The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1899-10-06
WILMINGTON. n. c.
ID OCT. 6, 1899.
GOV. BULLOCK AND THE RACE
QUESTION.

Rufus F.. Bullock, carpet-bagger ex-
Governor Of Georgia, still lives there,
but writes a letter to the Augusta
Chronicle on the Negro" He is an OLD
wool died republican, and used to De
well hated in Georgia. He has behaved
himself fairly we'll for some two de-
cades. He calls attention to the KIND
treatment to the negro and the appre-
citation of the better kind in Georgia.He
points to an interesting fact to snow
ssapDreciation of colored men Who by
their character and life at the place OF
their homes command the respect or
all of their white fellow citizens, ire
snactive of political or party afflia-
lions. Four years ago, at the opening
exercises of the Cotton States EXPOSE
ton at Atlanta, Prof. Washington was
unanimously invited by a board or 5z
directors, all of whom but myself ana
one other were democrats, to be one OF
h leading speakers. He appeared on
that platform with the governor OF the
state. the mayor of the city. the dlrec-
tor general and president of the expo
yFClOn, Ine CndlI Id u uHN
board, and many Of the most dlstin-
ar1ished ladies Of the state" Booker
Washington is indeed a conspicuous
thinker among his people and the
chiefest ornament today of the negro
race in America, not even excepting
the negro poet Dunbar, who is so pet
ted in the north by a certain KIND Oh
- 10. n; fto q nd deserves
the respect of all men who respect tai
ents. Bullock points with evident de-
light to the fact that two of the most
important federal Offices in our state
the collector of customs at SaVannan
and the collector of internal revenue at
AfIanta-are filled by colored men. The
good character and ability of both was
endorsed for by the best white citizens
in their respective homes, and the uni
xersal testimony now is that those OF
fees have never been better conduct
ed" While all that may be true, we
have an impression that these worthy
respectable "colored men," were not
the choice of the business men OF either
of the Georgian cities. They were no
more the preference than John {.
Dancy is the choice of the business men
of Wilmington for the important place
he holds, collector of customs. we sup
us,se he is discharging his duties faith
fully, but there is no Disgusting that
blood is thicker than water, ana tnaI
LAuglo-Saxons prefer white men FOR OIL
fScials. The genuine white man does
not like to be bossed by negroes. 1t
sets against the stomach Bullock
was put in office as Russell was by
negro votes, we take it. He is salts
fed to have negroes placed over him.
Non tall auxiliO.
Gov. Bullock calls attention to the
great progress of the negro race IN
Georgia, and it is both commendable
and encouraging. The south generally
presents much in negro thrift to bring
hope to that race when it becomes In
dustrious, sober and economical. Of
course there are thousands of the race
who now answer to those descriptive
terms. Mr.. Bullock says that the TACT
That colored citizens of Georgia, who
were nearly all slaves 80 d years ago,
dIc " 10 ms o<N~S
lion valuation of property is very high
evidence of the kline and friendly spirit
o. their white neighbors, and of their
own increasing usefulness as citizens.
Their advance from absolute illiteracy
to a fair standing, by comparison, in
the common school studies, is addition
al evidence that their surroundings are
not hostile or prejudicial in the state at
large. Sporadic cases of lynch law are
not confined to our section of the coun-
try" In North Carolina at present, the
whites pay about 95 per cent. of the
taxes. They are liberal and generous
in appropriating a fair share of the
school tax to the education of the race
that pays but 5 per cent. of the taxes.
While many doubt if education has
really added to the happiness, useful
ness and prosperity of the negroes at
large, the wisest, most thoughtful man
see a positive duty and a crying neces-
sity in striving to educate morally and
intellectually the negroes if they are to
remain in the south living in white
communities. The suppression of crime
among the negroes is of the first i'm
p~ortance. SO long as the negroes fill
the penitentiaries, the jails, the magis-
trates courts, and roam and ravage
and despoil, killing and robbing on the
highways; thieving promiscuously ca
silly repeated; committing cruel, aw-
full assaults upon the white women and
children; making by their crimes life
in the country unsafe, dangerous to a
great degree, and making the home,
"the CASTLE" not a place Of refuge, but
a place Of imminent peril, there can be
no abatement of lawless mobs, and no
cessation of swift, condign punishment
without judge or jury. The majesty