New-York tribune., 1889-12-20

oO5 Ford Howard iihoer"
Tho. interest in the negro problem is constant
and lively may be inferred from the irequ,m,'
with which solutions of it are proposeu' i"e
.,on,mous author of this book certainly mas hoo
,xaggcrated the radical nature OF MS proJec''
sor ,,,bat he suggests is neither more nor less
than the deportation of the whole coioreu popui"-
,ion Of the United States. At first glance 'ne
arument on which this notable programme 10
based may appear strong and well compac'eo
Int reflection will soon convince the reader 'hae
TOO many preliminary assumptions are necessary
70 give il seeming stability. Thus, the writer mas
IN assume that race prejudice, both North anu
South. is neradicable: that the education OF Iho
NO gro will work no material Improvement IN Ms
condition: that the white race VIII never yielu
n real equality to him; that he Will forever DC
handicapped hopelessly in the race OF me- 'h"V
the color-line will forever be drawn against hlm'
not only at the South, but in the North. Now
II is or should be, obvious that every one oi tie"
assumptions is gratuitous They are neither
demonstrated nor demonstrable. III the Na'ioh
has made mistake concerning the negro IL con-
sjsts in expecting too much from nm, ana 'laV
nearly all the disappointment experienced may be
traced 10 indulgence in feverish lmpa'lehce ior
which there WAS never any foundation in reason
Taken IN Ine 0FSt pidCc HUN '"'"SN'J'
subjected for generations TO the degrading and
einasculating influence of slavery the heero
emerged into freedom in many respects less nit
,od tor tho now life than he would have been
- transferred direct from his original state to
American citizenship. Nor were his personal dis
qualifications, due to the Wrongs done him, the
only obstacles in his path. II is one OF the
naradoxes of human nature that men are far
more easlv reconciled to those who have injured
them than TO those whom they have injured.
The reply of the Spanish assassin, when ques-
toned as to his motive for numbering his victim
"I hated him because l had injured him Pho
doubt sounds monstrous, yet it illustrates trait
which seems common to the race. The negro
was degraded through his sufIerings The yoke
had bowed his neck and the iron had entered his
soul. But the conditions which should have
secured him the tenderest pity and tolerance were
the first TO be cited as reasons for not doing him
tardy Justice White men had crushed him; and
white men alleged his inability to stand upright
after this treatment as justification for refusing
him the opportunity. This was certainly de-
plorable but it did not PROVE that race prejudice
is lneradicable and if we look at the cases OF
other strangers and newcomers, we shall ind
that the negro in many respects has only shared
the disfavor visited -barbarously enough-upOn
all who are regarded by our ignorant classes as
interlopers and potential rivals in the labor
market.
As to the future of the negro in America time
alone can furnish data for an intelligent judgment.
and sufficient time has not yet elapsed to justify
conclusions of any kind. At present, and for many
wears to come, what is most needed is patience
and hopefulness. Remem berng how many cen
turies were needed TO evolve the civilization we
ourselves possess, and bearing equally in mind the
REGULAR disabilities imposed upon the negro by
slavery, we should be prepared for very slow
and gradual process of elevation, and we should
not be discouraged so long as general, if slight.
upward tendency to the much-abused and represSed
race is apparent That such tendency is estab-
lshed we think no candid and competent Judge
of the situation would venture to deny. 1t is
generally allowed that the negro has made some
sensible advances during the twenty-five years
which have passed since his emancipation. This
being the case, there is every reason for antlcl-
pating the continuance of progress, and after
certain point has been reached the acceleration
Of its rate.
Those who are impatient of small gains in this
case should reflect that it took Europe thousands
of years to pass from savagery to barbarism, and
that the now foremost nations of the world re
mained for more than another thousand years in
what appears to us today an extremely backward
state before those powerful influences came into
operation which have made the present century
period of uneXampled growth and development
Less than 200 years ago large proportion of the
European populace enjoyed fewer comforts than
fell to the share of the plantation negro during
the slavery era. Less than hundred years ago
millions of Europeans lived degraded, filthy and
animal lives as most savages. Even at this day
the same region contains swarms of men not more.
and perhaps less, advanced than was the negro
twenty-five years ago. Hitherto. notwithstanding
these facts, we have held our doors wide open for
the crudest and least developed human races and
have testified, by admitting them to American
our confidence in the assmilating and
elevatng power of institutions and civiliza
ton. Are we then TO be less magnanimOus where
our debt is heavy and our obligation
great than where we owe nothing? Are
we to fix standards for the negro
which we have never fixed for other
and equally backward races? And is it because
we have cruelty wronged tie negrO-because we
ourselves are responsible for his backwardness-
that he is TO be singled out from all the composite
elements of the American Nation and doomed to
the decisive infamy of elimination? Surely not.
In truth, we are becoming somewhat weary of
the too eager and impatient reformers who insist
that the negro shall traverse in quarter of
century process Of development such as has
never before been accomplished in less than ages.
It seems TO us time that the devisers of radical
solutions" ought to realize that there is no royal
road to civilization: that human nature is very
slow in learning and in changing; that since
nineteen centuries have not sufficcd TO purge the
Old World races of the Pagan passions. vices and
weaknesses of their remote origin, and even the
best religion in the world has all that time proved
too exalted TO be lived up TO by the masses. some
reasonable allowance must be made for the negro
who has learned through two centuries of slavery
the seamiest side of Christianity, and whose pres
ent progress is, perhaps not a little hnGered by
the reflex influence of that monstrouS crime
against humanity. Nay, in the very meekpess