Lexington gazette. [volume] (Lexington, Va.) 1871-1962, 1900-05-16
THE RACE PROBLEM.

relation to religion and the lynching
evil.
Bishop Penick, of Baltimore, declared
that from five to eight negroes in the
North, under Northern conditions,
committed crimes to one in the South.
Prof. w. r. Wilcox statistician in
the Cen us Bureau, declared that the
ultimate extermination Of the black
ia was inevitable. "There will be
rapid decrease of the birth rate and a
slow increase CT the death rate un il
the negro race stands as the American
Indian stan Is today" said Professor
Wilcox
Mr.. Alex. 9. King, of atlanta, spoke
on "The Punishment of Crimes Against
Women; Existing Legal Remedies and
Their Sufficiency." Mr.. King said it
was in those~ommunities where the
iominadce Of the white race was the
least secure, aHi the menace of the
black criminal The greatest, that Lynch
a is most likely to prevail. He called
attention to the fact that with the
passage of time since the abolition OF
slavery the crime seems to grow In i'm
rortance. He also noted the apparently
inherent prejudice existing between the
lower class OF white people and the
negro, who, In being educated and by
imitation, was menacing the social
status OF this class of white people. He
said that this prejudice is resented by
the negro, and produces strong racial
animosity. He gave two reasons why
extra-iudieial means are resorted to,
namely: The delay of legal punish
ment and the protection of the victim
of the assault fion the ordeal of the
witness chair. Mr.. King closed with a
plea for the domination of law.
He was followed by Hon. Clifton R.
Breckenridge, Of Arkansas, who dis
cussed the ACCESSIBILITY of lynching.
Hon, Bourke Cochran, of New York,
| boldly advocated the repeal of the
fifteenth amendment to the Federal
Constitution. He argued that it was a
bad limb on the tree; that 1T had been
nullifed by the States and had beer
lynched 80 to speak, by the people o!
| the South. He declared that the rec.
oncii4 ton Of the theoretical status o.
tho negro under the constitution shonlG
be reconciliation with his actual status
| in the public opinion OF the country
| He maintained that this repeal was bes
| for the negro as well as for the white
| man. since both races had to live to
gether, prosper together, or go dowl
together. Every source of irritation
be ween the two should be removed
and the fifteenth amendment was tn
greatest. Mr.. Cochran asserted tina
the path of the negro to political an
social rights lay through the deve'e
ment of TIE unit, the indididual, an
That the on'y means was by industrla
education. He lauded the generosit
of the South for spending in thirty -fv
years after its devastation and cut o
its poverty over one hundred million
of dollars for negro education, an
} pointed out that it was the duty OF tn
Federal government to assist in pre-
pairing its wards for the duties O
citizenship. He said it would be 10
more defensibIe for the country t
spend ten or twenty millions q year j
helping to uplift the black man Of tn
| South, instead Of one hundred million
in putting down the brown men OF tn
East.
Ex-Governor McCorkle, of WestVir
GINA, strongly advocated the absc
luely equal treatment Of the white al
black voters in respect to qualification
for the exercise of the suffrage
Property tests and educational test
should apply to voters without refer
ence to the color of thoir skins. d
criticised the people OF Mississippi an
Louisiana for the manner in whic
they lad gotten rid of the bulk OF tn
negro vote in those States.
/ 1t dulls The scythe of Father Time
L..