New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-03-04
Mr. Cable ON THE NEGRO QUESTION:
IVa dnuoka our tenth nara this mOrnin q


We devote our tenth page this morning
to a review of the Negro Question by Mr.
George w. Cable We do not ina CINE that it
Will crafty those who proclaim that the dis
cussion Of any subject which involves the rela-
ton between good government and the
Southern order Of things Is waving OF the
bloody shirt; but we do not hesitate TO recon-
mend 1t to the readers of THE TRIBUNE as one
of tho most valuable contributions made IN
recent years to the solution of a social problem.
Mr.. Cable has felt himself impelled more than
once to criticse Southern institutions, and in
so doing has rufllcd Southern susceptiblIties
That may be his fate in the present instance;
but il is not unreasonable to hope that many
Of the people among whom he was born and
bred will recognize in the essay which we
print this morning disinterested effort to
illuminate question which closely concerns
the safety and happiness of the Nation. 1t
contains not line of partisan politics, but 1t Is
full of sound craftsmanship. 1t is profound
and penetrating study Of the present status OF
the negroes at the South, how it came to be
what it is, and how it may be converted into
what 1t ought to be.
Tho statement of the situation in which,
TWENTY-FIVE years after his emancipation, tho
negro finds himself is not simple one. and we
do not recall any other presentation of the case
I'm which his place in the social economy Of the
South is so clearly defined amid the inconsst-
ences, contradictions and absurditics which
surround It. It is not contact and association
with the negro which the Southern white finds
Objectionable He is permeated and controlled
by the fear that by some action or neglect Oh
his the negro shall be enabled to take the first
step toward an equality which can only result
in "a hopeless wreck of public government and
private society" This apprehension is the test
by which every statute, custom and impulse
is tried It is the key to the enigma. Servilty
is the price which the negro is compelled to
pay for peace and GOODWILL nothing more
nothing less. This is not an original deduction,
but Mr. Cable states it with new force and
brings it into new relations. Nor, though he
avoids regarding it from the partisan point Of
view, is 1t insufficient to account for the vio-
lence and fraud by which the South was made
and is kept solid for Democratic msgovernment
In the latter half of his argument Mr.. Cable
demonstrates the groundlessncss of this DOM
inant apprehension. He shows that there is no
necessary connection between public equality
and social selection that the full enjoyment
Of his civil rights by the negro is not only con-
slstent with but essential to the permanent
supremacy Of morality and intelligence; that
the elements of degradation have no natural
cohesion and can be solicited only by some such
extraneous pressure as the tyranny of white
over black now furnishes. He dstrusts the
optimists who say that time will do all that is
needful, and those who see solution Of the
problem in the growth Of New South. It is
to complete Remuneration of false theory,
as condition precedent to any adequate pro-
vision for the maintenance and growth of IN
tclligencc, that he looks for an escape from
the existing situation Of disgrace and danger.
Mr.. Cable understands the Southern temper and
the obstacles which it imposes. His tone is not
respondent, but yet he does not convey the
impression that he already sees the dawn of a
rev era, nor ask his readers to share a faith
which he we'll might wish were stronger.