The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-01-31
THE NEGRO's VALEDICrORY /
CONGRESS.


CONGRESS.
In delivering the negro's valedictory in
Congress Representative White made
some very extravagant claims for the
negro-claims showing the progress nc
has made since emancipation. There may
be as many as 1000 negro lawyers. the
negroes may own 10000 homes and farms
worth $75), 100000, and they may have
$40 900 in personal property, but the
probabilities are that these estimates arc
much beyond the truth.
The negro has made some progress, but
not nearly so much as he ought. He has
not made the most of his opportunities.
The lynchings of which Representative
White complained do not show a settled
purpose to keep the negro down as he
would have the world believe, but indi-
cate rather that in important particulars
he has degenerated since becoming free.
Representative White knows that law
abiding and self-respecting negroes are
never lynched or ma.treated in any way.
He also knows that in every community
In the South a negro who is honest and
industrious has the good will and respect
of the white people, and can always de-
pend upon their assistance in time of
need
Representative White said in his vale
dictory that although the negro would
disappear with him from Congress he
would return. The prediction may come
true. 1t would be very strange indeed, if
negroes of great force of character and
much more than ordinary ability did not
make their appearance from time to time
But the fact remains that the negro, af-
ter being in Congress for more than a
quarter of a century, has disappeared
from the national Legislature. Why is
this? If he is advancing all the time 1t
would seem as If the number of negroes
in Congress would steadily increase.
Not only has the negro disappeared
from COMPRESSOR will disappear with
this Congress-but the outlook is that he
win disappear from the ballot box in the
South. That does not look as if the pros
pect for the return of the negro to Con-
gress in the immediate future were prom
Using. And why is he being eliminated as
political factor? Is 1t not because he
has made so little progress that he is a
menace to good government? If his race
had proven itself equal to its opportuni-
ties here in the South; il instead of mass
ing itself with the party inimical to the
Southern people, it had divided it's polit-
ical strength and had been influenced
wholly by Southern interests in it's po-
| litical expressions, would the negro not
have had a better chance of continuing
in Congress than he now has? He GER
tainly would. Not only that, but the
movement to deprive him of the ballot
would not, in all probability, have been
started.
Representative White attacked white
| Republicans I'm the South for Withdraw
ing from the negro. What have they to
gain by continuing their alliance with
him? There is no hope of building up a
strong Republican party in the South or
negro basis. The white Republican
party of the North is tired of the black
Republican party of the South That is
why white Republicans in the South are
withdrawing from their alliance with the
negro. They see no future for Republi.
canism in the South as long as the South.
ern Republican party is controlled by the
negro.
Representative White, in his valedictory
did not take broad view of the question
which he discussed. lie took a view tina
was dictated by his feelings. He wanted
to blame somebody for the failure of hi.
race to hold the place in Congress which
had been given it. He was incapable OF
seeing that the race itself is to blame fol
the failure.