The morning call., 1894-05-02
THE CASE OF THE CRACKER.

liam IL SeWell wrote paper on the
British West Indies in which he startled
the North by announcing his conviction
that emancipation was no cure for the evils
of slavery. By curious coincidence an
Impartial and well-informed writer now
writes in the Chicago Magazine an article
TO show that the negro question at the
South is as far from a satisfactory settle.
ment as ever. To two of the three classes
at the South the present condition of
things is not un bearable. There is pros
pect of cotton crop Of 100000 bales; the
corn yield is going to be prodigious; the
product Of iron and coal steadily increases :;
landowners see their way to get out of
debt, while on the other hand the negro is
fairly comfortable and enjoys the means
to crafty the new tastes and appetites he
is acquiring. Ever one is content except
the poor white, the cracker. of whom the
negro sang in the old ditty:
know dat I'm nh niggah,
But what ef am?
Iruddah be nh niggah
Dan uh poo white man.
The cracker is secondary product of
slavery. While the institution lasted his
pride forbade him 10 compete with the
negro in the labor market, and he grew up
to ignorance, poverty, idleness and vice.
Abolition did not alter his relative status.
Hard labor was still "nigger's work" and
he would not demsan himself to do it.
Hence to the employer he was as much of
a drone as ever, and the masters of the
new South declare that zone negro is
worth two of him." Yet he lives and be-
gets his species. He must have food and
clothing, and the conditions which sur
round him forbid his acquiring these by
the means which are employed at the
North. For him abolition has brought no
benefit. he is if anything worse of than
be was before the war.
In parts of the South the cracker. seeing
starvation staring him in the face. is pre-
pairing to do battle not for the right to
work, but for a monopoly of that right.
In Northeast Arkansas the importation of
negro labor is forbidden by mob law, and
the local papers propose to eXpel the free
negroes from the pine forests where there
is plenty of work. These efforts are re-
sisted by the employer class. the de-
scendants of the old planters Their labor
costs them even less than it did in the
time of slavery. and they object to free
competition by whites. which, in the long
run, would lead to an advance in wages
They have over the old planters the advan-
tags that they do not own their labor, and
that it is immaterial to them whethe IL
lives or dies. The lows of negro huts
which used to be occupied by slaves who
were the most valuable OF the planters
possessions are now tepanted by the chill
dren of these slaves but the employer has
no interest in them. II they drop off other
negroes stand ready to take their places.
The victim of slavery was not the slave
owner, who grew rich--or might have
grown rich IL he had been thrifty-from
the proceeds of unpaid slave labor, and
had ample leisure to develop his mind
and indulge 10 the Refreshments of civiliZa-
ton: nor yet the slave, who, as rule.
was cared for as valuable cattle are by
sensible owners, and whose modest wants
were supplied without excessive toll; but
the poor white, the cracker, who lay be-
tween the upper and the neither milestone.
and was necessarily crushed between the
two. He was denied all the incentives
which stimulate men to usefulness. Be-
tween him and the planter stood an i'm.
him to cross that other gulf which divided
him from the negro. The force of circum-
stances compelled him to grow up an idle
vagabond, and that he is now. Emsncipa-
ton has brought him no relief from his
hardship.
The darkest side Of the picture is the ap-
parent hopelessness of his case. If the
negro could be deported the poor whites
would do for Alabama and Mississippi
what the same class has done for Illinois
and Ohio. II all the whites except the
landowners were expairiated, new
South peopled exclusively by planters and
negroes might attain to certain kind of
prosperity. But when races are counted
by millions, migrations are almost iInpos-
sble from physical reasons. The problem
attracts little attention at present. But
some day ii will come to the front. and
then 1t will be found to be problem Of no
common diff rulty.