The Hot Springs star. (Hot Spings [Hot Springs], Dakota [Dakota Territory, i.e. S.D.]) 1886-189?, 1889-10-04
TIE WHITE MAN RULES.
SOUTHERN JUSTICE AND HUMANITY
TO THE BLACK MAN.

"a Race Conflict In West Virginia..
"1roops sent to Suppress u Negro I'M
surrestion In Mississippi -" Trouble
Between Whites and Negroes Near New
Orleans"
Judge Albion W. Tourgee. in Chicago Inter
ocean,
These arc the headlines of q single norm
tng's news in the daily papers OF the first
Monday in September. 1889. On the day
before there had appeared the report of q
committee appointed by q colored emtgra-
ton convention in North Carolina, assert.
q desire to remove from that state alone.
because OF the conditions which affect
them there. On the mex day appeared an
account OF the burning ut the stake OF o
colored man by q mob in Kentucky. on the
charge OF rape. This is tho third cuse Of
burning reported during the present year..
The number of negroes killed by white
mobs during tho first eight months of the
centennial year OF our nation outnumbers
tho tale of murders during ten years oil, the
Irish troubles. and almost equals the roc
ord oil victims OF one year OF Bloody Mary's
reign.
This is the story OF Southern justice and
humanity during half u year OF profound
peace. with the rule of the white man UNI
disturbed md unquestioned. On such a
record tho "White-lines Democracy of tho
South ask the civilized. Christian people of
the United States to confirm them in an UNI
vi POWCi tIlN approve
their absolute subversion and control of n
race their barbarous inaumanity 10 which
has for u hundred years shocked tho COM
mon sentiment of humanity.
VIII they do 1t? The hearing has only
Just begun and ths record of tho first
three days of September is one of tho argu-
ments upon the Southern side OF tho ques-
tion.
The manufacture Of sentiment against the
negro is an habitual function OF the South
ern press and politicians. because it offers
q sure and safe road to popularity. AMI
mostly, toward the negro has become an in-
lerited attribute OF by far the Ia ger part of
the white people OF the Scuth-not that
they are all cruel or intend to be unjust.
but simply because the Tins OF ancient
prejudice makes it well-nish impossible for
them to recognize him as u man entitled Of
ton under the law. Tho relation between
master and slave was very often. perhaps
generally. one of kindness. but 1t was
merely tho Kindness of grace and favor
which ono extends to n pct an NAL. not any
lnlierlng In II slave as Il member of society.
On the part of the master this feeling was
natural: and is appreciated by the Northern
mind without specific explanation. A man
who buys and sells another. who demands
of him implicit obedience and unrelnx-
ing service. controls his family relations,
refuses him the right of marriage. forbids
him to defend himself. strips his daughters
N1Atuo vi Auy ieEtu pTOIectlOu. lOFDlUS MN
to acquire knowledge. and shuts him off
from opportunity-such IL man may be kind
to his dependent us one is kin to u horse
or u dog. but he has no conception of tina
dependent as IL man capable OF possessing
or asserting the rights OF u man-an auto
matte element OF human society. Tho pop-
ular phrasing of a noted judicial decision.
that the colored man had mo rights which
the white man WAS bound to respect" was
a true and accurate puraphrase. not merely
of the decision. but of tho whole law Of
slavery. The slave could appeal to the law
for but one Min0-his liberty. This wa all
he could ask. If not entitled to that. lie
could not DO heard to ask for protection or
redress oil any other sort. Hc was emphat-
1cally dumb before his muster"
Even tho tenets of Christianity were UNI
consciously modified in their application to
How did you ever get over the iniunc.
ton. DO unto others as you would they
should do to your" asked the Bystunder
once i'll u candid conversation with one who
had been noted as q Just but rigorous mas
ter and q devout believer.
We did not lave to got over it," was the
reply.
But did it not require yon to act toward
the slave as youiwould have desired ~ mas
ter to acttoward you had you been a. slave?".
sUndoubtedly-as II slave. And so we did
or tried to DO" he added. modestly.
III YOU had boon u slave. would you not
have Desired to be free?"
NO uOuUC.
Then did not the fundamental rule oil
Christianity demand that you should give
freedom .NL, =. to your slavess"
.But why not?"
We'll. because / am not a .nigger.' II God
hadlmnde me u negro. and assigned me to
q condition OF slavery. / should nave had
no Ugh to wish to be made equal to Il
white man. His duty us a Christian would
have been to treat me as 1 ought to nave
Hvfohnd tn I'm ft.Dufo.t f, ,,r - A,,o .-.SA:..
Us Il slave. . Besides" he added. Thoughts
fully. tit was for their real good. A child
wants many things that II Christian parent
is not bound to give to it. I believed then.
and ! believe now. that it was better for
the negro to be a slave than to be frec-to
belong to Il good master than to be his own
niger"
The assumption formed a bomb-proof
behind which the Christian conscience
rested secure from attack.
This conversation occurred in those early
days WHOM the Bystander was feeling his
way toward u comprehension OF that most
obscure ana difficult OF questions-the race
problem in America. The man who pro.
mulsatcd these views was neither a weak
ling nor q hypocrite; his name was eminent
in church and state. Tho view which such
q man naturally and almost unnvoidably
takes oil the negro In u stat. OF freedom Is
not hard to infer. Its justice or propriety
does not depend at all upon his sincerity.
Now. us. then. 1t is simply a question
whether his view of the negroes right is the
true ono. The question underlying the
race problem is ono of fundamental right:
rs tho negro entitled to the same rights.
as a man. us if he were white?" Either the
affirmative or negative of this is true.
There Is no middle ground. This question
American Christianity and American
craftsmanship must settle before this great
problem is solved.
But the question is often asked why the
sentiment OF nom slaveholders at the South
is SO hostile to tho negro?
Tho attitude of the non-slavehOlder of
the South toward the negro is as much mis-
conceived by the average Northern man as
was his relation to the Confedera:v. It has
been generally ssumed that the non-slave-
holding white OF tho South wa d%ragooned
into the support of the Confederacy by the
pOwor and influence of tile s~lave-holding
class and sorely against his will. This was
tho case only to u very limited extent. No
considerable portion OF tho non-slave-
holding class of the South was in favor OF
emancipation. Even of til SO who were
opposed to rebellion the &. eater number
wore bitterly hostile to the freedom OF tile
slave: This was but natural. Slavery was
based on the essent ial postulate of the me-
gro's inforiority to the white man. and the
nearcr the white man approached the ne.
gro's condition the more jealous he became
OF tho two things that marked the distinc.
ton between them-color and liberty, To
be a white man was to be presumed-taken
and accepted as of course-to be free. It
constituted. therefore. u certain rank. an
the poor man Of the South had to boast
Of. He naturally n almost unanimously
favored the Confederacy. and felt himself
nggrieved In his tenderest tradition when
the slave was made free and the freedman
enfranchised. To him 1t seemed like an in
fringemcnt or deprivation Of his proscrip-
ffva riOhfSs and In coma Snnoa IL Vm,.o De-