The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-09-04

Paul Lauresce Duasar sees rer,i nor MS Rsce
IN Ltfe In the city.

after day there Is little or nothing In ITS appear
anco to excite comment, but go away for six
months and then return to It, and one finds In
the dark crowds of the Tendcrloin district food
for reflection.
So many Of us aro like parrots. Our fathers
before us have made q statement or issued a
dictum. and we keep on repeating 1t day after
day and year after year, however meaningless
the events Of time may have made II. SO we
have been in the habit Of saying that tho South
has q negro problem, and we have looked on
l~istlessly and wondered how she was going TO
solve 1t. Our eyes, turned away from home. did
not perceive that much the same problem was
creeping to our very doors. But 1t is so.
Ono looks at tho crowds of idle, shiftless
negroes that throng these districts and tho
question must arise. What Is to DO done with
them, what is to be done for them, IL they are to
he prevented from inoculating our civilization
with the poison Of their livesi They are not
Anarchists; they mover will be. Socialism has
no meaning for them; and yet in these seem
ingly careless. guffawing crowds lies a terrible
monaco to our institutions. Everything in their
environment tends to the plotting out of tho
moral sense. everything to the cngendering Of
crime. Here and there sits a weak. Intellectual
little mission, doing its little best for tho people
around 1t. but altogether as inadequate as o
gauze fan in the furnace heats of hell.
Hook on at It all, and, though I feel fear for
our civilization, l must confess that the strongest
emotion in my heart is pity for the poor people
themselves and for their children. They are my
brothers. and what touches them touches me.
] can look on at tho vice and degradation of
Whitcchapel and tho Seven Dials with less
emotion than 1 can upon the misdeeds of the
Tenderloin. For the former I sorrow in tho
name Of humanity; for the latter / grieve on
account of my race. which already has 30 much
to overcomc. Do you say that this is too narrow
a view. too SELFISH II 1t ia so, 1t Is because I
have been forced into it. As a race. we are
thrown back upon ourselves, isolated from other
Americans. and 80 brought into a moro intimate
communion one with the other. Fifth avenue
cannot feel for Cherry Hill NIB the better class of
negroes must feel for their degraded brethren,
because the former arc not SO closely identified
with each other. The sight OF a dweller in Fifth
avenue does not suggest a denizen OF Cherry
Hill; but the sight OF one negro suggests q race.
1t is natural to suppose that these poor people
VIII produce offspring. OF what kind will they
bef How can they run in the race Of life when
they are hampered from the start by the degra-
dation Of their parentsi What course Is open
to them save one of shame and crimei I pity
the children because they arc being cheated out
OF their birthright. ] pity the parents because
they are blind enough to damn their own prog
eny. Many OF them are from the small towns
Of the South. They have been deceived by the
glare and glitter OF the city streets. They arc
great. naughty, irresponsible children. Their
highest ideal is a search for pleasure. and they
think they have found it when they indulge in
vice. Ipity them because they have ZONE to tho
city to lose so much and to gain so little. They
are losing the simple. joyous natures with which
God has endowed them, and are becoming
losing the soft mellow voices which even slavery
,ml,; no, rui-. Thu ar io-inS 'h"tr rap'rity
icasl.. II They are < losing their n ger their heir
hospitality. their tdelity-all. in fact, of the
raj habitat. And for WHAT A hand.to-mou.h
struggle for life in a great city. and a place in
1t is a pity TO see the changes in these. nv
people. who. with their scant education. should
,Thesc praises are s,ill sung at the south. But
grated on TO "sambo," and the charms OF
But they are selling their blrthrisht for a mess
up the fields for the cutters. They have bar.
tered the sweetsmelling earth of their freshly
filler Of III. sell. They Do not walk like eiod-
Improvement They arc ashamed OF all the old
simple. delights. and cannot reach to the rerfec-
great part, to play their simple melodies on the
banjo. and strum out rags on the piano. The
has subsidized into a had sensuality thai; makes
them gross. They have forgotten to laugh and
They have a right to strength and to health.
but they have neither. It ts the DUTY Of the
o nesfU ss Rfs Hfo as 30 10 ! desire, 1r n h., shl"Tsn ,h to 80 so
fects. mental. moral and physical. placed upon
them by slavery. But these people are not do.
OF his ~deformities., both OF mind and BODY. The
next generation OF negroes should be a better
brains and better souls But is this possible
with what the blacks OF the Tendcrloin are be-
1t is not enough TO say that there are intelli-
gent; moral. and industrlqls degrees in the city;
he no problem. but their influence Tor good
and for respectabllity cannot he fully felt rs long
az SO large a part OF the race are oneratinG in Q
s%pectahle family. educating his sons: who has
respect and confidence Of his employers, does
not attract one.tenth part Of the attention that
In the public mind the race receives tho
eft OF tho former. Tho voice OF the brute who
a lynched for an unspeekable crime sounds fur
stands in his pulpit sunday after sunday in.
Weighing against wrong. SO II the better-class
negro W9ald co mn, to Oh his o own he must lift not
brother he H.. He cannot afford TO look down
44ron the dentzsns OF The Tenderloin or to with.
blacks there, degraded. ignorant. vicious as they
:. 'S'ho ~ WI u pTUUltIn
and then to suggest no specific remedy, but I
confess that can zee no practicable one now.
OF ignorant and irresponsible negroes TO the
great city. II that could be stopped, il the me-
tropolis could vomit them back again, the whole
matter would adjust itself. But how IA 1t to DO
doneI For the influx continues and increases
year after year, They say that they have not
their rights at the South; but better tho ~restric-
tions there than a seeming liberty which blos-
SONS noxiously into license.
| would not deny TO these. my people, the adj
EAhtages of travel md study. il they would
make a proper use OF them; but the majority
need severaI, generations to grow into a state OF
calm receptiyity. and IL grieves me to see them
elbowed to death by a civilization the genius OF
which lhey do not yet understand.
would rather that they stayed away from
tho cities than that they should come only To
lose purity simplicity. and the JOY of life. It
lures heart for a while longer. would fain sec
ihem HAPPY, and free. fclling the forest, and Till.
ing the field. and singing in their cabin doors at
night. Until they show greater capabilities for
contact with q hard md intricate civilization. /
would have them stay upon the farm and learn
= iiye In Gods great kindergarten for his simple