The courier. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1894-1903, 1901-12-28


either one a long time to get rid of his
prejudices. The actions of yesterday
are shocking in the light of today. We
draw in our breath when We read how
the Puritans of New England burned
old women alive for the crime of witch
craft. Yet "our best people" of the
south light the wood piled around a
negro man who is accused, not con-
victed. but accused of an assault upon
a white woman. Subsequent investi-
cation has shown that several men in
nocent of the crimes of which racial
hatred accused them. have been
burned. History moves in cycles. We
are again in the midst of trouble with
the negro. Finally disfranchised after
thirty years of only nominal exercise
of the suffrage, the southern negro is
left to fight his unequal battle with
out either national or state rights. 1t
is announced by students of the unique
conditions now existing in the south
that, deprived of the franchise, the
negro will not excite the jealousy of
that most selfish and cruel of human
beings. the corrupt politician. Time
will tell.
Mr.. Charles w. Chesnutt's novel,
THE Marrow of Tradition is a dra-
matte study of the racial embarrass-
ments which are troubling both the
black and the white southerner. If
1o
they might have come to the south
and settled there without causing the
disturbance which has been a constant
phenomenon of their residence in
are physically repulsive to the whites,
though opponents of the race allege
that this is so. Some blacks are re-
pulsive and obnoxious. but in a given
community there are more impossible
whites than there are blacks. Because,
for one reason, the black mans poverty
and servile condition have made it
necessary for him to study the tastes
and manners of white gentlemen. Po-
likeness is only the result of a study of
The poor whites of the south We're
despised by the slave and slave holder
alike. They have no traditions of gen.
tility. no wholesome pride Of family
to maintain. Before the war members
of this class furnished the overseers
and slave-dealers. Much the greater
part of the cruelty proceeded from
these overseers and slave dealers.
They had no interest except a mer-
cenary one i'm the slave. They were
quite outside of the tender and loyal
relationships which the institution de-
veloped. At the present time it is the
descendants of this class who are burn
ing and shooting the colored people.
In the days of slavery the master pro-
tected his slave from the jealousy and
hatred of this class. Between the
black and this hereditary hatred there
is now no barrier.
Mr. Chesnutt's study of the degree
of adjustment which the neighbored
races have attained is very interesting.
In dramatic power no book of the sea-
son rivals il. He writes with a fervor
and conviction that inevitably recall
Mrs. Stoves great book, the book
which more than any book ever writ
ten by man or woman made men ready
to fight in response to the guns that
were trained on Sumter. Mr.. Chestnut
thinks that We are laying by for our
asrih he
action of cruelty and injustice on the
oppressor is inevitable; and conse-
quently, if only for race selfishness. we
should stop burning and shooting.
Spain has never recovered from the
expulsion of the Moors; England was