The Washington bee., 1898-10-22
THE COLORED MANS
FRIEND.

tlons. The article has caused a
great deal of attention at the south
on account of it's directness and
integrity of statement. 1t gives
black eye to some of our local
journals which are constantly try
ing to make sensible people believe
that the southern white man is the
colored mans best friend. The
article intimates, with no doubtful
ring, that only from purely indus
trial standpoint are the whites truly
not our enemies, while from
social, religious and purely educa-
tional point of view, they are
against US. The following is an
extract bearing on the point:
'In the South, industrially, the ne
gro is shown greater consideration
than in any other part of the land, and
while religiously he is here accorded
as much kindness as he is willing to
take at the hands of his white brethren
the fact remains that some of our pre-
judices are not altogether consistent
with our own thoughts and dealings.
An example may illustrate: Negro
leaders are often called upon to ad-
dress the conventions of their south
ern white brethren. Why should any
fancy himself offended if, in general
gathering of Baptists, negro should
have his name on the programme as
speaker? Is it the negro, or his print
ed name, to which objection is raised,
or is it the honor of his having been
asked beforehand to speak,
'Let us be consistent even in our
prejudices. We make. great financial
sacrifices and call upon our mission
| aries to make greater social sacrifices
to take the gospel to far-off Africans;
we need not be quite so alarmed if
sometimes we are called upon to
make sacrifices of our social feeling
for the religious good of the Africans
near our doors. For our part, we
should always feel glad to welcome to
our gatherings earnest, devout colored
people, who may sometimes seek
among their white brethren a better
religious outlook or additional spirit
ual instruction, which may not be
AVAILABLE in similar colored meetings.
| cannot see that "social equality" has
anything to do with this. That matter
is found to regulate itself.
Here is clean-cut manly state
ment, in which conditions unfavor
able to the colored people as well as
antagonistic to christian principles,
are admitted to exist at the
South and an appeal is made for
fair play. There is no show of
sophlstry. none of that fuesse so
often displayed by the southern
cavalier in order to convince decent
people that only themselves are the
true friends and only benefactors
of the colored race. 1t argues
against prescription and insists
upon allowing the colored people
only the privilege of becoming
farmers. but also of inspiring them
to move upon all of those lines
which are calculated to strength
en- and beautify the negro's
character. 1t regards the expen-
diture of money to civllize the
African to be merely sentimental,
so long as the principles of chris
tianity are not made appreciahle to
the negro at home. In fact it
admits that the devilish propensi-
ty, which is universally exhibited
by the average southern editors in
desire and attempt to misrepresent
actual, moral and material condi-
tions at the South, is unchristian
and unmanly and ought Co be re-
buked and corrected. Dr.. Pollard
has talked like a christian gentle
man, as well as patriotic citizen
and it is hoped that southern
editors will cease protesting their
friendship for the negro until they
can prove it by something more
than mere editorial blarney and
standardization. Everybody
knows that the colored people are
not being treated fairly at the
South and there is no use trying to
whitewash the fact.