The Portland daily press., 1899-05-23
TWO VIEWS OF THE CASE
Interesting Discussion
of Negro Problem.
Ex-Governor NOrthen Speaks for the
South.
Says His People are Mis-.
represented.
Bishop Arnett Defends the Col.
Ored Race.

Boston, May 22.-The Congrega tional
club held May festival in fremont tenn
pie this evening, and listened to two elo-
quent speeches on the negro question by
former Governor ..Northen of Georgia,
and Bishop Arnett of Ohio. Rev. DIR.
| A. II. Plumb presided and introduced
Governor Northen, who spoke in part as
follows:
Ex-Governor Northen spoke on 1.-THE
White Mans View of the Relations of
the Negro at the South.
He discussed at exhaustive length the
Incidents leading up to slavery, pointing
out the fact that the system originated
/ in the North, the condition of the negro
in the South before. during and after the
war, his relation to politics, business,
showing clearly the events and condi
tions which have led up to the present
status in the South. He stated that the
citizen of the South was not an enemy
| of the negro and cited proof that the
Southern white man Is doing all be can
| to elevate and educate the negro and ask
| ing the question why negroes are so fire.
quently lynched in the South said that
| violence for crime is administered with
| out distinction as to race when the crime
| is the same. 1t is not the color of the
| skin that brings the punishment but the
| nature of the crime committed. He held
| that the newspapers Of the North are re-
sponsible largely for the turbulence in
| the South. in that the course of the North
ern press with respect to the outrages is
'inosndiary, unfair and cruel in the ex-
| treme'' and that the colored men of the
North have assumed the dictatorship
| over the white people of the South.
IL Ia.
nor Northern said, "No people ever met
more hravely SO serious a condition as
confronts the South or sought more right
eously an equitable adjustment of q di H.
feult problem than the people at the South
have undertaken in the negro problem.
He then referred to the denunoiations
| of the south which have appeared In the
| Northern prt % ami the incendiary state
Iuents made from tine lecture platform
and ssked:
"Will tho day ever come when the
South can be heard without prejudice
and her people accorded \ fair audience
before the worldf''
for the negroes of the South taken as a
mass, he would not exchange them for
any he had ever seen in any other parts OF
the United States without tremendous
money to boot in the exchange.
Continuing be said:
1.-The status of the negro in American
civilization is a problem Of @ vast deal
more Importance than many are inclined
to believe. The problem Is national and
not sectional. The sin of slavery, what
ever that may have been. was the sin OF
the nation and not the sin of the South.
He then quoted history to show that the
Northern states and especially Aiassaohu-
setts were among the first to hold slaves
and to build and equip vessels for the
trade with Africa and added:
"These statements would seem to indi
cate that the South was not in at the
beginning. however muoh she may have
borne the curse of her sin, later on, as
well as the sins Of those who preceded her
in the iniquity."
The speaker next devoted some time to
the story of Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe.
which ne said, has been accepted as the
truth throughout the civilized world and
because of it, the South has been vilitied,
maligned and abused to the absolute
forgetfulness Of equal and greater sins
found in the homes of the very people
who have been SO piousiy holy in their
pharasaic assumption of personal putty"
He quoted several authorities TO show
that ths story contained many fallacies
and said:
"If never a word had been written in
defense of slavery at the South, the con-
duct of the negroes during the entire four
years of our civil war is enough to belle
all that has ever been spoken or written
about the villainy of the slave master and
the iniquities practiced upon the slaves
at the South
Ex-Governor Northern5 then reviewed
the condition of the negro during The war
and continued:
AFTER the war the negroes were
promptly made citizens. They were en-
franchised and not only made equal with
their former masters but they were taught
that liberty meant license and that the
domination of the white man was the
one thing for them to strive for and at
tain. Since lat the negro at the South
has been determined to oppose every
thing. politically, that he believes the
white man wants. He Is q publican,
an independent OF a what not, just SO he
may oppose and fight against anything
he believes the white man wants.
Then the speaker took up the question
of the relation of the negro to business
saying:
negroes in my state today out OF employ
ment who could not get work II they
wanted it. Negroes have access TO all
trades and all the professions as BARRIERS,
| mechanics, artisans. masons, lawyers,
dentists, etc. They are not prevented by
labor unions from work. Such distinc'
tion would not be approved by our people.
Starting in 1865 without home aud
without penny the negroes in Georgia
pay tax on one-sixth as much as the
whole state was worth at the end o' the
war and for the entire south they pay
one-half as much as the entire state OF
Georgia paid the year before the war
began
Concerning the negro's relation to edu-
cation he said, since 1876 the South had
expended between s75, ,C0o. 900 and $50, ,O00.'
600 for the education of the colored chill
dram THAT in thirty 40 CRnt OF
the illitsraoy of the colored race had dis
appeared and that of the 1862 institutions
in the United States for the secondary and
higher education of the colored race only