The sun., 1891-07-03


AfFicaS What indications are there that
any large demand for their labor exists any
where In Africa, unless in regions where
they would have TO compete with the whites
under conditions less favorable to them than
prevail here2 Tho great mass of negroes In
the United States, says Bishop TURNER,
Twill remain mere scullions." But are they
any better of In Afrlca2 They ore either
savages engaged in constant conflict and
subjected to the horrors OF tho slave trade, or
they are mere hewers OF wood and drawers OF
wnter, servants only. In Liberia, the negro
republic, the demand for labor Is 30 small
that the country is almost at standstill as
to Its population, except 80 far az concerns
natural Increase. The immigration is insig-
nifcant, spite Of extraordinary efforts for Its
stimulation. and 1t is not likely to be great
unless In the future the demonstrated rich
moss OF the region attracts white settlers.
The enterprise OF white men is developing
other parts OF Africa. Mashonaland has
sprung into prominence, but Liberia seems
to be stagnant. Negro hope and ambition do
not centre there. The great mass OF the
race caro- nothing about the African negro
republic. They have no peculiar attraction
for the land Of their forefathers. but are at
tached to the United States as their home
and the place OF their birth. They are no
more likely to go back to Africa than are tho
Germans to return In mass to Germany
They are doing better here than they would
do there, according to oil the Indications OF
past experience. Many OF those who hove
gone have returned saddened and disap-
pointed. They were not sustained by any
passionate attachment to Africa as Africa.
We doubt therefore, whether Bishop
TURNER'S visit to Africa will result in stir
ring up any desire among hts people to emf
CRATE to Liberia. Many OF them might take
the trip II they could mako the journey for
nothing, since they are fond Of the novelty
OF travel, but they would soon be clamorous
to be brought back. The negroes are not an
emigrating race Of their own motion, and II
they were, they would go where there is q
demand for their labor, and no such demand
Is demonstrated in Liberia. A recent colored
writer. describing that republic, presented
no other inducements for immigration thnn
the opportunity for Christianizing the Afri-
can heathen.
As the world is now, the negroes will come
into competition with the whites wherever
they go. II the region to which they tend Is
inviting. 1t will be inviting to white immi-
grafton also. England and Germany arc
searching and fighting ceaselessly to open
up new districts of Africa to European I'm
migration; and the white men expect the
negroes to work for them as they work here.
Bishop TURNER would stimulate the self
~ Inn fN foly
pride in their negro blood as an honorable
distinction. He would have the colored
man proud OF his color, OF his race, OF the
texture of his hair. and his general mako
up" Let us thank GoD" he exclaims,
THAT we are not dogs or some other ami
NAL. but are intellectual and moral beings
as susceptible Of intellectual and moral de-
velopment as any other people under the
sum-" That is the true spirit, and it is the
truth. Tho negroes cannot be respected
unless they respect themselves. They can
not change their physical peculiarities, and
the lower their present state the greater Is
the opportunity for their development.
They are among the latest OF the races
brought under civilization, and hence they
have much to do to get up to the rest.
AS 1t Is, they are doing remarkably well
considering their recent start; and in a few
hundred years they are likely to fulfil all the
hopes Bishop TURNER entertains for them.
Such progress Is necessarily slow. They
may be behind the white race in this coun-
try. but they are far ahead OF tho Africans
in Africa; and knowing their better state,
they are not disposed to exchange it for Az
rican conditions under the impulse OF mere
sentiment for the land from which their
forefathers were dragged into slavery.