The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1901-11-08
A FOREIGN VIEW.

Utuef CuSflSis paper, DecstuSe IT'S eulE
tors have studied this question as n
matter of necessity for many years
The rapid and alarming increase Of
the negroes in South Africa has
forced this question on the attention
of thoughtful Englishmen as one
which will soon BE for them a condi-
ton and not a theory. We are there
fore, interested, more than usually, in
the comments of the Spectator on the
Booker Washington incident
The Spectator opens the discussion
by saying that though it honors Pres
ident Roosevelt for asking Booker
Washington, the negro Dhilanthropist,
to dinner, yet it wishes it had not oc-
Cured to him to do so.
We suppose that the Spectator honors
the President for his refusing to place
his ear to the ground to catch the far
off murmur Of public will and then
hasten to carry out that order as a
servant instead of forming public
opinion as leader. But however
much President Roosevelt may be COM
mended by the Spectator for his in
dividuality in this matter our English
contemporary feels that he has done
an unwise thing because. to use its
own words, eve do not believe that
the recognition of Il nonresident equal
ity between the races is the way TO
kill out the white prejudice against
the bIag.s race There is no equality.
AS they al! interbreed it may be taken
as certai:, that in that far past, which
it has been the will Of Providence TO
hide so completely from us, all the
families of man sprung from one COM
mon STOCK. But it is equally certain
that they have developed unequally
and that the negroes stand at the.
present moment behind both the White
man and the brown"
The Spectotor goes on to say that
in the opinion of de Tocqueville, the
ultimate remedy must be either eX-
tirpation Of the negro, or his forcible
expulsion or his voluntary. retreat
southwark which will leave the ter
ritory of the union TO the whites and
70 the red Indians. which latter.
though equally hated, are for reasons
which have their root in the history
of past ages not equally condemned.
form themselves avowedly as they do
now unavowedly, into two castles, like
the Hindoo and Mussrlman of India,
with no intercourse except upon the
common business of life
That is the summing up of the solu-
ton which the Spectator would offer fer
race questions, and it is the solution
which has been evident to every
thoughtful Southerner as the only pos
sib!e one for q long time. This solu-
ton has not vet been comprehended
by those of the North, who regard the
negro as a white man With a black
Skin. Either their prejudice or their
ignorance. and often a great deal Of
both, has prevented them from seeing
that though race antagonism may not
be explicable at present, it is just as
real as was the law of grayitation be-
fore Sir Isaac Newton formulated it,
and that when once we are brought
face to face with some great sociologl-
cal law it is hopeless to try to avoid
the workings of this force by shutting
our eyes to its consequences.
The editorial in the Spectator is of
especial interest to us in the South,
for it shows that the intelligence OF
England has grasEed a proposition
which is thoroughly understood by us
and which The Times enunciated i'm
mediately after the dinner to Booker
Washington. We said then, as we say
now, that anything done by the Presi-
dent or any other distinguished man
races must produce the inevitable re-
suit Of conflicts and bitterness in that
part of the world where, above all
others, peace and mutual forbearance
are required. We are unwilling to be-
iieve that it was the intention of Presl-
dent Roosevelt to insult, exasperate
and mortify the Southern people or to
curry favoS with tie abolitioniSts Of
the North, OF TO stimulate the negro TO
6 hopeless desire for personal and
race equality. But the act has been
interpreted by certain Northern men
and influential newspapers no mean
that he is in favor OF effacing the color
line in the broadcst meaning Of that
term, aud we felt at the time, and we
are still Of opinion, that it was most
unwise N the President as the official
head Of the nation and representative
of the people TO do anything which
would tend 10 arouse the desire of the
negro for an equality which he can
never have 81 is drive the whites into
an Increased antag onism.
The first great step towards the So
luton OF the color question must be
the taking away of the ballot from the
negro. Pending that step it is the part
of wisdom and patriotism, no less than
OF kindness and Christianity, to recog
nize throughout the length and breadth
of this land that Il line has been drawn
between the races by nature that can
not be effaced by man. This fact,
which is thoroughly understood by the
educated and Intelligent thinkers of
IsnS7and leads iJS To the hone that