Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1898-11-24
THE RACE pRosLEMAT THE SOUTH.


the Carolinas as he thinks the. moral
or partisan eYigencies OF the admini5-
tration require; but he cannot hold
himself wholly guiltless from RESPONSE
bility for their existence. III he
wished TO experiment with the negro
as an otlcelholder, why did he not
undertake few test cases at the
North, where the black population is
not so dense and, therefore, where the
race friction Is less ncuteY To set
black men over white mon in the more
negro-ridden districts Of the South is
to light torch In u powder mill. Yet,
in Northern communities from which
disproportionate numbers have expelled
the menace, and almost the conscious
nnss of racial antagonism, this would
not be considered, from the political
point of view, prudent thing to do
Imagine u negro postmaster at Bos.-
ton, or u negro collector of the port OF
New York Even negro United
States marshal at Pittsburg or Cincin-
natl might find Jordan an Indifferent
road to travel; though Pennsylvania
and Chic pretend TO believe that
Southern villages and towns are ex-
ceeding squeamish when they object to
little thing like that. Truly, what
world Of difference 1T makes whose
OK is gored.
The time HIS corne when thoughtful
people. both Moth and South, should
begin to consider this negro problem
in different spirit from any which has
ever presided over such deliberations
rs they have bestowed upon it, and, as
tho President is invested with the first
responsibility, and is, perhaps, most
in need of Adjustment, he, above all
othsr men would do well to put on
his thinking cap, with the purpose, If
possible, OF reachiug at least partial
glimpse Of tho truth.
IN other days two perpendicular
opinions stood NJ and beat one another
)ou, til ears and alternately knocked
one another down. They were senti-
mental friends OF the negro, living
wide apart, and warned by that
charity whi,hhioes MT begin at home,
AMI his white abingators, who set up
simple iaaStnlsh:p. deriving its as.
suml tiors partly Inn habit and
parity from nature; bat not animated
J ny aay uri.;ina! hos ility. Finding
slave ii.D4r unp,u.!ti is the North very
wisely got rid nj us slaves. The
Southern & j d china G, along with
.uS c'ut.. ifII, Il ldlls,. co South into
he be,iaf LII avery was prontablc,
| nj d very rno Ianiy, tho south held OH
~ It's STA ~, Il.i sue got ilto pcli-
| uirs. Ahenre IL 20. Ito war. Slavery
ranishal. There wern those who be-
| eyed that m ijlh Iren nun, a either
and n yu.er, r..e black man could and
wonld tlg care Of himself. But here
| politics once II, ne iutcrrosed its mis-
lending soynislis id interests. What
with repression from without and re-
sistaEce from within, with shotguns in
| Mississippi and with tissue ballots In
South Ciroi Ia, CHAOS seemed come
again. At laHgth the PRESSURE from
outside Withdrawn, peace reignet
within; tho paaco Of stagnation; the
peace Of death; the peace Of the lion
who has swallowed the lamb and lain
down to pleasant dreams And then
what did we see? Why the generation
of white men at the South whom in
self-defence the policy OF reconstruction
had forced to resort to these extra
ordinary appliances to preserve the
public credit and order, assisted by Z
semi barbaric horde Of blacks lcd or
by few unprincipled whites, came
out of the life-and-death struggle hal
educated and something worse thar
half corrupted; so that, from being
school Of conservatism and reform--,a
once the source and resource of the bes
elements of the Northz-the South, Gu
loose from it's moral moorings. ant
wretchedly poor withsl, became tn,
hot-bed for every economic fallac,
which discomfort can terminate ant
ignorance foster.
This Is the condition today. Ii
throwing the weight of the nationa
administration upon the side of tn
horde of semi barbaric blacks, still 10,
by few unprincipled whites--witl
here and there an exception thu
scarcely counts--the President is no
helping either the negroes or the Re
publican party. He is simply playin
into the hands OF the long armed an
big-voiced demagogue, Of whom Till
man is the typo. On the issue thu
precipitnted leadership is made double
easy to him. 1t is all he wants an
needs to establish his case before tn
average rural audience.
4 Back OF all this stands the race ques
tion, q real and not an imaginary dan
ger, and this will down at no man
, Ebidding.
The simple remedy for the ordnar
corruption OF elections at the Eout
lay, and, in measure still lies, in tn
political division of the whites. Rt
lieved from tho menace of negro dom
nation through aid of the national 60,
eminent, operating as a hostile force
it was inevitable that the whites of tn
! South should break up on other ISSUE
than the race issue. The negroes. ri
J of external encouragement, woul
breah up with them. Then each Sc
of whites could and would take care {
its own sot of blacks. and q free ballC
and fair count would follow. Thei
was never time when the question {
free ballot and a fair count was otht
than a race question. The whites
. the South, no more than the whites
tho North, were built to think alike
But here life and property were I'll
sole subjects of consideration and, {
. black domination meant irresponsib
government, the whites, compelled 1
! act together, were substantially unitet
? Ii, by miracle, the white population
of South Carolina and Mississippi
could have been replaced by an equ;
number of white men from Massach,
sets and Ohio, the conditions, With
? year, would have been the same, {
: worse. 1t was never party question
never sectional question, but Away
and wholly and purely,a race question
As matters stand, there is but one wa
to deal with it, and that is for Ii
: general government to leave it severeI
alone, the President respecting ii
(. prejudices of the Southern whites an
a trusting that in the long run the bett,
r sense and judgment of each communii
n concerned win prevail in the adjus
I ment of the local conditions.
:. L nha C,1,t,e le.I.a.aal 49,. !