Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-01-30
THEIR OWN RACE PROBLEM.

as TO Their Future and the Proposed
ExOdus-Ex- Minister LangstOn, the En-
glish LIberInn Minister; John M. Lynch,
Negro Ex-COnsul to San Domingo;
John a. Smith and Others Discuss the
Great Question.
ESPECIAL TELEGRAM TO THE DIsPArcH.i
WASHINGTON, January 29-[Copyright +
The recent discussion in the Senate in
regard to the future of the negro has caused
great excitement among the colored people all
over the United States. The most noted of the
race are found here at Washington, and dur
ing the past week 1 have interviewed repre-
sentative negroes from every part of the
country. John NJ. Lynch, OF Mississippi, one
of the Auditors of the Treasury, in reference to
the proposed exodus of the negro said:
II think all such movements nonsenscal and
ridiculous. The colored people are here to
stay. They are a part Of the permanent popu-
lation of the United States"
Has the race progressed as rapidly as was
expected 25 years ago?" asked.
SIN every material sense they have made just
as much progress as their most ardent friends
could have expected or desired. In political
sense the colored mans vote is effectually sup
pressed. not so much because he is colored
man as because he is a Republican. The
elections in Mississippi in a num-
ber of other Southern States,
are nothing more than farcicaI
formalities. The race question is myth, and
the leaders of the Democratic party are insin-
cere and dishonest when they bring up the race
question, so called, to account for election
frauds in the South. No law will correct the
evil of the practical disfranchisement of the
negro in the South. Just think of it Almost
four-sevenths of the population of Mississippi
are colored Republicans, and yet the M1ssls-
sippi delegation in Congress is solidly Demo-
cratic"
0IHTHAT are your ideas about intermarriage
between the races, Mr.. Lynch?"
Undoubtedly the law to prevent intermar-
riage promotes race intermixture, but is most
intolerant. Where the law prohibits interma-
riage you will find more race intermixture than
where there is no such law. A law has been
passed in Mississippi making it criminal
offense for whites and blacks to ride in the
same coaches. The law is disgraceful. My
judgment is that it is clearly unconstitutional,
far as it applies to Interstate roads, and Con-
gress should pass law covering the point.
Aside from politics. however, the colored peo-
pie are doing well, and they Will continue 70
progress until they obtain the political and
social privileges which are theirs under the
Constitution of the United States"
MR.. H. @. G. AsTwooD, an ex-Consul to San
Domingo, for seven years United States
Consul there is a bright mulatto. He
states that the negroes are very well off
here, but if they must emigrate, says he there
is no place like San Domingo for them. Said
he:
Slavery was never introduced into San Do
mingo to any considerable extent, and there is
no prejudice whatever against the blacks there.
Contrary to the la ws of the Haytian republic on
the other side of the island, foreigners can hold
property in San Domingo and the Constitution
is as liberal as that OF the Un1red States. The
President is a colored man and the Vice Presi-
dent white man. The population is ABOUT
$50 900 and know of no other country which
offers SO many advantages for the negro"
Hon. John ID. Smyth was for six years the
United States Minister TO Liberia. He
does not think that the emigration of his race
to Africa would be of any benefit to them, and
it is the result of his observation that such of
our colored people who have gone to Liberia
have degenerated. He said:
II do not think the great majority of the
negroes of the United States would be bene-
flied by emigrating to Liberia or to any other
part Of Africa. The negro has undoubtedly
made remarkable progress in this country since
the war. 1 do not believe that it IS the senti-
ment of the white people of the South that the
negro should emigrate, for the reason that they
could get no one to take his place on the cot
ton and sugar plantations. There is no other
race that can stand the exposure to the heat
which the negro undergoes in the South"
kind of negro who would be benefited by
migrating to Liberia is the educated negro. He
would find an excellent field in Liberia, to de-
velop its resources and make money for him.
self. The material progress of Liberia re-
Gently has been very great and the increasing
quantity of coffee and sugar which the IIibe-
rfans export is of very high grade. Their cof
fee is considered even superior to Mocha and
the rum made from their sugar is of excellent
quality.
DR. EDWARD W. BLYDEN is, perhaps, the
blacklist of the noted negroes now in
Washington. Heis booming Liberia for all it
is worth, and is here to promote negro emigra-
ton to that country. He is man of advanced
ideas, and has been the Liberian Minister at
the Court of st. James. Said he:
"In my opinion it would not do to deport
these people to Liberia in large numbers, how
ever willing they may be to CO. Their de-
parrure might be relief to certain congested
conditions in the South, but it would be a
grievous wrong to Africa. Liberia is in a con-
dition to assimilate and utilize 1000 emigrants
q year, provided a generous assistance is
accorded by the United States Government.
"Africa is not so much imperIled from the
activity of Europeans and Arabs as is some
times supposed" ;" continued DIR. Blyden. THE
only danger that may arise from the operations
the liquor traffic. The King of the Belgians is
humane and philanthropic man, and is anx-
ious to neutrallZe by every means in his power
the baieful influence Of an unprincipled trade.
The area of country claimed by the Congo
Free State is 33 times the size of Belgium and
it will be impossible for this generation or the
next to exercise any very extensive influence
among the is, 600, 600 or 2O,OOOOOO who inhabit
that region. BY wise instinct the King has
recently sent to this country for negroes to as
sist in the great work he has undertaken.
Europeans alone cannot do it.
ut is true that recent reports say that Of late
Aroh 81 raids have nearly 6nnOnUla a fad
vast regions in the district of Tanganyika and
Nyassa Lakes and the upper region of the
Congo; but it is mistake to suppose that the
Arabs could do this without the will or consent
of the natives"
THE Hon. John n, Langston has for years
been noted as one of the representative
thinkers of the negro race. He was for a long
time Minister to Hayti, and he speaks in glow
ing terms of the advanced condition of the
negro in that Republic. He says you will find
as cultured and as brainy men behind the black
SKINS of the Haytians as behind the white skins
of the Anglo-Saxons. He glows over the
beauty of the cOlored women of Hayti and his
observations in that country lead him to be-
lieye though he does not openly say so, that
there may in the future be an amalgamation of
the blacks and whites in the United States AS
to the condition of the negro in the South and
his future in the United States Minister Lang
ston spoke at length. He said in nutshell:
Instead of making public appropriations to
advance emigration Oh the part OF the colored
people of the United States, 1 think it would
be far preferable if public money is to be used
in their behalf to use it to provide for the pro-
lection of their civil and political rights first of
all lust where they are; and, secondly, to pro-
vide for their education in industrial and
scientific channels to fit them for life in this
country I do not believe in holding
ont inducements to the negroes to
move here and there. according to the
intention of the Butler bill, as it tends
to unsettle them in the South, where they are
an industrial necessity. The whites of the
south forget that the colored people are Amer
ican citizens who have always stood ready to
defend their country. 1t is proper that the