The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1895-05-13
THE RACE PROBLEM.
Extract from a Lecture on Frederick
Douglass by Mr.. Walter Allen.

Douglass by Mr.. Walter Allen
The New Haven Palladium publishes
the following extract from lecture OF
Frederick Douglass by Mr.. Walter Allen,
now of New Haven, but for severa
years editor of the PRESS:
In the later years of his life MI. Doug.
lass often expressed his disappointment
regarlng the degree of progress achleVeo
| by the colored race in freedom. Inns
was not so much because he had been
too sangulne Of the rapid development
of character and Independence in the
race which 90 years of bondage had de-
graded, as because he had been too san
gulne OF the quick emancipation OF the
| slaveholdlng race from inherited preJu-
dices and inbred habits of injustice. The
Supreme Courts decision against the
civil rights law was more discouraglng
to him than the bred Scott dicision had
been. He apprehended how much harder,
without the support Of national law, 1t
would be for the negroes to win recog-
milton of their equal rights as citizens in
the Southern States
In an address delivered in Washington
n 1888 on the 2lst anniversary OF the
emancipation of the slaves in the Dis
trlct of Columbia, he declared that dis
cuSslon OF the condition OF the black
citizens of his country must 60 on" until
the public schools shall cease to be class
schools until the colored
and South, shall be rs smooth and as
zen until color shall cease to
he bar to equal participation in the
offices and honors of the country /. :.
until the trades unions and workshops
of the country shall cease to proscri be
the colored man and prevent his children
from learning useful trades -. {.
until the American people shall make
character and not color The criterion Of
responsibility.
Another speech in Washington, made
six years afterw ards and but six years
ago, contained these sentences: 1T was
once said by Abraham Lincoln that this
Republic could not long endure half
slave, and half free, and the same may
be said with even more truth of the
black citizens of this country. They
cannot remain half slave and half free.
From my outlook am free to affirm
that see nothing for the negro of the
South but condition of absolute free
dom OF condition of absolute slavery.
l see no half way place for him. There
are forces at work in both these direc-
tions, and for the present that which
aims at the reinstatement of the negro
seems to have the advantage"
The problem of which the factors are
che white race and the negro race living
together in this land is yet far from it's
ultimate solution; but whatever tenn
porary hindrances or seeming relapses
there may be, it is impossible to assume
that chattel slavery can ever be re-estab.
lished. We may believe that God will
not suffer that lapse backward. May
we not believe that American manhood
and womanhood are now incapable of
tolerating the former degradation?
Whatever wrongs are still permitted,
they are less than slavery. They may
be discussed with less passion and re-
moved with less disturbance ] know
the present discouragements. I see, for
example, the mistaken politicians of
South Carolina, trying to devise a rule
that will let every white man vote, no
matter how unfit, and prevent every col
ored man, no matter how fit, and yet be
not obnoxious to the amended National
Constitution. To the extent that these
men may succeed, to that extent they
push South Carolina toward the bottom
of the list Of civilized States 81
The mere loss of political power by the
black citizens is not the worst of such
policy. The worst effect is the inevita-
BILE bent toward depriving the black
citizens of educational privileges, of in
dustrial opportunities, of social con-
sideration and of civil rights: Men who
Gan never vote will soon be utterly
neglected by the powerful except for pur-
poses of greed and abuse. 1t is for voters
and their families that common schools
are maintained and the upward paths of
life kept open and pleasant, not for
slaves or serfs or the politically impotent
On the Keystone of the portal Of the
policy which South Carolina is in peril
of adopting is Deaths head, and over
with the flashes OF all the guns that
belched from Sumter to Appomattox.
BeaI with me moment longer. The
newspapers report that Senator Morgan
of Ala bama has expressed the desire
that all colored Americans may be ex-
ported to Africa, saying that 1000, 900
of them-there are more than 100000
in all-might be sent away within
year. That would require 1900 outward
ing / 900 on each trip. They could not
be had for the purpose. If they could
be had the cost could not be met. Ii the
thing were entirely practical BILE it would
be as barbarous rs slavery, as wasteful
as war, as unpatri0tic as treason. Why
does not some negro-hater propose to
round up" the whole race before line
OF bayOnets from the British Dordef ana
the Pacific coast upon the peninsula of
Florida. and then tow Florida across the
Atlantic The one scheme is not more
impossible than the other
Until the armament Ia rolled together
as scroll, and the elements melt with
fervent heat, the white race and the
negro race must dwell together on this
continent of North America. This is by
no fault of the negro race. The pro-
eenitors of those who are here did not
come of their own accord; they were
brought as bound captives, unwilling
but helpless. Surely the white race
ought to bear uncomplainingly the con-
sequences of it's own crime.
But how shall the two races work out
their Joined and inseparable destiny?
This is the task of our craftsmanship,
our philanthropy, our religion and our
patience-tha patience which not only
waits, but hopes and strives with un-
Yielding constancy. the patience which
Lowell defined to be the only passion
of great hearts," Even the economists
who adore laisser-faire, who account
philanthropy fanaticism and benevo-
lence fault. il they know their own
business, must preceive that in this
matter justice means profits and irjus-
tice means losses