The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-12-04
THE RACE PROBLEM.
TWO PROMINENT SOUTHERNERS
DISCUSS CAUSES AND CURES.


DISCUSS CAUSES AND CURES.
Booker II. Washington, the Best
known Negro of the South, the
President of the TuskeRee Insti-
tute of Alabama, Writes From the
Ex-GOv. w. A. McCOrxlc of West
Virginia Tells why the whites Are
AggrIeved, How Race Riots Are
Caused. and Suggest Remedies
Both Take for Their Text the Re
cent Outrages I'm Wilmington,
NC.
New York, Dec. 2.-According to ex-Gov.
McCorkle of West Virginia and many
ether prominent Southerners, both white
and black, negro suffrage is now the most
serious problem before the American peo-
pie. In the article which follows, he
speaks with fiery earnestness of the race
troubles In the Carolinas. He says THAI
il is folly to believe that the Southern
negroes vote as they desire, or that they
ever win be allowed to control elections,
no matter how great their numerical ma
jority.
In answering him, Booker T. Washing
ton, the best known negro in the South,
president of the TusBegee Institute of All
ALBANIA makes the surprising statement
that he believes it was a mistake to give
the ballot to the negro originally and sug-
gests that the right of suffrage be subject
to educational and property tests.
These two men represent the most ad-
vanced thought in the South on the race
problem. w. A. McCorkle is an ex-Gov-
ernor of West Virginia, a lawyer by pro-
fession, and he probably will be United
States senator in the near future. His
knowledge of the race problem is the re-
suit of generations of experience His an
cestors were the first people to settle in
the valley of the Nirginias, and the family
has been there during the last 100 years.
His statement was taken verbatim by
shorthand in Mr.. McCorkles apartment
az the Waldorf Astoria, and has been
carefully revised by him. 1t follows:
What ex-(sOv. McCorlxIe Says.
Let US look at the melting cause of the
| recent trouble. Wilmington is a very beau
tiful town, Inhabited by some of the best
and most cultured white people on this
continent but ignorant brutal negroes
control all of the public offices. About
fifty justices positions within the Will
mington district are held practically by
negroes and a few white people. AT least
! forty of these negroes can neither read
nor write. Ruin, political, financial and
moral, stares the land and property own
ing people of the city in the face. Under
| the circumstances the good people of the
| city, without regard to politics, determined
| that no longer would they be under the
| control of the most brutal rule that has
| ever cursed the country, outside af Hayt
and San Domingo, and they have Joined
| together in a common bond of public in
| terest speak plainly. 1t is not a ques-
ton of politics. Democrats were not the
only ones in the trouble but a Repu0li.
can paying $500 week exclusively tc
| negro labOrers, and one of the most i'm
portant men of the city, has been the head
| and front of the league for defense Of
| the public safety
| These men, without regard to politics
| determined that this negro rule shoulC
then and there cease. They notified the
negroes plainly that they should not con
| tinue this state of affairs. Bad blood wa.
! engendered, as it naturally would be; ant
wnen they attempted. by a strong hand
IL is true, to do away with this anarchy
| a personal conflict was brought about III,
first shot being fired by the negroes anC
things were done which were never con
templated. II was regretted and depioreC
| by every honest Southern man that blooC
was shed. 1 speak as a friend of the ne
| groes. AS a lawyer, l have defended a,
many negroes as any man in the South
without thought of reward. When l wal
Governor of my state every legal voter
white or black, when he approached tn,
ballot box, was allowed to vote. l speal
with a full sympathy for the colored race
but, nevertheless, l speak with a mos
earnest determination, expressing tn,
opinion of the intelligent Southern man
when l say that the white race will no
be controlled and ruled by the negroes il
the South.
A Question of Life and Death I,
sOutherners.
in the splendid state of South Carolin,
there are 100000 more negroes than whit
people. In many portions of the Soutl
this proportion continues. l repeat mos
| solemnly that the question in the Soutl
Is not a question of who shall be the DO
| litical rulers. or whether negroes shall
have the right to vote, but Il Is n question
of life and death 20 the Southern people
This Is above all statutory enactments
There are 100000 Of negroes in the South
an inferior race; a standing menace I,
| peace. law and order. We have spen
millions OF dollars TO raise them IN en-
nghtonment. and yet to-day we are con
fronted In many portions OF the South b.