The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1893-08-17
WoRrHlNuTcN. MINI. August H., 1893 :.
VOLUME XXI.


volume. DIRK. as are these days of
financial stringency. the ADVANCE has
lived with its friends aud patrons
through days much darker than these.
1t was called to encounter the crash Of
1873, which was especially severe in the
n 'rthwest. Then came the gras,hopper
scourge, which threatened to depopu-
late this portion Of State. 1t has ex-
pressed the joy and the sorrow of this
community through all these years
its columns being the record Of it's cur
rent history, since the first settlers set
their stakes in Worthihgton. In CON-
mon with the rest OF the world We share
In the back aet given I'd trade by the
stringency Of the money market, but
Mobiles county never rested on 50 good
. financial foundation as 1t does now.
An unprecedented harvest is being
gathered. Many new settlers are com-
ing in and few of our people are going
elsewhere to live. New villages are
springing up, and all the older ones
are doubling or trebling the popula-
tion and business of former years The
ADVANCE has its face to the sun light
of the future, to advocate every cause
and measure which promises to pro-
mote the welfare Of this community
and the country at large.
WHAT TO DO WITH THE NEGRO
A Southern journalist lectured last
week at the Chautauqua Assembly in
favor of the following proposion:
LET the government set aside, out
of its vast public domain, a large ter
ritOry for Il sovereign state to be otii-
cereu and controlled exclusively by tie
negroes and no white to have the right
to vote therein. The government to
maintain troops to preserve order.
The only price the negro need pay for
this privilege would be his right to
vote in any other state. We owe it to
his loyalty in war and his doclity in
peace to protect him thus. But this is
aproblem Of safety; Of domestic tran
guilty of national unity. the greatest
problem facing the people Of this tran
scendent age.'
The lecturer gave some bad reasons
for making this proposition; but, as
lawyers say, meritorious measure
ought not to be rejected because q
weak or bad reason is given for its
adoption. There are some things in
the proposition to set apart portion
Of our domain free only to the occu-
pancy of Afric-Americans which re-
commend it as political and social
experiment.. Owing to human deprav-
ity aud injustice it would be we'll if
somewhere the Afric- American could
ind a refuge from the caste prejudice
and oppression Which has so long per-
secuttd him. We should he glad if q
state could be founded in which the
long oppressed race could prosper and
demonstrate its capacity for carrying
on Il government. There are many
things about this proposition which
seem promising and plausible. Were
apart territory Us large rs Oklahoma
into which no man other than a des-
cendant of Africa should become a
permanent citizen or inhabitant, that
the world might see what would come
from it.
But Providence docs not seem to
smile on such projects-ior we know
of none such that have proved success
full. There is no such way Of getting
rid of difficult social problems. First
of all only few of the African des-
eendents could get to the territory set
apart for them. But it might be well
il a few could be allowed to build uK
such community and make q success
oft. At the best, however, only q
portion of the race could derive beuefi,
from the experiment.
But could negro colony whose
members would have such an amount
of capital within its bounds as to make
thrifty settlement be possiblei
Money as we'll as labor are necessary
to build mp Il new community. There
are negroes who have some capital
but how many of them would risl
what they have, when already doing
we'll?
Then, could the South spare it's la
borers, even though only small part
of them chose to make the contem
plated exodus to the promised land:
A country can spare its aristocratit
idlers and wasters far better than il
can part with those who produce 1t!
corn aud cotton. The planters of th'
Sonth would be the first to cry ou
against the carrying out of this exper
iQasut.
In the event that such territor!
was set apart, and prosperous stat
founded, could the white race be KEEP
out of it? The Indian territories hav
not been able to keep out even TIN
dregs Of the white race, to say nothing
of the good white people who, for an.
reason, see fit to go there. The sam
covetousness which disregards all GOV
enante, however meritorious and sa
cred, would break over the barrier
which might be erected to exclud
other peoples.
Would such an exclusion be consti
tutional? Would it be in line wit
American precedents? Would it Sc
cure to the negroes the privileges, tn
political equality and other benefit
sought to be secured? These ar
questions to be taken into the &C
count.
Like all social problems, which al
moral questions as we'll, the remed