The Greenville times. [volume] (Greenville, Miss.) 1868-1917, 1897-08-11
THE LESSON or A STRIKE.

Public sympathy 10 the south must
perforce be with the white women
who maintained the dignity of their
race by walking quietly out of The
Atlanta factory when II was proposed
to herd them with negroes. The les
sou is one well taught, very necessary,
aud apparently learned etfectualIy by
the owners OF the mill. The conduct
OF the strike reflects credit both upon
employers aud employed, aud II is
hardly probable that similar cmcr-
gcnry will he presented TO white men
or women IN the south or a long
time to come. The liue of race de-
narration il ineradicable, and Is
drawn with such strength aud clear
ness that no power, not even the
struggle for livelihood, is sufficient
to compel its crossing. The whole
south owes a debt of gratitude 10
these brave women who faced want
aud suffering rather than accept a
condition which, if yielded to, must
have resulted in their abatement in
their own eyes aud in those of the
public. 1t has been argued that the
deep-seEtcd aud determined OPPOSE
ton IN The south (sDd elsewhere, for
that matter) TO race contact was tic
outgrOwth of ultra refinement ahI
the reluctance of the whites to assO-
citation with a people TAR Inferior 10
them in education and ciVilil stion;
and that with the education and ele-
Walton Of the negro the feeling would
gradually die.
The Argument is utterly fallacious.
The prejudice is instructive. There
is infinitely more sympathy and com
munily Of feeling between the South
eruer of the highest class aud the
race he learned to know as his slaves
than there is between the class repre-
scented by the women of the factories
aud those whose presence they would
not tolerate. There is but one con-
diLion in Which The two races can be
brought into close contact without
mutual repugnAnco and rebellion.
and that is the state of recognized
dependence and mastery which exists
on the plantation or in the family OF
the man whose uDdersl anding Of
their limitations aud sympathy with
their weaknesses comes from a lite
time of such association. In such
conditions there is no more danger
of the bounds between being over
stepped than there is between hu-
mankind aud the rest of the animal
creation. Each knows his place aud
keeps it with no thought or wish to
change 1t. But between white peo-
pie of this class aud the humber
those whom necessity forces TO toll
on au equality with servsnts-there
is as wide divergence in the negro
mind as between the races themselves,
The half plying contempt for "poor
white trash" which was q comical
characteristic Of the slave has become,
iu bis posterity, even more pro-
nouuced The negro is unable to
understand the dignity of self re-
speeding work, and the white man or
woman who tolls by his side becomes,
In bis eyes, his inferior. The posses.
sion OF a white skin Is no protection
against the necessity for toll, nor do
grimy hands and sweat-marred faces
degrade. Because the honest work.
Ing women of the Atlanta factory
must earn their bread by daily labor
is no reason why humiliation should
be added to their hard lot, and white
men and women over the whole land
will honor them for the step they
took in protection of their own dig
nifty and the integrity of their race.