The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1896-04-11
Paragraphs Pertinent or Other
wis.

EDITOR TIMES:
From newspaper correspondents in
the South comes the yearly re-hash OF
southern complaints about the worth
lessness of the negro. All the south
erners haste to bear witness, that "bcfoh
the wah, the negroes were an active.
industrious, honest and trustworthy
people, but now under the Influences OF
freedom and education they have be-
come, so these reporters would have US
believe, a very worthless set of beings
OF course this may be said as explana-
tory of the situation, that the old time
"befoh the wah", appliances to stimu-
late industrial activity among the ne
groes is wanting. The plantation over
seer strutting around with an ox-gad
among the half-naked wOrkmen is no
longer to be seen and undoubtedly it is
a fact that the descendants OF the ne
groes who once were compelled to work
or be threshed by brutal driver are to
great extent initiating and enjoying
''aftah the wah" the unauthorized laz
mess and incompetency of their white
masters "befoh the wah'.
This situation instead Of making the
ordinary onlOokcr feel pangs of regret
does on the other hand only cause him
to feel a reasonable satisfaction that the
whirligg of time has brought around
such an offset of opportunities. The
fact is, if every negro in the south
should, taking advantage Of his chances,
prefer idlene5s to labor, and let the SO
called dominant race, down there,
struggle for fifty years with what is to
be done, and nobody willing to do it,
there would be in this performance
nothing for the ordinary white south
erner to find fault with. He is himself
a living embodiment of shiftlGssness
and inCompetency, and 1t i'll becomes a
man who is too lazy to work himself to
heap reproaches on the negro for like
failing. One thing is certain, until the
white people of the south out-grow the
old "befoh tie wah" feeling in regard
to the negro, and begin to treat him
like a civilized being instead of dealing
with him as if he was an escaped slave,
there Will be no material advance in
the matter of negro industry, honesty,
and thrift.
Why should negro have any regard
for honesty in a community of white
people who unblushingly boast of rob
bling him OF his political rights?
\ southern poor white who has just
stuffed ballot box with white votes in
order to destroy negro influence is
very poor sort Of exhUrtcr in the mat
ter OF honesty.
From one of these periodic lamenta-
tons over the condition ofthe southern
negro we clip the following suggestion
as to how it might be improved:
"What they apparently need is cdu-
Gated leaders of their own color. The
ignorant cannot lead the ignorant any
more than the blind can lead the blind.
Their religious teachers should preach
that salvation is to be earned only bv
an upright lie, and is not to be given
out Unfortunately by a generous but
careless Providence"
And to this might he added, what
they apparently need more than any
thing else is, that their white neigh
Dors should be treated with medicine
of the same sort. The reservoir of
righteousness from whence this blind
and benighted black crowd are to draw
the incentives to an upright life should
be also kept on tap for their white
neighbors.
Till the southern white learns to be
industrious himself lst him quit abus-
ing the negro for his laziness
Till the southern white learns to re-
spcCt and regard the political rights of
others let him quit filing the air with
lamentations over negro misrule.
Till the southern white learns to read
himself AMI write his own name, let
him quit sncering at the ignorance of
the negro.
In short till the southern white gets
some salvation Of the right sort for his
own use, and then practices it, les him
quit talking about the salvation needed
by the blacks. Let the white south
erner get rid as soon as he can of the
'befoh the wah" delusion that God
made the negro for his especial benefit
and then there will be some progress
made i'll the right direction toward
solution ofthis race problem.