St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-03-20
THE RACE PROBLEM.

1t is fortunate thing that the tragedy at
Carrolton. Miss, did not occur during a
political campaign, for, in that event. it
2 would have been the excuse for exciting
partisan passion and sectional feeling
Occurring as it did, Invested of any and all
political significance, we are the better en-
abled to study it in the light Of the relations
the two races occupy toward each other,
and will, perhaps, be able to gather some
useful lessons from it. If studied properly,
the first valuable lesson we learn is that it
is impossible for human ingenuity to break
down the barriers which God Almighty
has erected. We do not know why
the Almighty divided humanity into
distinct races. But we do know that he
has made the races distinct from each other
distinct in their origin, in their mentality,
in their moral tendencies, and of distinctly
different physical characteristics. And as
we go little deeper into the study of this
problem and turn over leaf by leaf. the
pages on which are written the history of
the achievements Of the human race, we
find that the inequalities which God has
created are irreconcliable. Nowhere in
human experience has the experiment of
commingling the blood of separate
races or of combining their energies
i'll the control of a single govern
ment been success. From the time
when ISRAEL was commanded TO cast
out the seven nations of inferior destiny,
and the Israelites suffered the consequences
of disregarding this supreme law of human
ity down to the present time, when the
bighting effects Of mongrelizing races are
seen in Mexico. Central and South America,
the experiment has been a complete failure.
So clear and distinct do these facts shine
on the pages of the worlds history, it may
be set down as a political axiom that but
one race was ever designed to participate
in the labors, the duties and the privileges
of one government.
Our own government has made anew an
experiment which has failed in all the pre-
vious ages. 1t is attempting to reverse his
tory by making a success of bringing two
races together on the plane of civil and po-
litical equality. How far it will succeed in
this achievement is one of the problems of
the future and its solution is looked for
ward to with some degree of apprehension.
The Carrolton tragedy was nothing more or
less than the outcome of race prejudice. 1t
originated in a personal difficulty between
two men, one white and the other black.
The negro, who seemed to have been a
vicious character, appealed to the preu.
dices of his own race and surrounded him
self with band of dusky partisans who
were bent on mischief to the white
man. The natural result was that
when the color line was drawn by
the cOlOred people themselves, the white
blood was up in moment and the white
men of the neighborhood organized band
in defense of their white brother Then
followed the horrible tragedy in the court
room, of which we have had full accounts
Such occurrences do not justify the hope
that the cOmmingling of two distinct races
under the same government is to be sue
cess. There are those who will ascribe the
Carrolton tragedy to local causes and TO To-
cal prejudices which are supposed to exist
exclusively in the section where the tragedy
occurred. Such is not correct interpreta-
ton of this feature of the race
problem involved in this matter The
same thing is just as liable to
occur right here in Minnesota il the same
conditions existed as exist in Mississippi.
Leaving political opinions ana education
entirely out of view we will suppose that if
the population of Minnesota was equally
divided between whites and blacks. would
we not witness the same distinctions and
the same lines drawn between the races as
exist there? Suppose a conflict should occur
where the prejudices of race are brought
into play, the white people of Minnesota
would flock to the white standard i'm st az
readily as they do in Mississippi. II has
been so here when there was conflict be-
tween the white man and the Indian
just little to the west of MS IL is go
to-day between the white settler and the
Chinese immigrant. 1t is the assertion of
great law of nature-a law born of the
will and knowledge of God himself-and
being such it is futile TO attempt to reverse
its operation.
1t is to the credit OF the colored people of
the South that the mass of them have ex-
hibited a kindly disposition beyond what
could have been expected of them. The
negro is naturally dOcile and kind ami faith
full. 1t is not his fault that as a race he
bears the stamp of inferIonty But to go
Aac', over the last two thousand years of