Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1901-12-05
From the London Spectator.
An English View of the Color Problem.

From the London Spectator.
An English View of the Color Problem.
We believe that the remedy is strict
social segregation with full acknowl-
edgement of inequality, to be main
tanned until in the course Of ages it is
found to be inconvenient OF absurd.
The white and, the black men should
form themselves avowedly, as they
now do unavowedly, into two castles,
like the Hindus and Mussulmans Of
India, with no intercourse except on
the common business of life. The
white men should be acknowledged by
the black men as the superior caste,
which they are, and the black men
should be acknowledged by the white
men as fellow-citlzens entitled to all
rights except those which prepurpose
equality. The two should neither
quarrel nor embrace, never intermarry,
never eat together or, if that is found
necessary, travel together in the same
car. The vote should, for the present,
be withdrawn from the blacks, who
then would occupy precisely the po-
sition of white women, and the right
to sit on juries should be regulated so
that though the whites gave the ver-
dict, the blacks were never left unrep-
resented. Every office except the
presidency should remain open to both;
but the white should have the right
of demanding as a mark of caste su-
periority that he be tried by white
Judge, privilege which he demands
and secures in every country in which
he has obtained "capitulations."
We believe that under these arrange
ments the two colors would develop
side by side in their own way, until at
last the color rules were felt to be in
convenient, and were swept away in
favor Of equality. They are exactly
in accordance with the facts-which is
always strong buttress for the ar
rangements of any community-and
might, if strictly observed and kindly
worked, be brought, if not completely
within the Christian law-which cer-
tainly prescribes equality in worship -
at least into full accord with practical
Christian sentiment. Forty years ago
they would have been hotly denounced
by philanthropists; but that excellent
though enthusiastic class of men have
learned much wisdom lately, and seem
to recognize that though no inequality
can justify slavery for one moment,
natural inequalities do exist, and are
best treated by complete but kindly
recognition. We do not, at least, hear
any audible cry for giving votes to
the Zulu or Bushman. AS to their
practicability, they already exist in
India, where in thousands of villages
Mussulmans and Hindus live side by
side, never intermarrying, never eat
ing together, never, if they can help it,
touching each other other, yet trans
acting all the business of life with each
other without quarreling or breaking
any ordinary law. So do the Brahmin
and the Sudra, and so, above all, do
the white men and the brown-po In
dian is really black-thOugh the for
mer claim, and actually WELD, the sole
political power.
1t is not-elways in close association
that liking and respect are born, still
less through the denial or artificial
concealment Of plain facts, and the
plain fact is that the black man in the
Southern States is not and cannot be
made the equal Of the white, the ef-
fort to treat him as such producing
nothing on both sides but dangerous
irritation. If We are not greatly mis-
taken, Mr.. Booker Washington, Of
whom we wish to speak with all re-
spect as perhaps the ablest man of
his race, himself recently acknowl-
edged this in public speech which
made deep impression not only on
his hearers, but all through the Union.
At any rate this solution is strongly
urged by negro writer (Mr. W. Il.
CouncilD, in very able paper in
recent number of Leslie's Weekly, j. e.,
that of Oct. II. He desires to keep
the races entirely apart, AMI to let
each develop on its own lines, while
keeping respectable distance from