The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-04-17
| LOCALLY. A Mlssls.lppi rarimenf mnslnred

locally. A Mississippi regiment va mustered
out at Columbia. Tenn. forty miles away. and
some OF them came to Nashville to blow in
their pay. which they did after the approved
manner OF disbanded volunteers. and OF course
they ran counter to tho police. This was not
noised beyond tho confines OF the station house
and the City Court. IL didn't chance to be n race
conflict. and all the parties we're Southerncrs.
Americans have problems enough Of reallgrav-
iy to solve without worrying about this race
problem. that can best solve itself. The South
ern negroes as a class are comfortable. light
hearted and happy. Their labor is in steady
demand. and, their nay would be opulencc to
the working classes in some parts OF the world.
Here In Nashville they have Fiske University.
a splendid institution endowed by Northern
philanthropists There are similar institutions
In other PARTS Of the South. And here and In
all other Southern communities they have pub
lie schools supported by taxes which the whites
pay. There never was a people who were so
much helped as the Southern negroes have been
since their emancipation and they are making
fair Progress. Now and then negroes commit
diabolical crimes. and lynchings follow. lynch
ings are OF course deplorable, but, because
some negro brutes are lynched, it does not fol-
low that the entire negro race is oppressed. 1t
would be idle to deny that the white man is in
some degree domineering. II is his nature.
and no law can prevent It. But the negro Ia
not suffering. Time alone can improve his
condition, and it Is a waste OF sympathy to fret
over his supposed persecution.
The only real threat of danger to the negro
In the South that | Am able to observe comes II
a competition in labor from the North and for
eiRn countries. Negroes formerly monopolized
the BARRIERS trade in the South. and such posi-
lions AZ hotel walters. They are being surely
and steadily driven from these places by whits
men OF the classes mentioned. A disposition
on the part OF trades unions to exclude the
negro also shuts him out from employment
that was formerly free to him. The Northern
farmers. who are coming thick aud fast into
certain portions Of the South. find little use for
negro labor.
All OF these circumstances are tending to
drive the negroes TO such regions as tho Ala
bama Black Belt. the YaZoo Delta and parts OF
Arkansas and louisiana. where their labor Ia
ever In demand on the big cotton and sugar
plantations. think the eleventh census will
show an increase in the negro population in
these regions. where IL already preponderates
There the negro increase will exceed that OF
the whites. while the reverse will be true OF
other parts OF the South. Our new tropical
possessions. too. will draw away large mum
bers OF negro laborers. They will take the
places OF Chinese on sugar plantations in Ha-
vail. and many will be carried to Cuba and
Porto and perhaps to the Philippines.
These facts suggest how the negro problem
may be eventually settled. In the meantime
the negro is doing altogether as well as could
be expected. and there is no need of Worrying
about his case. RICHARD H. YANcEY.
NASHVILLE, April 10.