Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1897-02-21
Polk Miller Discusses Mr.. Dawson's
Article.

To the Editor Of the Dispatch:
l have been reading Mr.. Dawson's arti-
Gle on the progress of the negro race.
[ read your editorial remarks first /
believe Mr.. Dawson, like every other
southern man of intelligence feels an
interest in the negro's advancement and
wishes him well; but 1 agree with you
in saying that l don't see the improve
ments which he does / have been made
very sad on this trip through Pennsyl-
vania, Ohio, Illinois. and Michigan, 10
find the white people so down on the
negro" l have been making the ques-
ton a matter Of study, and have talked
to the people everywhere, and have
come 10 the conclusion that there is
but one place i'm this country where
the negro will be prosperous, happy, and
well-thought Of; and that is in the South
He may be called a niger" but that S
what he always was called, always will
be, and along with IL viii be treated
kindly spoken of kindly; and if he con-
ducts himself with gentlemanly propriety.
as his old father did and does to this
day. the man who calls him "ngger' will
help him, treat him nicely, and when
he turns his back will say kind things
about him. In my travels / have seen
men speak TO him and call him "AIr
MITCHELL and "Mr. Brown" to his
face, and then turn round after he has
disappeared, and speak Of him as IA
ID coon. They may distinguish them
selves in the North as hotel-wait-
ers and Pullman-car porters. but the
their chief distinction. A man who does
not tip the waiter Will fare badly in a So
a-day hotel; and the manner of the
waiter tells him So In the Pullman
cars the porter is invisible and indiffer-
ent until just before your arrival at
your destination, and then he is all at
tention:-working his little game. He
gets his tip; but if he could but read
the feelings of these people, and hear
them cuss him when they get out Of his
sight, he would feel badly. 1t makes me
mad, too, TO hear the whole race de-
nounced because OF the disagreeable
manners of these negroes up here. When
the negro awakens to the fact that i'm
order to be respected he must win
distinction as a negro. and not as a
white man whose skin is dark he will be
all right.
Managers Of opera houses and talent
bureaus generally tell me that 'if they
could get up here a company of negroes
who would sing plantation songs as the
negroes in the South do, and act like
negroes, instead Of trying to show how
such Negro can act like a white man
or woman. it would be the most money!
making attraction extant." They say:
you try to see how much you can talk
and act like a negro, and apparently
without a feeling of condescension. and
II you can do it, why should the negro
put on .airs?"
II you want 10 test the question Of
progress, 80 through your public schools
and look over the list of the educated
and see how many are engaged in call
inss which will make them good citi-
zens i'm the community in which they
are educated ] will venture TO assert
that three fourths of them have gone
from home and into northern towns.
where they will be known as "coons"
as long as they live If they had the
good sense TO follow the pillow, then
their surroundings along with education.
would be pleasant, but an education
which gives them a disposition TO roam
and not work. but wait on white
folks in hotels and other places, Is
disadvantage and a drawback.
in the South any number of colored men
and women who are as truthful and
honest and are as gautlemany and
iadylike as any people in the world, and
they seem 10th to believe IT, Can you
trust them in a business transaction
Yes, l say in reply; there are colored
people all over the South whose names
on d merchants books are as good as
that Of any white mans in the commu-
nifty. Now, with regard TO the masses.
and as TO whether Education has inn
proved his morals" l will not discuss
that but will simply say that my OBJ
seryation is that his head has grown too
rapidly under education. and that the
qualities OF mind and heart, which so to
make gentlemen and gentewomen have
not been stimulated in proportion. Edu-
cation has made him feel that he is above
his old mother and father. and that
obedience 10 parental authority, which
are necessary TO the making OF a good
citizen, is lacking in the young of the
cOlored race. Mr.. Dawson is too young
to know that on our plantations uine
tenths Of the whippings which the young
negroes got were the result Of disobe-
dience TO their mammies 1t was
an everyday thing for some old man
or woman on our place to come TO me
and say: Il wish you would come
down sir, and whip John for sassin' me;
| can't do nothing with dat boy"
The white folks, and the fear of the
lash alone. made the young negroes ODE
dent to parents i'm those days. Who is
10 step in and enforce obedience now?
Since freedom came the negroes "spare
the rod" because they think Il looks too
much like slavery; and the result is a
spoiled child. And. raised up without
respect for parental authority, they do
not regard anybody's. That's the rea-
son we see so many accounts OF resist
ing policemen" white man when
arrested submits TO the badge OF au.
thority.", even II It Is worn by n man
OF small stature. The negro knows no
thing and cares nothing for law; but sub
mits or resists. in accordance with the
size of the officer.
AS 10 our elections; have no hope Of
ever splitting up the negro vote. When
General Smith and Horace Greeley
came 20 Richmond 10 so on jefferson
Davis's bond. they made speeches that
night 10 the negroes In the old African
church. Smith said: my colored friends
Won are uneducated. and are liable TO be
swindled out of your money by mean
men: and / want 10 advise that you viii
never put your money into anything
without first going to some white friend
I'm whom you have confidence, and get
ting him TO pass upon the title. But.
while | tell you that. l want TO say that.
when you come to vote, let no white
man living dissuade you from the path
OF duty, and vote the Republican ticket. :"
That speech was made TO the lewis
Lindsay Ross Hamilton DR. Bayne
gang OF negroes. who went forth and
preached 1t everywhere. They may get
I'D "honest-election parties" and various