The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1898-11-18
THE RACE QUESTION
BROUGHT To THE FRONT BY THE
WILMINGTON REVOLUTION
of the Northern Press Begfn to
See that there Is More I'm this Ques.
ton than Ever Before Supposed.
Where the Responsibility Lies for the
Racial Conditions at the South
TEccoNS TOD TUE cor-rrYrD>
FOR THE SOUTHERN
NEGRO.
washington Post.)


NEGRO.
washington Post.)
The trouble in the Carolinas is per-
haps over. Peace has been restored,
n order and civilization have been
re-enthroned by the only methods that
could possibly ave succeeded. North
ern doctrinaires may hurl philosophi-
cal condemnation at the southern
whites to their hearts content. They
may pirate of violence and babble
about barbarism. The objects Of their
disapproval care less than nothing
about that. The preservation of social
order, the protection Of property, and
the purity and intelligence of govern
ment are of more concern to them than
the clamor Of mere theorists and
dreamers. Barbarism is one thing to
the metaphysician. 1t is a very diff
ferent thing to the man whose mate
rial interests, whose feelings, whose
very freside, are subjected to it's sim
lister and abhorrent touch. The south
ern whites have don just what the
northern whites would have done I'M
der similar con~ditions-they have drop
ped party politics in the presence of a
great emergency, n have restored
the regime Of enlightenment and Chris
tianity.
We wish, however, to call the atten-
ton of u colored friends to one les
son Of the episode which they will do
well to take to heart. We ask them
to consider for a moment the value of
those pretended champions of theirs
who have fattened on the offices pro-
cured by their votes, who have inflam-
ed them by EVIL counsel, and deluded
them with fa<se Indictment. What be-
came Of tE3ge champions in the hour
of peril 21@Z1nere was that boosted valOr
which expressed itself in insolent bonn
baS1cs and offensive turbulence? What
became of these deceitful white Schem-
ers and these ~uprOarious negro brag-
garts-the beneficiaries of the ignorant
and credulous loyalty of the colored
masses-When the white man flew to
arms and put them to the test? The
employers of North Carolina, upon
whose enterprise and capital nine
tenth of the cOlOred population of
the state subsist; who pay 50 per cent.
of the taxes which maintain their
schools and hospitals and p~oOrhOuses;
who conduct every industry that fur
nisheS employment for the poor, and
to n or another of whom every help
less and afflicted negro appeals-never
without unquestioning respOnse-in the
hour of his eXtremity-theSe white men
are now calling in the refugees to
peaceful homes and profitable occupa
ton, while the former office seekers
and office holders of both races and
colors are hiding in northern refugees
from the storm which their rapacity
and insolence provoked.
The Carolina negroes v been
dupes and victims. They have been de
luded into dreaming that they can
grasp and hold power in communities
in which they represent practically
nothing of the true basis of civilized
society-neither wealth nor culture,
neither property nor substance. A les
son has been offered them. The Ques-
ton is whether they will profit by it.