The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1900-01-12

Cand therefore leaving out of view the
effect of violence and wrong to any
other race, he warns us that leach
state must settle this question for it
self" n that there can be no aid
from without" One is at a loss which
to admire most, the generous admis-
sion that ii is purely a state affair, or
the gratuitous announcements that al
appeal for help to outsiders will be
vain. What southern state a ever
asked help from outsiders in solving
the race problem? Who produced the
race problem? Is there any race prob
lem in the north? If so, why? These
and a thousand similar questions might
be appropriately asked in this connec-
ton, and while not, perhaps. to be dig
niied by the classic appellation of a
Socratic. might still be fifty termed a
satisfactory method OF ascertaining
truth.
"Lynchings. riots and other crimes
ARE the burden of the cry. The argu-
acent is addressed 10 a southern man,
and the wrongs of the colored race are
specifically alluded to-from which Il
might be inferred, although il is not as
serted, that lynchings, riots and other
crimes are confined TO the south. AMI
are perpetrated only against negroes.
And this distinguished gentleman from
Massachusetts, after many pages OF
4aISNlOAlSF 1AAA ~ q III dStS
the following language: Find out h
the facts are. and prove to the north
that il is only here and there an igno-
ram community in the south. and not
the south a. a whole, hat is inclined
TO promote rapes n other acts Of vio-
lence by the brutal treatment of the
uncOnvicted and possibly innocent ne
groesi" This is the 80 line that rape
has been suggested TO he negroes as a
retaliatOry measure.
Prove to the north your innocence,
says he. Having already declared that
each state settle this question
for itself" and that there can be n
aid from without" why should We
prove to the north our innocence, Z we
are not accountable for our conduct?
The distinguished gentleman is be-
lated in his knowledge if he does not
by this time know the fact that the
southern people not only decline to
prove their good citizenship to the north
but are absolutely Indifferent to what
the north thinks about them or their
cOnduct They are not the SerfS or stew
ards of the north that they should be
arraigned in this insolent Style-to say
nothing of the fact that more crimes
are committed in the north>than in the
south-but it seems impossible to eradi-
cate that notion from the minds of
man. northern people.
But, leaving the general subject and
coming to a specific one, I am very
glad to be able to relieve his mind of
any anxiety, and ito add to his stock of
information, about the city of Whining
tOn, N. c., to which he refers inquir-
ingly in support of his assertion that
marrying the poor negroes" is fatal
to the industrial progress of a commu-
nifty.
How is it in Wilmington. N. C.?" he
asks. Have not the cOlOred families
been leaving the place at a very rapid
rate since the abuses committed there?
h will become of the industries of
Wilmington? Are they suffering or
not?"
Without stopping to say that hthe
abuses" in Wilmington were preperat-
ed by the negroes themselves, aided by
a few villainOus whites, who were driv-
en- out of the city, II affords me great
satisfaction to inform him that since
the revolution of November 10. 1895
othere never was the semblance of a
ric), the industrial progress of the city
has been greater than in any year OF
perhaps any five years, of it's exist
ence. Order and law have taken the
place of disorder and lawlessness-con.
fdence has been substituted for ankle.
~ amongst capitalists and business
men-traffic by railroads and steam
SHIPS Has CTedSeu-Ddnk u6pOSllS are
larger, in spite of disastrous bank
failures a few year ago-new mills ant
other enterprises, n of which cost {
quarter of a million, have been estab
lished-more and better buildings, res
idential and business, have been erect
ed than ever before in any one year
the city debt to the amount of $3.50 o..
has been refunded at lower interest
a more cheerful spirit than for man!
years prevails-and, in a word, stran
gers who have returned to the city
after having known 1T a year and
half ago, express astonishment at tn,
general improvement, and say they cal
| hardly realize hat it is the same place
l have lived in Wilmington forty
three years, and can say with absolute
truth hat the city naS never been il
so prosperous a condition as today, AM
with equal truth that it was never il
so critical a condition, excepting dur
ing the wal of 1S61-65, as it was TO
some time before November 10, 1898.
The distinguished gentleman from
Massachusetts was singularly unfor
tunate, therefore, in selecting this cit
for the purpose of Illustrating his ar
gument, and, doubtless, has been equal
ly so in regard to other places in tn
south.
If these nonresident statesmen an
philosophers could once, to use a Ne,
England phrase, have it borne in upo
them that their knowledge of souther
people n southern affairs is, and ha
always been, partial n superficial tn
result would largely promote the re
pose of their Nv souls, and be of grea
benefit to the whole country.
ALFRED MOORE WADDELL.
Wilmington. n. c., Dec. Z, 1899.
HEAVY GOLD EXPORTS.