The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1899-05-31

| reckon there are enough philOSO-
pliers to solve the race problem and
save the country without further as
sistancc from me, and 81 ] will swear
off for the present don t care much
whether the negro goes to Africa or
Arizona or stays here. If he stays
here he las got to stop his dcvilmcnt
or take the consequences, and I'm
willing to trust the people on that
line. But Of all the absurd remedies
that have been proposed none atc
more so than a change Of venue and a
trial in five days in some distant
county. County lines do not bound
the fierce Indignation Of a people hor
ri6cd and cnragcd over such ficndish
work a that of Sam Holt and Will
Lucas. And besides, just think Of
the machinery that has to be set in
motion to summons and convey thirty
or forty witnesses to distant county,
and even then perhaps no trial or a
mock trial that disrcgards the forms
OF law and the rights Of the criminal.
No. that is no remedy.
But I've sworn off. Let the wise
men settle it, though | confess was
surprised when | read that Governor
Candlcr had Just discovered that cdu-
cation was the only remedy that would
- n ho r. = D.
crimes. According to statistics or
New York and Massachusetts, taken
from their State prisons and published
TO the world, education fosters and in
crcascs crimc-not little, but i'm
mcnscly. The governor theory has
been long since exploded. And right
here in Georgia the uncducated negro
before the war and for few years
after was moral and law abiding and
now there arc 1 900 in the State and
county chaingangs, Is per cent Of
whom can read and write.
But forbear. had rather runi-
nate about pleasantcr things, though
] must protest against this utterly un-
tcnablc basis Of all the negroes being
good negroes excepting per cent.
Mr.. 1nman started it, and see that
Bishop Gaines takes comfort from it
it in his beautiful and impressive SER
mon Of last Sunday. 1t is dclusion
and snare. Nearly 5 per cent of
their voting population are now in the
chaingangs, and it is safe to say that
if every one who steals was arrested
and punished it would add 10 per
cent more TO the black army of con-
victs. Petty larcenics are common in
every household where they are. en-
ploycd, but they are not brought to
court. These little pilferings are
crimes, but the crimes are condoned-
oyerlockcd--for they have some good
qualities, and their service is needed.
1t is race trait, and develops with
education, especially among the young
or negroes. The records of the courts
prove that the percentage of small lar
ccny and burglary grows faster than
their population increases City ne
groes and town negroes arc more ad-
dicted to it than country negroes, for
they have more education and more
opportunities. This fear of the law
as it is now does not deter them. The
fear Of the lash would. But we can
worry along with their little pilferings
on the principle that a cook we once
had declared to me when 1 rcproved
her for stealing: 'You don miss what
takes - 1t is the greater crimes
that now give our people deep concern
and these will be quickly and terribly
avenged. Our people, especially the
country people, are in desperate ear
nest, and neither law nor lawyers
nor the horns Of the altar will protect
brute in human form, whether he be
white or colored.
But what makes my thoughts and
my pen glide along on this subject?
My wife is calling me nov to come
there and bring the stepladder. She
wants the vines on the trellis tied up,
and l am the boy. That ladder is old
and rickety and am subject to vcrti-
20 sometimes. I'm afraid Of that lad
der, but never in my life did admit
to her that was afraid of anything,
and so l will mount that ladder with
all the alacrity / can. The time was
when | had black boys and white ones,
too, to wait on me, but now I have to
tote my own skillet and nurse the
grandchildren, too. There arc two
little ones here half the time and they
love me dearly and l have to stop
writing whenever they say so. They
want me- in the garden tn oct f1owars