men of this cla-
hint at miscegenatiun and the final ahsorp-
ton OF the colored people into the great fI-
rnre American But as a rule they keep
such Iancies TO themselves, except in talk
with lntimates
There is, however, strange as it may seem
q small class OF native southrons who main
tain that the American negro now has a ma
tive capacity equal to that of the average
white; that it has been represSed by slavery
and subsequent forces. but when the press
lkre is removed it rebounds with an elasticity
that Ca ries the negro forward faster than
the white. They deny emphati ally that
the white ma jOri.y operates as an impulsive
force on the blacks; on the contrary. they
say 1t is represSIve, thlt 1t makes the negro
leel interior, lowers his self esteem, and SO
retar.s him. TtAy deny that the negro is
TetrugTadIng on the sea Islands and in the
"botto us" inhabited entirely by that race
and claim that he is progressing there much
faster than do the mean whites" of the
Gand- hill country. They sneer at the oft
quoted examples of Hayti and Guiana main
taInlng that the 50 called negroes there are
nothing but mongrels-sprung from a
p ayed out race of French and Spanish
indoeS on the one side, and the worst posi-
bic black trIb~ 5 on the oLher-without room
or liberty to develop. H. they say, tbe orig
inal VIII tes of thuse countries had been
Ameri all Saxons, you would long ere this
have 5, ell the mixeI race taking high rank
in the world. .-~Parkes' Letter In Chicago
Times
An Artist Disgusted with Kansas City.
"IeS, I've been out west" said natty,
cigarette smoking. bigcravated young
man, on an eaSt-bound train, but don't
like II. You see, I'm an artist-cil portraits
are my specially, though | do everything
in my line. Well, two weeks ago | settled
in Kansas City. Rented a studio, put up
my sign, and waited for customers Didn't
want to put on too much style for a new
place, So had my sign read painter, in
stead of artist Waited about ten days, |
and never a rap at my door. Finally a
man called-a big, strapping chap, with /
muddy boots and an enormous SLOUGH
hat
Airye painter he inquired, looking
me over
Yes sir. | replied, modestly, thinking
him some big cattle king with big stack /
Of money and big heart; is there any
hing | can do