The Abbeville messenger. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1884-1887, 1886-03-23
Bill Arp ON the Negro.

Bill Arp ON the Negro.
The negro problem seems to have broken
out a fresh and the negro is getting the wors,
OF 1t now. The North American Rtricw and
froicssnr White and Governor Smith, and
other philosophers have recently set tho dark
cy down as a fraud )" tar AS labor is concern
ed. One complains that he is law and won't
work; another complains that he is incapable
OF Improvement and cannot Ike p up with pro-
grcssive farming Then again it is said TIN,
he keeps intelligent white labor from com;mv
South, and so we have got an elephant ON our
hanus and can't get rid of him. Northern Re-
Publlcans have turned against him because
.hey can't vote him and so the poor darkey is
losing ground and losing friends. The poorer
classes OF the SOuth-thnt is the common
laboring pe~"ple-despise him and wish him
well ont of the country. His presence among
them as n competitor for hire or wages or as y
renter ~ odious to them. l know the senti-
n msnt b o1 the tie tenants nan in my section and it is
go. 1t Is very natural that the poor white
man should be unfriendly to his presence. II
IL precisely the same sentiment that caused
the expulsion of the Chinese from Wyoming:
ihaeed they set up objections to the negro
mat canuot be urged against the Chinaman.
lot they say, thot the negro is thriftlcss and
Will steal and more than all, the negro has q
contempt for poor folks and poor folks know
IL. Inc average negro had rather be the serf
and servant OF Il rich man than to work on mn
equality with a poor man for better wa"..
NY rich neighbor Munford can get plenty of
iapsr At low prices and orders his darkies
around just about like he used to before tho
war. '"'
Well, now, we all look at this negro o,es-
tion from our own. standpoint. Landlords
like to employ them Just because thpv n,n
order them about. The love of dominion i.
strung in our race. They like to employ them
because the darkey is easily settled with.
lie is careless of mis- money, and mosi aIwnws
comes out II little behind and that fastens him
over ior another year. They will nut up
with poorer Shanties and fewer PRIVILEGES.
inef wall pick up some little thing that dom,
De'1nG TO them, but Il shifty manager makes it
Judge and jury over his h%irrlins. MANY
farmers max their tenants from both races
ana say that this gets up an emulation that is
profitable all around, but my observation il
tnat neither race like it and it is better to
er has good, docile, Industrious white tenants
III Is aPI 10 Keep them, and SO with the he
groes. Every employer judges of the negro
by his own interest and his own experiences,
30 lur as am concerned l prefer the white
d now, tor no man has better tenants than
l nave: They are my friends and | am theirs:
put u rev years ago l preferred the negro as a
laborer. Nevertheless, I like TO have same
dark'es around, for they are always Wiling to
90 .hlngS IN emergencies that a white man
does not like to do and l do not like to ask
him to do. Every Southern white man how
ever poor. Will maintain the independence of
his family it he can. He will not do, nor lct
his family d., anything that looks like de-
pendence or mental service. The cooking |
anu Washing ID still done by negroes, and they
make the morning fires and bring the water
and milk the cows. White folks even in the
country have their social rank. The lines are
DIM and crooked, but there are lines. Wherc-
as among the negroes there are none. Meth
er religion, nor morals, nor poverty hay. vat
any social caste among thSEmu
b"b smith has just come from a two yenr's
term III the changing, and goes around in the |
like a hero returned from the war.
Inc negroes give him cordial welcome and lis
ten eagerly to his experience. Bob declares
that he had Il first rate time, and he hated to
come away wuss dan he hated TO 20 dar. Int
Bob was a "trusty" and felt like he was n com
officer in the army. Bob says that
W." black rascals got away and he sot do
run, and bimeby dey climb a tree and do old
lonn dog sot away off and look up in de tree
ana he open his nrouf wide and saw too-o-o
lvem, too-oo uvem, tOO-oo uvem, and here
,um de little flee dog and lie look up and saw,
ie gyard he cum a gallopin' up and pinto his
gun up IN dc tree and say now tumble to de
'acket or III drap you, and shore nuf dem
,,lggers jis cum down in a hurry l tell YOU
icy uiu dab LOT true. Bob seems to think II
vas very bad conduct to run away from so
u place as Captain James biz farm in
jefferson County, where a darkey had more
'ood vittles and more tobakker than he could
at up to save his life.
NOW have known Bob for years and nc is
better darkey than the average, and this res
minds me of a letter I had to-day from a
riend In North Carolina, who saws: cover
ere the negro is like metaphysics-the more
tudied the more new phases. Religimsiy
nd politically he is an enthusiastic fanatic. I
lis whims and c~aprices are in%determinate
He has neither gratitude, re- /
enge, nor virtue. He ia initiative bnt NOT
dramatically he is an objective !
ase, socially a fraud and yet with all this he I
3 about the best laborcr we can have"
but suppose he is q failure as q progressive
who does that hurt materially but 7
tnaself? Let the>white man make proeress J
nd the negro will keep close behind him. for
3 my. friend says he Is a good imitator. In
10 middle belt that is black with negroes.
10 white landlords live away off and rent ont
} negroes, and then complain that they do {
Of progress-do not make enough an the d
Of course not. Perhaps some Ger i
ans would make more If they owned the q
but as tenants it is doubtful. Bnt after q
!, wha. is the use Of complaining when there
no ramedv in si0hf IN. o,m.. a; 80 -