The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1893-05-24
HOW THE NEGRO's NOKTHtkN
FRIENDS TREAT HIM.

bic white people OF the South rather than
in perpetual antagonism TO them, have
heretofore been so disheartening as TO
give them but little encouragement to
continuance OF them. The good book tells
us however. that we should never weary in
well doing. and more in obedience TO its
command than from hope Of influencing
negro opinion we present the negroes this
morning with few facts that they would
do well to think on.
An eminent Judge In Philadelphia re-
Gently made some remarks in his court
concerning the negro population Of that
city. He directed the attention of his
grand jury 10 the great increase Of crime
among the colored population during re-
cent years, and pointed out that they
are, more and more, herding together In
the same slums, where their situation
grows steadily worse, and crime abounds.
The Philadelphia newspapers have
taken the judges remarks up and have
given them a very fun discussion. Ihey
agree with him that the facts are as he
has stated them, and they go further,
admitting openly that the moral decline
Of the negro IN Northern cities is due
to the determinations made there against
him. The New York Evening Post, sum
ming up the views OF the Philadelphia
papers, states them thus:
1.-The chief cause for this is the grow
ing discrimination against the black man
because he is black. Time was when
there were many carpenters, bricklayers
and other mechanics employed in the
building trades in Philadelphia, while now
there are so few as not TO count, and
the labor unions are shutting them out
by adopting a cast-irOn rule that the
acceptable applicant shall be white
Only few years ago coachmen and male
walters were generally negroes, but they
are now rarely found In these capacities.
Judge Gordon advised the negroes TO turn
TO the mechanic trades; but the Press
confesses that a relentless prejudice shuts
the negro out of nearly all those me-
chanic trades. This prejudice practically
excludes the negro from work on railroads
outside Of the semi-dOmestic service OF a
Pullman car IL keeps them from en-
ployment on horse-car lines. 1t shuts
.hem out Of machine shops and most. II
not all, factories. 1t closes The doors OF
most shops 10 the cOlOred negro clerk,
man or woman The Telegraph is equal
" emphatic and frank. saying OF them:
""They must live, or at least from their
point of view they must. Few Of them,
however. do really live. They simply eX-
ist I'm the wretchedness, Wleness and vice
of the slums. where they are herded Ike
cattle. and where their necessities or their
idleness make them criminals. This negro
problem Is a serious ore, and Judge Cor
don has done good service by calling pub
lie attention TO it,
This is republished in the Philadel-
phia Telegraph as a correct statement OF
the case. The Post goes on then TO state
the case as it exists elsewhere in the
North. as follows:
The situation in Philadelphia does not
differ materially from that in other large
Northern cities. In New York, Brooklyn
Boston and Chicago the same tendencies
are visible. Nobody can travel IN TINS
part of the country without being struck
by the steady disappearance Of the negro
from those emplOyments where he was
formerly most in evidence, notably as
BARRIERS. walters and coachmen. Ii has
now become the exception TO find black
men behind the tables in the dining-room
of large hotel, whereas a quarter OF
century ago they almost monopolized this
kind Of service.
The Post then remarks that
"Politics obviously has nothing 10 do
with the matter, for the condition Of the
negro is not quite so bad in either New
York or Brooklyn as I'm Philadelphia,
which is the great Republican city of the
North"
The Post then asks what is the cause
Of this? And it answers. in the language
of the Philadelphia Press, a bigotted Re
publican organ, "a relentless prejudice"
Here then we have the case made out
upon Republican testimony. In a North
ern city which Is overwhelmingly Repub-
lican, negroes are denied the right to
earn their living by work and are driven
into living by crime because the Repub-
leans there have "a relentless preju-
dice" against them, and another Northern
paper Of the highest standing deliberately
admits that what exists in Philadelphia,
exists everywhere else I'm the North.
If our negroes are capable Of the most
elementary stages Of reasoning, ought
they not to perceive that their real friends
are not the Northern Republicans who
wish TO use them for political ends, but
! the white people amongst whom they
| have been born and raised, who under
stand them and have a kindly regard for
them. who intend to keep them in their
| proper social place, but who are always
ready to treat them kindly and see that
/ they have perfect justice done them at all
| t9r,.ro