St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-09-04
A RACE WAR.

A RACE WAR.
There is an ugly cloud hanging over the
Southern sky thatneedS to be watched;
for even at this distance we can detect
the signs of gathering storm which
may break at any time in the terrible
fury of race war. This is not written
in the spirit of an alarmist, for the most
thoughtful and conservative cannot fail
to discern the danger which is likely to
ensue from the growing race prejudice
in the Southern section of this country.
DiveSting the situation of all partisan
or political prejudice, and viewing it
calmly in the light of logic and with one
regard to those traits of human nature
which influence human conduct, due
must be impressed with the seriousness
of the situation and admit that the out
look wears a threatening aspect. The
danger may not be an immediate one,
yet the recent race troubles i'll MissiS-
sippi, Louisiana, South Carolina and
Virginia, where bands of white men
and of colored men are up in arms and
arrayed against each other, indicate that
the crisis may be precipitated at any
time. 1t is true that in every instance
of trouble between the whites and the
blacks, where there has been an upriS-
ing, the open hOStilitieS have been pro-
voked by a few reckless and usually
drunken fellows of one or both races.
Yet, though it be but drunken
braWl in the beginning, every disturb
ance of this character seems to be
signal for both races to fly to arms, and
within few hours time whole COM
munitieS are involved in the commo-
ton. 1t is this latter fact which gives
an aspect of real danger to the situation.
1t is an evidence of a deep-seated pref
udice and a general feeling of distrust
between the races. The why's or the
whereforeS of this antagonistic feeling
do not enter into discussion of this
question. The negro may have real
or fancied grievance against his white
brother. The prejudice of the white
man against the negro may be just or it
may be unjust. But whatever the rea-
son or whatever the cause may be, the
fact remains that an antagOniSm does
exist, and is growing in bitterness and
intensity every day. These race an
tagonisms are the hardest to obliterate,
because they are Unborn. 1t is just as
perceptibie, though not in the same
virulent form, here in Minnesota as
it is in Mississippi. Here. as there, the
white man asserts his superiority over
the negro, while the latter chafes under
the consciousness that he is being
lowered in the social scale. Notwith-
standing the politicians seek to give it
a sectional tinge, the race question
is not one of SectiOnaliSm, and the
sooner the American people I'M
derstand that fact, the sooner the
race problem will be solved. The
state of affairs that exists in Mis-
sissipDi and Louisiana to-day would ex-
ist anywhere on Gods green earth under
like conditions. 1t is only in a measure
different from the feeling existing be-
tween the white settlers on the frontier
and the neighboring tribes of Indians.
There is the same distrust and suspi-
ciOn, only more intens fled, and the
same readiness to fly to arms when
there is the least disturbance. The
danger in the Southern states is in
creased by the equal division in num-
bers and a perpetual conflict between
the two races for supremacy in the adj
ministration of the local governments.
The whites are in possession, and are
inspired with the belief which encour-
aged our Western pioneers to conquer
the plains and drive the Indians to their
reservations-th belief that God AL
mighty intended the white race to rule
this continent. The unfortunate col
ored people feel that it is no
fault of theirs that they have
been brought into competition with
their white brethren; but, having been
invested with the civil and political
rights of American citizenship, they
are frenzied by the thought that they
are never to attain that social status
which they imagine to be an inheritance
of citizenship in free republic. The
situation is deplorable; yet we cannot
change it without the ability to recon-
struct human nature. The race con-
flict IN the South is founded on prin-
pie coeval with the birth of man. for the
pages of history will be searched in
vain for a single instance of where the
experiment of equalizing distinct races,
and of com mining their energies in the
control Of a single government, has
proved a success. Still, there should
be wisdom enough in our advanced
American civilization to avert the
danger of the threatened race war in
the Southern section of the Union.