The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1894-12-25

Extraordinary State OF AGsirs Created by
Contact with Mexico.


DALLAS. Tex. Dec. ls.-The thoughtful peo-
pie OF the United States. and OF Europe for the
matter Of that, take a great deal Of interest In
the relations of the Mack and white people OF
the Southern States. They do so for many rea-
sons. but mainly because OF the extraordinary
circumstances surrounding the manumission
and Acknowledgement OF the blacks and the very
prevalent opinion that instead of increasing
and thriving in a condition Of self-dependence
and citizenship the blacks would gradually die
out. or, like the Indian races. become wards Of
the nation. Alarmists. far from the seat OF the
actual experiment. have obfuscated matters by
basing erroneous conclusions upon baseless
statements made upon the ground by persons
whose selfish purposes IL served TO make a bad
condition OF affairs appear as hopeless as posi-
Bile. The honest seeker after the truth neither
accepts the deductions Of self-seekers nor the
conclusions OF theorists. Both are false proph-
cts. In the main. the Southern newspapers do
not reflect the sentiment OF "the best people"
on the race question, but the sentiment Of the
worst people. This is a broad statement. but 1t
Is true. and pity it is true. IL the best people"
were left free to regulate the tendency OF affairs,
IL they were not coerced at every point by the
worst people, and II the rural newspaper did
not bow down TO this worst element we should
have a different condition OF affairs in
the Southern States and the Northern peo-
pie would be relieved from the necessity Of read
ing from time to time horrors like unto those
we have from Armenia, under the sanction of
1.-THE unspeakable Turk"
Texas Is a new State. II we regard its new de-
velopmcnt OF recent years and the actual appear
ance OF its cities and the tentative state OF its
industries. II can easily support a population OF
0,0OO,O 900 people, whereas It has only $500. 900,
the population comprised in the Greater New
York. Outside OF cotton culture and cattle rails
ing the resources OF Texas have not had n fair
test. Fruit culture, to which its soil and climate
are admirably ADAPTED. has not been undertaken,
except in Isolated instances. while truck farm
ing has been neglected Ia the point OF criminal
ity; The complexion Of the population OF Texas
would stump an ethnologist. 1t Is complex. 1t
Is hard to analyze. The average Texan can no
more distinguish an -Afro-American mulatto
he can differentiate himself from any one of the
European races which enter into his composite.
They nre distinguishable more by the straight
ness Of their hair than the darkness of their
stringent and unjust regulation, but the conduc-
tor or no car that | have travelled upon, and |
State. has felt Himself SAFE in dispasInS nns
tight TO ride IN any PORTION OF hts train that my
50 il they dared. When they Approach ann a mui nTae
they are unable to locate him II his hair lie
straight; and while they may have doubts about
tion OF the law one way or the other entails a
heaYy fine upon the conductor,
state In the south. II makes, In consequence. q
condition not to be- found in other southern
travel. but In public assemblies. l have covered
1000 miles In Texas and addressed nfteen audi
ences, and the, thing which struck me most lore
IDLY was the absence OF mulattoes. The audi
ences were more generally black In complexion
than those had observed in the central and
south Atlantic States and in the Northern and
western states. In one audience OF 300 people
fact struck me all the more forcibly because
have been "A close student of chronological phe-
nomena. In the absence Of any expianatIon,
should he very much confused hacause nf IL In
all my travel Is In Texas have not seen a pro.
nouneed mnlst,o person in what they call the
negro coaches The occupants have been, in the
main, prOnouncedly black persons. The Inulat-
toes either remain at home or travel in the white
though not SO generally.
Asio race prejudice pure and simple, | have
lists in baltimore and Washington. Fort Worth
Is, perhaps, the stitfest city | have visited. Even
there a man with AS pronounced Caucasian fea-
lures as myself encounters no obstacles. except
he he In the company Of persons Of pronounced
pear To mo 10 be cordial enough, all things being
consideEed. This found particularly true At
The amount OF social privileges enjoyed a al,
weston by, Airo-A mertcans AstOnished me. In
Iced, blacks and whites mingled with q freedom
York. In all these large centres OF population
BLACK men are employed In all sorts Qr employ
ments, some OF II or the most honorable and re-
spOnsible character.
ON the other hand. in the rural districts there is
as lntense race prejudice and antRgOnism as can
be found in Louisiana and Alabama. The men OF
both races appear to live ON spikes. The whites
are determined 10 keep the blacks down and the
latter are determined not to be kept down. and
are gradually overcoming the opposition. In
time the liberAlity which prevails in the large
cities Is sure tc prevail In the rural districts.
The blacks take this hopeful view OF the matter.
The schools are doing a great deal for Texas la
this respect, In addition To the public school
advantages they enjoy, averaging seven months,
| am told, the blacks have some fourteen schools
OF education, supported In the main by North
ern charity. while the whites have not more
Than hve. In the small town OF Marshall, in
HHFFlNDU county where the blacks oufnuVniar
the whites two to one, there aretwo such schools
Bishop College and Wiley uniV ersity which
have al attendance OF some 500 young women
and ulen. The state maintains a State Normal
school at Prairie View. The sThoOls and churches
and time and the spirit of progress are crushing
race prejudice Ia death in Texas. which in mi.
respect and In material conditions - They re-
late 10 the blacks. I find 10 be the bC.t vi The
southern Sfales, with tie possible exception II
North carolina. There Is constant EIuN.tL.
therefore a good hasIs upun which tn IFOGuu-t.-
cate tie hapPisst !CsUlts 10 the futur-.
T. IHuMAs EuWFTSE. b
Why not begin tho rev year a. q new man.
Do wait iT lie neW year. but heHiu a. anra