The times., 1899-09-23
SATURDAY. SEPTEMBER %. 1899.
General Buffers plan.


The proposition, advanced by Gen. NJ c.
Butler. of South Carolina, to settle the race
question in this country through general
emigration OF the negroes, is attracting
great deal OF attention here and elsewhere.
We are in receipt of many letters on the
subject which we do not publish because
none of them seems TO suggest either
feasible way TO carry the generals idea into
effect, OF. on the other hand, an alternative
solution.
The only thing they do make clear is that
there has been very iirtle just CT accurate
thinking on the subject, at least in this
locality. and that the subject AT large has
yet to be handled by the right people in
the right way For instance, one gentle
man Of prominence in his own State, writes
US that. in his opinion. it is wrong to give
newspaper currency to the question az all:
that. If left alone. 1t will settle itself; and
that there is no real race problem in the
South We are quite used TO hearing that
argument, but it does not any longer ap-
peal TO the Judgment OF men who want to
see equity between the white and black ele-
Een.s CT Cur population. and who hope
for 4 solution OF the problem created By
their peculiar relations in the United
States
One thing may be stated as an axiom:
The two races cannot always exist
side By side il peace. the one as a 81
perlor and the other Is pasiah cate. Per
sens Eko think such an arrangement pos
sihIe as a permanent social system, i7so
facto. coafezs themselves ignorant Of hu-
man history. and OF the inevitable opera
ton Of natural law. We may shut our
eyes to the fact as much as We please. but
it j. not the less a fact that, ultimately,
TIE lower viii BE- iRtermingled with the
cn present terms for q series OF generations
easily within the power Of estimation. IN
less the American of FIVE hundred years
hence is TO be marked with a visible Afri-
can admixture. the races must be separated,
or the proportion of negroes to Caucasians
must be soon reduced.
II would surprise most people and shock
a great many to learn how steadily and
and insidiously this race intermixture is
going on today Not long ago we dis
cussed this phase Of the question with a
prominent ethnologfst who had been max
ing a tour OF the Western and North
western States TO ascertain the progress
Of the movement as presented in those
localities He gave it as his experience
that there were hundreds of persons in
the regions mentioned who were visibly
known TO be so in the places OF their resi-
dence. and. In a great many cases. were
themselves unconscious of the fact He
told Of one instance where he met a per-
son Of distinguished family Who while as
blond as to hair and white as to skin
as a man could be, otherwise had all the
distinguishing features of the negro.
Afterward, be learned that the family OF
this a1ayist, which emigrsted 10 the United
States from Jamaica in the eighteenth
century. were known TO have negro blood
The son OF one OF cur great national char
+acte-s married the descendant, in the
fifth generation. Of Maryland slave, and
neither he nor she has the remotest sus-
picion OF such a genesis In Canada,
where the racial line is not drawn as il is
in this country. the absorption Of the
African into the Anglo-Saxon or Celtic
stock goes on steadily. When the prog
eny ceases 10 be cognizable as hybrid.
which occurs in the octoroon state in sec
lions where people are not closely familiar
with race phenomena, numbers Of persons
with slightly tinctured blood move over
the border and are accepted as altogether
Caucasian in the farming communities OF
the Northwest
We are treating OF facts. and are not
considering the negro question with any
reference 70 prejudice or sentiment That
It is q question OF great import, aside from
its immediate industrial and social aspects,
does not admit OF the least doubt II Is
one which demands the earnest and
thoughtful study OF every man capable Of
attacking great social problems. II is one
that should absorb the attention of our
best economists and statesmen. II is ever
with us. Unsoived. we know what the
consequences must be.