The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1899-10-31
Ghe Wessenger.
THE NORTH LEARNING MORE OF
THE NEGRO QUESTION.

space to refer to it at length the Mes
senger mentioned hat in the north as
well as in the south there was a Negro
Problem In it's issue of the goth inst,
the New York Evening Post, a paper
tina leans with much favor to the ne
groes in the south and is as Watchful
over them as the New York Tribune or
any other republican organ, had a long
editorial on 1.-The Negro Problem in he
North" It was suggested by a study
of the Problem" by a Professor Du
Boise. of Atlanta University, whom we
take to be a northern teacher of that
negro school. The University of Penn
~svlvania backed the professor and pub
fishes the results of the investigation.
We have not seen it. The Evening Post
turns to tha legal aspect of suffrage.
Referring to legislation in Pennsylvania
it says:
The constitution of 1890 mentioned
no restriction Of color; but in 1897 the
supreme court held that a negro, al
though free, could not be a freeman
in the constitutional sense. This on
struction was confirmed by the action
of the constitutional convention Of 1888,
which, by a vote of II to As, limited
the suffrage to white freemen. 1t was
not until 1874 that the restriction was
finally done away with.
Turning from legal restriction to so
cia repression, we find that race hatred
has prevailed down to a very recent
period"
The negroes Jared well at first but
"'in the course of human events" the
race prejudice became very strong in
William PENIS state. The Evening
Post says:
Between 1880 and 1910 a series of
riots took place, in which the negroes
were the chief sufferers. They were
beaten, their houses and their churches
were attacked, and their orphan asylum
was burned They were kept out of the
street-cars until 1867, they were exclud-
ed from the theatres, and they were OBJ
liged to provide their own schools for
their children. They were accused of
all sorts of offences on the slightest
grounds, and were hen charged with
furnishing an excessive percentage Of
criminals"
How is it in 1899, in Philadelphia, and
in Pennsylvania generally? Are the
whites felIowshipping with their broth
er ''in black" in the various churches?
Are the negroes enjoying the greatly
craved social advantages which is
there dream by night and their hope by
day? Are the negroes employed enc
ally in al the trades, and do they clerk
in stores with white men and white
girls and do they work in the shops and
the many manufacturing establish
ments side by side with the whites?
Professor Du Boise answers in part.
He is reported in the Evening Post as
saying that 1.-The only employment real
1y open to negroes in Philadelphia is
domestic service. They are not wanted
as clerks, or as teachers, or as shop
keepers, or as citizens. They are ex-
Guided from the trade unions and from
public offices. They are to a great ex-
tent confined to a Ghetto" No doubt
they have made large gains in personal
liberty; they are no longer actively
prosecuted. But no future opens before
those who aspire to a better social po-
sition."
He says good colored servants are
appreciated in Philadelphia" and are
paid in most cases what the whites re-
ceive. They stick to their places. The
professor is in a doubling mood when
he strikes social equality" up there
soon. Whenever the intermarrying be-
tween the rich whites and the negroes
takes place, and the Inequalities are
-
should make q note of it" after the
manner of Captain Cutie and let the
country at large know of it. The Even
ing Post becomes soberly philosophical
over the views of the Professor and
then INDUCES a rather solemn and un-
favorable meditation:
while there is little hope at present
that the colored people will become So
cially and industrially the equals OF
the whites, and while this may be dem
Onstrably unjust,y yet they are not worse
off than man. of the more favored
races. The struggle to rise in socia'
rank involves so much unhappiness
and so many failures that it is not al.
together undesirable to be exempted
from it; and there is no reason why
colored people should not have doc.
tors and lawyers Of their own blood il
they want them. However this may
be, the lesson taught by this investiga.
ton is n of patience and sympathy
towards the South. whose difficulties
AVE been far greater than those O
the North
We very much doubt if there is on,
white man in all the North who ha.
any proper understanding of negro
character, has a correct view of tn,
precise situation and is competent t.
form and express a sane opinion OF
the negro question. We grant tina
much has been learned by the North
but the ignorance is something dens,
yet. 1t may learn more as the years
pass away. They should be patient ur
there, for it was their own great blum.
der over thirty years ago that has
caused nine-tenths of the trouble il
the South. When the North learns t.
distinguish between lawless and law
abiding whites in the South, and dis
covers hat there are two element.
among the negroes that gonize-