The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-09-18

well as where they can buy cheapest
and sell dearest.
Il talked with many of these West
Indians and they invariably gave as a
reason for not attending school in the
United States the race prejudice which
they would have to encounter i'm all the
relations of life. Many of them said
they would prefer to attend school in
the United States, all things being
equal.
Il regard this as an unfortunate on
dition of affairs, not only because of
direct loss of revenue to our schools,
but the damage to our mmerc which
Indirectly results from il and to our
good name and reputation as a great
democratic republic. There should at
least. be no monarchial government on
earth. where a stranger, whatever his
color or nationality, could have a more
cordial welcome and a fairer opportun-
ity than i'm the United States. 1t will be
to our advantage in every way to ere
ate a sentiment Of mutual confidence
and respect between ourselves n the
black and colured people of the West
Indies and of Central and South Amer
lea, and this cannot be lone as long Is
color is made the supreme test of man
hood anon us.
Il met some Southern white men in
the medical schools Of London, n my
presence wherever they were met with
made them Very unhappy, and all the
more so because of the attention which
the Englishmen bestowed upon me. 1
was sorry for those people. They make
themselves unnecessarily unhappy, and
they too often make others unhappy be
cause of the provincial prejudice which
they are unable or i]ndisposed to con-
Ceal. Englishmen. in Great Britain at
least, do not seem to understand Amer
lean color prejudice and | hope they
may never be taught To understand ii,
for 1t is a very disaCreeabIe thing to
him who possesses it and to him who is
the object and victim of it,"
We not only in Great Britain suffer
from the sentiment created against us
among West Indian negroes, because
of our prejudice against race, but also
in Central and South American repub-
lies. as the feeling is shared also by the
mixed races of those countries, who ed
ucate their children in Europe rather
than in the United States and nave
trade relations with us only when they
cannot help themselves. The people of
Hayti and Santo Domingo educate their
children. for the most part, in France,
and those of them who have money
bank it i'm Paris instead of New York.
1t is we'll known that the Haytians at
least thoroughly distrust is as a ma
ton and shun us as a people, simply
because of the color prejudice which
exists in this country and hat they
never discriminate in u favor in any
matter of trade. The "a m thing is true
i'm a modified sense of the Dominicans.
This whole matter has been brought
home TO the people of the United
States by the splendid results of the
Spanish war. h population of Cuba,
Porto Rico, Hawaii and the Ladrone
and Philippine islands is a decidedly
mixed one. The African element in all
of it is very pronounced. 1t has not
heretofore had any color prejudice to
contend with. as the Latin races do not
now and never have cared a rap about
the matter of color. Are we to force il
upon these people and thus lay the
foundation Of future trouble for our
selves? It is to be hoped no. Let US
have gathered wisdom from our expert
ence with the Afro-Amerfcan race and
the West indian negroes, and by apply
ing that wisdom in the spirit of Chris
tian charity we shall prepare a heritage
for our posterity such as was never be-
fore transmitted from sire to son in the
history of the race.
T. THOMAS FORTUNE.