The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1901-07-26

get up ION their hind legs" to the
amusement of all who have some un-
derstAnding of~the real situation.
We are reminded of this folly and
presumption and dense ignorance when
we recall Mr.. Vests paper in the New
York Forum to which we referred to
on Saturday last. He is northern as
mentioned. He was here. On the spot,
during the ~troublous days in Novem-
Just what 1t so much needs to know.
Some how it seems most difficult for
the north or any part Of 1t TO under
stand truly either the situation in the
south or the conditions in Wilmington
in 1898. or the auses operating in North
Carolina. But how confident and
bumptious are the advisers and critics.
Mr.. West writes, and it is the truth
precisely:
mo one who has witnessed the con-
dition of affairs in the south can be-
lieve that the negro is, at the present
time, capable of governing. All his
efforts in his direction have been la
mentable. direful failures. On the
other hand, no one acquainted with
the spirit and temper of the southern
people believes that the negro. What
ever his future capacity may be, will
be allowed to govern the white race.
These two assertions-that the negro
cannot govern, and that the white man
will not let him govern-are axioms."
There will never be again in the
south negro rule, and if it were pos
Gihla fharQ would he a frQman60ul
wal of races. There may be, ana prob
ably will be, race conflicts by the score
through the years in localities in many
states. but there will be no more ne
gro supremacy. no repetitions of what
has occurred in Wilmington and New
Bern and Greenville and elsewhere.
The fiat has gone forth. To show how
Wilmington fared-how unprogressive
the quality of the negroes, and their
utter incapacity for management, for
governing communities. for bossing the
educated and intelligent whites, Mr..
West gives this:
With all these material advantages,
it has the miSfortune-and it Is a mis-
-fortune-to possess a population of
which a large majority are negroes. OF
the %, 900 people in the city three-fifths
are blacks. While thus numerically
strong, the negro'is not a factor in the
development of the city or section.
With thirty years of freedom behind
him. n with an absolute equality of
educational advantages with the whites
there is not today in Wilmington a
single negro savings bank or any other
distinctively negro educational or char
liable institution: while the race has
not produced a physician or lawyer of
note. In other words. the negro in
Wilmington has progressed in very
slight degrees from the time when he
was a slave. His condition can be
summed up in 4 line. Of the taxes in
the city of Wilmington and the county
of New Hanover the whites pay SO 2-3
per cent; while the negroes pay the
remainder-3 1-3 per cent. The negro
in North Carolina, as these figures show
is thriftless. ~improvident. does not &C
cumulate money. and is not accounted
a desirable Citizen"
Remember this is the study of an &C
complished journalist and a New York
er by birth. He shows in his study
acts that led up to the revolution, ex
necessitate. Professor Lee. of Johns
Hopkins University, a teacher of ac-
complishments and a painstaking writ
er, also saw the conditions and pre-
sents them to the readers of the Balti-
more Sun But the north is still un-
taught, and with bandaged Eyes under
takes to advise or to threaten the
south.