The western sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1887-1926, 1889-01-31

THE NEGRO PROBLEM
AND HARRIsON's ATTITUDE TO-
WARD THE SOUTH.

110 1NGO1GO lGODuGA
AND HARRISON'S ATTITUDE TO-
WARD THE SOUTH.
The Negro Cannot Rule the White
Man Politically.-AnI Interesting Ar.
ticle From the WILMINGTON Star.
The negro leader, John NJ. Langs-
ton, of Virginia, says that the negro
problem can not be solved by taking
the ballot from the negro; nor will it
be settled by sending the negro away.
His solution is threefold. First, to
educate all classes Second, a free
ballot and fair count. Third, ';the
cultivation of general Christian, pat
riotic forbearance, especially on the
part of the white people of the South
towards the colored people as regards
their educational, their moral, politi-
cal, Christian, industrial and general
progress, while the negro, recognizing
on his own part and tolerating no
consciousness of inferiorlty, cultivates
al those feelings of habits of life
which shall show him docile, respect
full and manly towards the members
of his own race, as well as his fellow
citizens generally"
Such is the solution offered by the
best educated man of his race. He
believes in education evidently as
great factor in making men better as
well as more important in the State.
But education does not always ele-
vate You must educate the heart as
we'll as the mind. The biggest ras-
Gals among the negroes are often the
fellows who can read and write 1t is
a fact that in the penitentiaries in the
South a large majority Of the convicts
are young negroes, many of them born
IN freedom and taught the three Rs.
Education itself will not solve the
negro problem.
1t is surely desirable that there shall
be free and fair elections in the whole
country. The last election shows that
there is far more corruption of the bal
lot in the rich North and among the
negro's Republican friends than there
has ever been in the South in any
State among the Democratic whites.
We believe this to be absolutely true
and only a blind man can fail to see
1t.
The Aryan stock has never permit
ted a superior and it has but rarely
permitted au equal. 1t has dominated
through the centuries in all lands
where it has been planted. It will
never admit the African on equal
terms, and if Langston had been a
diligent student of history he would
have seen in its record that the Aryan
is master wherever he moves. This
record will not be altered in the
South whether the negro "shall toler-
ate no consciousness Of i,.tsriority" or
no. The truth is the Southern whites
are not in any sense unfriendly to the
negroes. But they will no more admit
or allow the negro to assume terms of
equality than the aristocrats of Bos-
ton or New York will allow the
squalid poor or Sambo in their midst
to equality in the social circle or to
the free hospitalities of their board.
1t is sheerest nonsense aud senti-
mentality to dream of anything else.
The Southern whites are taxing them
selves to try to improve the negro by
education, but whether or no the expe-
riment shall prove satisfactory time
only can show. The negroes need to
be disciplined in morality. How can
Langston hope for his race to develop
into a grand manhood without the
basic principles of truth, honesty and
virtue? Unless educating the mind
should do more for the negro than it
has done for the whites he cannot be
elevated in the moral scale by intel.
lectual training. There is nothing in
the three Rs or in a knowledge of
higher mathematics, and the ancient
languages to make men more truth
loving, more careful to distinguish be-
tween your hencoop and that of your
neighbours, or to make chastity the
brightest jewel that adorns race.
| The Star surely wishes the best oi
advantages and the create st of happi
ness to the negro race in the South
and it is willing to aid them in any
manner that shall bring to then
genuine progress and elevation O
character. It does not believe il
Ignorance controlling the politica
destinies of great and free people
1t does not believe in voters who never
pay cent of tax and yet lay the bur
den of taxation on others. It doe!
not believe that . negro should eve
be put in Office over a white man. 1
believes that the South would become
San Domingo or Hayti if the ne
gro is allowed to shape the course o
events in the South. It does not be
lieve that General Harrison has the
power to remand the whites to con
dition worse than African slavery
1t does not believe that the Fedora
| Congress has the power to place tn
Southern States in a mere Territoria
relation. It does not believe in dema
gogues of any kind or any color. |
/ does not believe that the South vii
ever tamely submit to the aggression
Iof the extreme Radicals in the Nortf
It does not, in - word, believe tbs
Harrison and company can create
social or political revolution in tn
South, although they might by thei
deviltry precipitate q race conflict, 9
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