The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-04-30

judge from his latest utteranCe respect
ing an important public question, he is
not in all things an extremist, but is
able to take a very judicial view of the
race problem in the South, which he
has been studying in the course of a
nine days visit to that region.
As a result Of personal observation,
and of an educational conference at
Wiuston- Salem. North Carolina. parti-
cipated in by the doctors party, he
made a presentment of conclusions in
his pulpit Sunday which cannot fail
10 attract attention, and, possibly, vary
ing comment In any event. his state
ments will be regarded as an addition
to the controversial literature of the
subject. 1t is not our purpose critically
to discuss the new opinions of DR..
Parkhurst in connection with the race
problem; but rather to review them
with particular reference to their diver
gence from those held by many other
philanthropists. especially in New Eng
land. The latter. as a rule are unwill
ing to admit that any mistake was
made in incorporating vast and indi-
the body polite, at a time when the
race had but just emerged from a con-
dition of slavery which naturally rem
dered it unfit for the duties and re-
sponsibiities of independent citizen
ship. DR.. Parkhurst frankly takes the
opposite side, and says:
1.-THE Understanding act iy which negroes
% Ylt
one Of those blunders from which il is not
easy to escape, once 1t IS committed but which,
it would seem, we ought to have had Northern
craftsmanship sufficiently intelligent TO prevent.
And this position Is one that ought TO be taken,
not so much in the interests of the Southern
whites in the interests of the Southern blacks.
The premature granting of the prerogative has
built up wall of antagonisln to the colored
that only shuts the out from the
ioyTnent Of the prerogative.
The counsel. therefore that both the Northern
and Southern friends Of the negro are giving to
him IS to keep quiet on the whole suffrage
matter, 70 keep out Of politics. not TO insist
his rights, but 10 attend industriously TO the
work OF getting himself well ready, TO learn to
WORK, 10 learn 10 love 10 work, and TO get as
much : he into his empty head.
1.-The less We up here talk about racial ques-
tons the better. 1t is the social question that
70 the Southern mind is the sensitive nerve OF
the entire situation. II is hard enough for them
now 10 get along with the negroes and every
thing that the North does Cor the negro only
makes the situation more strained ana the SOUTH
ern white man more nervous and 'touehy,' unless
with every Northern dollar thst is laid out for
the education Of the poor blacks answering
dollar is appropriated for the education Of the
poor whites"
There is sound common sense and
good advice in the foregoing, as far as
abstention from long range agitation
is concerned. The South justly resents
the acknowledgements of the negroes af-
ter the civil war, in the sense thai in
principle it was a punitive measure and
intended by its authors to be so; and
that it imposed burdens. losses, dis
aster, and humiliation upon intelligent
American communities, during the dark
reconstruction days, that should not
have been imposed upon them in honor
after their frank acceptance of the !
military terms offered by Generals |
Grant and Sherman, But the Southern |
people. taken as whole. have not held |
the negro responsible for the blunder |
of politicians who in 1866, thought they |
could use him as a club to prevent |
successful reorganization of the party |
of Jefferson and Jackson in the recently |
seeded States. under the once more |
common flag of the country. If DIR. |
Parkhurst would spend six months in
different parts of the South, part of
the time In border States like Ken |
lucky, and part in the States where the |
black population almost or quite equals |
that of the whites. he would not fall |
into an error. more serious than one of |
mere detail. which is contained in the |
following extract from his sermon. He
is quoted as saying:
THE Southerner does not like the negro any |
better than the average Northerner does, and |
the two carry themselves toward the negro with |
Just about the amount 81 Christian cOnsid- |
eraiion-only Of the two the Southern white |
has perhaps this advantage, that he does not
make quite 20 famhuydnt 2 pretence Of loving |
the negro his Northern conirere does The |
Southern white man dislikes the negro and owns |
up 10 it. The white man in the North dislkcs l
the negro and lies about it,
We are not inclined 10 doubt the |
honesty Of the above statement, which. |
nevertheless, will not strike people in |
acquainted with the Southern |
States, their people and their condi- |
lions. as in accord with the facts. On |
the average, the Southerner does like |
the negro better than the Northerner |
does. Since he race line has been |
broken politically. the former is willing |
that his former slave should exercise |
the right Of suffrage, provided always |
that he is sufficiently educated, and has
some reason to be interested in good |
order and good government. The idea
Of domination by ignorance. without re-
gard to color. is repugnant to the in
telligent elements of the South, just as
it would be to any other Anglo-Saxon
people. But here applies an objection
to outside Interference in negro educa-
ton which is not without force. one
can travel from end 10 end of the sec
ton without hearing word in oppo-
sition 10 such educational enterprises
as Booker Washington's Tuskegee In
stitute. Why? Because that school
teaches the negro To work, to become
skilled in agriculture and the manual
arts. and TO take possible place with
I'm his environment. On the other hand,
pseudo philanthropy from the North
has been too much devoted TO giving
him a bellies lettres training of no
earthly use to him in present circum-
stances, and only calculated to make
him discontented with his necessary
limitations, TO drive him away from
the fields and the shop. and TO make
him Il specifically educated agitator,