Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1889-02-21
AST. CLAIRSYILLE NAN In THE SOUTH.
His Views on the Race Problem.
DE FUNIAK SPRINGS. Fla,
February 10Th. 1889.

tion of the problem will be of vast i'm
pOrtance to them and express themselves
as honestly striving to arrive at such a
practical wOrking-out of the question as
will relieve them of the terror of race
conflicts that so frequently occur and
which they are always fearing, and set
them on the road to much desired pros
perity But they differ somewhat in their
plans and aims, and what process will
J bring about the desired end-constitute
them happy, peace-lOving, and prosper
GUS people.
One theory is based on the trouble ap-
pretended growing out of negro Suprem-
acy, and on this point ii is argued that
wherever the negroes are in the majority
in any parish there troubles arise with
them, and there is liability of race
conflict, and in consequence there is a
wretched, not to say awful, condition OF
things; while on the other hand, where
the whites are in the majority, there the
negroes give no trouble, and everything
is peaceful and lovely
Now, this being assumed as fact, the
plan suggested to relieve the question OF
all its difficulties. is to set on foot pro-
cess of encouraging and inducing white
immigrants from the North and West to
settle on the cheap and productive lands
of the SOUTHEAST quantities of which
can be found still unOccupied. In con-
nectiOn with this it is also suggested that
some of the negroes, the more worthless
ones, might be induced with their own
consent, of courSe,) to emigrate some
where else.
1t will be seen that the plan proposed
in brief, is this: white immigration and
negro emigration, and thus by this pro-
cess by which, it is believed, the white
population will soon largely preponderate
/ over the negroes. the whole question will
then be rightly solved.
The foregoing plan is the most gener
ally endorsed as far as l can gather, and
no serious objection is urged against it
but many think the problem of bringing
white immigration to such States as
Louisiana a difficult one, and that it will
take long time to accomplish any results
in reducing and getting rid of the negro
majority, now such a burden in that
| State
The condition of things there is becom-
ing to them quite alarming. In 1860 the
whites taking the entire State) were in
the majority, but the blacks have since
then been increasing at greater ratio
than the whites, so that now they are
| largely III luc uldJOIlIl- Anu NldI ID
/ still more discOuraging and startling is
the fact that illiteracy among the blacks
| and whites both is also on the increase.
If this process is to continue without
some cOunteracting influences of prac-
! teal and substantial character being
! brought to bear, especially in the black
belts, it is not hard to imagine that in a
! generation or two these regions of the
South will have reached condition but
! little better than the heather and bar
barous provinces of Africa.
! Well may the sober, right thinking
people of the South be alarmed with the
mass of ignorance, like cloud dark as
night around them. This ignorance is by
no means confined to the negro popula-
ton. They show some signs of willing
ness to learn and there is some hope for
them: but the worst form of ignorance is
among what is called the poor whites, or
in other words, what they call "the white
! trash" Among these is where gross
darkness covers the people-many of
them know scarcely more than the poor
old mule or Scrawny little OK they drive,
and beside are far more vicious. They
are stupid and dull, improvident and
thriftless; believe in nothing, opposed to
schools and churches; hate the rich,
dispose the "nigger," and are awfully
afraid of negro equality. And further
more. do MT scruple when their semi
savage nature is aroused by drink to take
part in killing ''nigger" when any safe
| opportunity or .preteXt arises which will
! give them little diversion from their
| dull routine of daily life A few years
ago, it is said, by perfectly reliable au-
| thority, at Euchina. which was then the
county seat of this (Walton), that when
negro was arrested and placed in
| the Jail for any offense, no matter how
trivial, these fellows were in the habit of
| going to the jail at night and taking the
prisoner out to the woods and shooting
him. The next morning it would be re-
ported round that the prisoner was shot
whilst trying to escape from jail; and
that was all that was done about it-nO
| investigation was ever made.
! Now, this was helping to emigrate ne
groeS, but it strikes me that little emf
! grafton or elevation practiced on this
class of chaps would do vastly more good,
and besides there would be more sense
and justice in it.
l believe that the illiteracy, ignorance
and prejudice of the cracker element
among the whites in the South has more
to do with the troubles, riots and con-
slant fear of race wars than is produced
! by the fault of the blacks.
Alarm about the negro, however, is no
new thing in the South. 1t has been,
more or less, in a chronic state of alarm
on account of them for 40 years or more.
| In d1lte-telIltR days-the remembrance of
which so many yet fondly cherish, and love
to speak of that good old prosperous and
! happy time-they had their alarms and
|
| insurrectiOn. The danger then was at
! tributed to the introduction of Northern
! literature, by them called incendiarv; the
teaching of the blacks to read and the
coming i'll of Northern people whose
views might not be in harmony with
theirs in respect to the cherished institu-
tionS of slavery. The remedy supposed
! to be necessary, and which was vigorous
| ly applied, was the suppression of the two
| former and the keeping out or driving
out of the latter.
The next cause of alarm was the run
ming away of the slaves, the remedy of
which was sought in the enactment of the
fugitive slave law by the Congress of the
! United States. Then came the alarm be-
cause of the supposed need of more ter
ritOry dedicated to slavery, out of which
new slave States might be formed, so as
to give larger representation in Con
gress, and by that means retain their
power there which they had held for a
long series of years over the free northern
portion of our country, which, on account
of its freedom, was more rapidly growing
in population and also prosperity Fail
ing in their attempt to secure more terri
tory on that basis, so alarmed were they,
not on account of the fear of insurrection
on the part of the slaves, but because of
the prospective loss of dominating power
over the North to which they had been so
long accustomed, that they concluded to
''buSt up" the whole business break up
the government; set up for themselves a
government based on slavery and aris-
tOcracy.
Well, the attempt at this caused some
alarm and a little unpleasantness all