The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-06-18
A forgotten amous Man.


other played an important part Ia tie
nauon's history This Is, of course. true
OF all cities but, perhaps. exceptionally
true Of Washington, because CT the at
traction OF a capital for persons who havg
figured prominently In public affairs One
OF the interesting men OF this class Is
Hinton Rowan Helper. When twenty
seven years of age he wrote book. with
out a reference to which II Is impossible
TO tell the story Of the fall Of the slavc
power In America II infuriated the
South, and cost John Sherman the speak
ership Of the House OF Representatives.
Mr.. Helper occupied then. and occupies
today, a peculiar place among the abo-
litionist workers. He dissents strongly
from the view OF the negro taken by Gar
rison. Phillips. and AIRS. Stowe. AS a
Southern man and the son OF a slave
holder, his estimate Of the negro is es-
sentially the Southern estimate, and vet
that did not prevent the South from pour
ing upon his head all the vials Of its
wrath in the turbulent days before the
war. A newspaper correspondent called
last Wednesday evening upon Mr. Helper
10 ask how ''the impendi. crisis CT hte
South" looked after the lapse OF forty
years. That is to say. what does Mr..
Helper think today Of the crisis which
he so vigorously depicted in 1851?
The literature Of the civil war period is
filled with illusions 10 Mr.. Helpers great
book. Pollard, the emblttered Southern
historian, in his Lost Cause" makes
such a reference as this:
''At the meeting of congress in Decem-
Der, 1859. the black Republicans nominal
ed for the spueakership Mr.. Sherman of
Ohio. who had made himself especially
odious to the South by publicly recon-
mending in connection with siXty-eight
other Republican congressman a fanat-
ical document popularity known as Hell
per's book" This publication, thus In
dorsed by black Republicans and circulat-
ed by them in the Northern elections.
openly defended and sought 10 excite ser
vile Instructions in the South, and Il
was with reason that the entire South
ern delegation gave warning that they
would regard the election Of Mr.. Sher-
man or of any man with his record as
an open declaration OF war upon the in
situations of the South"
It is true that Mr.. Sherman signed the
paper recommending The Impending
Crisis" but his own Memoirs. recently
published. tell what desperate efforts he
made to squirm out of responsibility for
It, He arose In congress. for example.
to say that he did not recollect signing
the paper referred to, but. as his name
was on the printed list he assumed that
he must have signed II.
Eyes, shall be seventy years old in
December. II l live" said Mr.. Helper.
81 was born in North Carolina, about
forty miles from Charlotte. Ny parents
had spent their lives In the immediate
locality in which was raised. Ny father
was stakeholder. and I certainly grew
up with no prejudice against the tnsti-
tuition When / was about twenty-five
years old ! came into possession OF a lit
tie money. and started out to see some
thing of the world. / came TO Wash
ington. and put up at Browns Hotel.
which is now the Metropolitan. II was
the largest house that I had at that time
ever seen. I then went further north,
spending some time in Baltimore and
Philadelphia. and finally shipped for Cal
ifornia by way of Cape Horn. In Cali
fornia I engaged IN mining and real es-
tate, and when still a young man re-
turned to my southern home. From my
travels and observations, as well as from
a perusal Of the writings Of Thomas JEFF
ferson. I became aroused to the great
evil Of human slavery. and convinced of
the incalculable injury which IL was doing
to the Southland. / accordingly prepared
TO have this statement published in the
South. and labored in Baltimore for
months TO bring Il about. But / found
that I should be liable for punishment at
hard labor Of from ten 10 twenty years
II / gave utterance in that state to the
mere facts which The Impending Crisis
contained. So I went to New York. and
had Ii printed there.
THE book never circulated much in the
South. the prejudice was so intense
against It: but enough garbled extracts
got around to make me a much-despised
person. Ny relatives in Mort Carolina
sent me word that il ever returned there
1 would be in great danger. Since the war
I have been South many times, IN
Charleston, Richmond, Atlanta and am
received cordially. This offsets the
theats of making mincemeat Of me which
were served upon me before the war.
One man, for example. came up TO me
the last time l was South. saying that
he wanted TO tell me of his experience
with The Impending Crisis lie mad read
of the book in the newspapers. an sent
North to buy a copy. He started 81 read
Il, but became 50 Disguised that he threw
the book into an open fire and saw Z
burn. The war came on. He served long
and arduously In the Confederate army.
but all the time he had an indistnct no.
ton that perhaps in throwing The I'm
pending Crisis into the flames. he lad
shut out from his understanding a mes
sage which he ought TO have heard. When
he saw hte COnfederacy go down IN sw-
ful wreck and bitter ruin he was still
further impressed with the feeling that
there might have been something in my
argument. a few years later he sent 10
New York and bought another copy Of
this book. This time he read IL though.
Grasping my hand warmly. he said 10
me: You told the truth. We would not
listen 20 II. We know 1t today
But | do not like 10 talk about these
htings." continued Mr.. Helper. Il bcl.eys
the past is Of the past. and have let &
ali drop. For thirty-two years and SIX
months have given all the attention and
energy of my life 10 the intercont!nertai-
railway project. l prefer 10 have my
fame rest upon that great undertaking
winch IS sure 10 come 20 pass before
many years. rather than upon the book
which l wrote so many years ago Then
| am rather out Of sympathy with the
descendants Of the Northern abolition -
on the negro question. just as / was out
of sympathy. 10 the same extent. with
arrison Greeley. Phillips. and Mrs. Stowe
In the years before the war. They well
coined me as a Southern abOlitiorist. but
still could not regard me a. anything but
a hereto IN my view ~ the negro. Nr
arrison said 70 me: You DO not regard
the negro as brother and this was
true / wrote my book not FOR the ben
eft OF the negro. but for the benefit %
the whites Of the South The Northern
abolitioDists set up nc dogma Of the
equality II the negro. This - somcthtng
which people may talk about until the
end IL time but no equality viii exist
on the day The world ends the negro race
VII he inferior 20 the white. This j. the
testimony Of etano.ogtstS- and the pro
found conviction Of every body who has
ever been intimately associated Tith the
negro Left % himself he sinks back into
barbarism- The only solution ~ TIE re
gro problem which I can recommend 20
dsv x ne one I advocated in l[T-depg--
ra-io- to Africa. We do not even want
rim N the West Ind 4 Islands II !
could have seen the hrEt siave-tTader who
ever landed on this continent. and has