The Opelousas courier., 1889-06-29
The Great Problem.
some Opinions Upon the Race Question.

From the Marion lark, Reform.
Mai. I. b. Edgington, ut Memp!iisa.ras Sc
lected to deliver the Grafton at the National
Cemetery in Memphis on last Sunday, at the
decoration of the graves OF the Federal dead.
LII his address he discussed the race problem.
He certainly furnished food for thought, and
all thinking men ought to thank Mai. Edging-
ton for it without regard to color, for no one
is, or ought to be, more interested Ia having q
clear understanding of this race question tha&
the negro and all good men ought to unite III
trying to adjust it with as little friction as pos
sible, for it is a question We have to meet soon
er or later, and there is no use of us shutting
our eyes TO this fact; but let It's ink of and
discuss it in a dispassionate way, look at it in
a light of reason and ~instice, and adopt some
plan that uyill insure peace and tranquility to
our country
From the Macon tGa.) News.
Mai. y b. Edgington delivered an Grafton
the National Cemetery in Memphis on Dec
Grafton Day, which the Memphis Avalanche
says will give him a national reputation. Maj.
Edgington is "a member of the Grand Army of
the Republic and a gallant soldier.
The speech is nearly four columns in length,
which the Avalanche published in full, aud
deals principally with the race question.
He compared the growth of the negro race
in the United States with that of the rabbits
in Australia and the English sparrows in
hStHpnIS. Il SBuNCA Lnbb tho multiplication
of one had been hardly less rapid than the
other, the negro population growing from 90
slaves in 1920 to nearly / 10000 0 in a single
century, and he asked the grave question
Was the result of the war in which his com.
rades spilled their blood to be the domination
of their descendants by the black majority
by a race untitled to govern themselves
From the Lauderdale tMiss.) Enterprise.
The address of Ma. T. B. Edgington on the
s. ~ Aananof1nr tka rro " IF the EaHn
raj soldiers at the National Cemetery last Sun
day, is one of the most remarkable speeches
ever delivered in this country, and shoulC
have the widest possible-;rculation. As was
we'll said by the Avalanche, it was remark
able, III the first place, as coming from a mem
was remarkable for its boldness, and it was al
profound and as eloquent and scholarly as i
was bold"
From the Pittsburg Post.
The opening of the speech was devoted t.
an array of figures from the census of 1880
from which Col. Edgington concludes tina
the negroes are multiplying like EngSSr1h spar
rows or Australian rabbits. ~ is on this con
elusion taat Col. Edgington bases his othe
conclusions. All his arguments tend only t
this end-that the negro, it he insists on re
. naming in the South and multiplying, wi
enslave the Sonth--if he is not exterminatea
We d0n't believe i'll this. The negroes ar
not outgrowing the whites. save in a fe'
States, or sections of States, where there is
drift of negro immigration. But this Gran
Army view is interesting because it show
they are commencing to think, as it were, o
the edge of the question.
From the Chicago Inter-Oeean.
The negro, as a negro, cannot be deprive
, of the right to vote By any act of any Stat
Many negroes might be deprived OF the rigf
; to vote by the passage of laws requiring a
/, educational, property or taxpaying test br
the passage of such laws would work again'
, whites as well as the negroes.
> Charlottesville tVa.1 Chronicle.
The anegro problem" is far more ~intricat
! than most intelligent and fair-minded outsi
ers can appreciate. They all seem to thin
that when the negro is educated the : pro
d lem = will be solved. But il every negro
> the South was an a.. M. Of the University
z Virginia, they would still be q distinct and
some very important respects a hostile fact,
I in Southern politics. When the Nertl
t through its hatred of the Southern pe0pl
O precipitated emancipation without any pr
vision for the future settlement and status
the Negro, it inflicted a problem upon u
@ country, North as well as South, which W
!. return to plague generations yet unborn.