Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-01-27
A PESsIMIST,s STANDPOINT.

APESSIMIST'S STANDPOINT.
The Dispatch Correspondent Pleased With
the sranuch Support of Senator Ingalls,
as to the Solution of the Race Problem
Jusrice to be Done, or Blood and Negro
determination Must Follow.
lFRoM STAFF CORRESPONDENT
WASHINGTON, January rs.
| WHEN wrote two weeks ago. just after the
| w introduction of the Butler bill for the ex-
patriation of the American negro, that this was
impossible, and that the increase in numbers.
the ambitions, the aggressive nature and the
persistent and villainous oppression of the col
| ored people, could end in nothing but the right
| ing of their wrongs by the application of the
torch and knife, did not SO soon expect to be
Endorsed by so distinguished an authority as
Senator Ingalls,. knew that this was the opin-
ion of many public men; but they were brave
enough to speak it only under their breath.
They dared not avow it openly for fear of en-
couraglng the thing they prophesied. Never
was speech listened to more intently by any
element than this one by the colored people
who crowded the galleries. At the picture of
their wrongs, worse than those of the days of
slavery, because perpetuated under the gulse
of freedom and equality, they wept; at the pre-
dlction that If justice was not speedily &C
corded there would be bloody uprising, their
eyes flashed. their jaws were set, and they ap-
plauded long and loud regardless of the solemn
atmosphere of the Senate Chamber, where ap-
plause is always promptly checked as sacrilege.
Nov that one public man has been frank
enough to predict the outcome if the
present treatment of the colored people is con-
tinued. let us look little further into the sit
uation. Everyone knows that there will be no
change in the policy of the negro haters of the
South. The only method by which that can be
reformed is by the establishment of complete
Federal supervision of the Southern States,
the enforcement of the laws under which they
have right to admission to all public halls,
conveyances and hotels and the right to free
expression at the polls Imbued by no spirit
loftler than that of commercial exploitation,
sodden and shriveled by the horrible competi-
tion for the possession of property and money,
void of patriotism as the lice and maggots that
feast on the live, the dying and the dead bodies
of men and things, what will so-called political
defenders of the negro, North or South do for
him? Kindly feeling toward these unfortu-
mates is measured by the strength of the desire
to have their votes.
WHAT then? The race war will very likely
come. The South may again be the scene of
murder and destruction unlimited. Nemesis may
require the enactment of greater horrors than
have yet been experienced in revenge for the
buying and selling of the black slave. and his
disfranchisement after he was nominally freed.
The power of the Federal Government will
then be brought into play to put down the re-
bellion; the colored people will probably be
crushed, and from that time the work OF exter-
mination will begin systematically, as it did
with the Indian, and the race of men whose
m nOlOr a driven
reservations or to death. This is the inevitable
logic of the relations of the two races. The ar
rogant, rapacious, exclusive and lndomlta6le
gals, will insist on his being serf, newer of
wood and drawer of water; the negro will re-
fuse to be so treated, will fight for the destiny
which he feels is as grand as that of the whites;
then the law of the survival of the "fghtist"
will stamp him out.
Immigration or colonization will not avert
this evil destiny. An African Republic would
sooner or later be appropriated by the rapacious
and indOmitable Caucasian. The only person
of African descent who will ever be absorbed
and perpetuated as part of the body polite is
he who is bleached into chalky whiteness by
amalgamstion.
OF course such pessimistic views may be all
wrong. The prophet can only judge of future
effects from present causes; and even prophets
see things with varying vision. To me the
present conditions seem to point to that which
l have briefly described as the only logical con-
cluslon.
a g Pennsylvania is just now agitating the
question of improved country roads, it
may be of interest to everybody to know that
the General Government gives good deal of
attention TO the construction of macadamized
roads in the District. Roads so built are by all
odds the best in the District, and are probably |
built as well as any such roads in the country; |
but there is still q great lack of knowledge as /
to how to construct and maintain good turn |
ho Tn IUith i1 hat he
work is let to contractors instead of being done |
under the supervision of officials of the Gov |
ernment by workmen of the Government. |
This vicious custom of letting contracts for the |
construction of roads, streets and buildings is |
for the purpose of giving politicians and the |
friends Of politicians chance to make
stake"
Abroad, the high roads are not only in almost
all instances constructed by the employees of
the Government direct and for that reason /
honestly constructed, but they are better made
and more carefully maintained than they could |
be by any other system. In driving and cycling |
some thousands of miles in Great Britain and
Ireland and on the Continent, have constantly
admired the beauty of the roads, smooth and
Washington. 1 found the secret to be,
first, that they were under Government
supervision, and second that they
were never permitted to get out of |
repair. skilled wnrkmen always being on the
ground to traverse every foot of the way, to
put the carefully broken stone in place and
keep it there till it was mashed and cemented
hard and even as floor. Here contract is
given for the construction of road, passably
good street is made, and that is the last of work
on that highway uutil it becomes so wretchedly
bad that those who use it raise an oufcry
Everything done by contractors is with view
of doing it just well enough to get their money,
and then to get another contract as soon as
possible.
FRIENDS of the deceased in this city who
were present, tell me something that has not
been generally printed, if at all, in regard to
the funeral of Father O'Hara, the noted Cath
olic priest of Syracuse, who died a few days
ago. He was probably the most popular and
Catholic clergyman in the
He had the greatest respect for the
opinions of those who did not agree with him
on any subject. One of the most intimate of
the personal friends of his life was an Agnostic,
and his liberal spirit SO permeated the town
that it was a common saying Father O'Hara
had made bigotry impossible in Syracuse.
Among the pail bearers at his funeral were a
Presbyterian, Hebrew, and an AgnOstic. 1t
was peoples funeral. The procession
stretched unbroken from the church to the
An affecting incident occurred Just before
,he coffin was closed. An old farmer in rough
Clothes over whose head 90 winters had passed.
sottered up through the crowd to the coffin |
,azed moment at the beautiful dead face
Ind then stopped and imprinted kiss upon
.he cold lips.
Father O'Hara was as advanced in his views
If the industrial question as he was in his re-
igion. Only short time before he died he
presided at a meeting of "single land tax" ad-
Tocates. In fact his opinions were almost pre- |
,isely identical with those of the suspended
priest, Father McGlynn.
Father OHara used often to visit his rela-