The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1901-06-20

perhaps l should not lay stress now,
were there not many who are urging
US to fall into the same mistake in
new conditions and under new cir
cumstances. CThe perils OF this mis-
take are being illustrated, as this
article is revised for the press, by the
results OF an unqualified suffrage
in Hawaii.) 1t is . mistake to sup
pose that q people who had behind
them three centuries OF slavery in
the United States, and unnumbered
centuries of barbarism in Africa,
could be suddenly competent to take
equal share in government with q
race which bad been educated by CEN
turiss Of struggle in England followed
by years of equally trying struggle
in the United States, who had written
with their hands, by pens dipped in
their own blood, the Magma Charta.
the Constitution OF Clarendon. the
Declaration of Independence. and the
Constitution of the United States.
The power OF q community to govern
itself depends on the power Of the in
| dividuals in that community to gov
| ern themselves. Before q community
can be self-governing, there must be
a background Of history, or at least
a contemporaneous and adequate
method Of education.
The South found 3 condition of
society in which the bottom controlled
| the top intolerable. So did France
after the French evolution; so would
Hayti il there were any top to be con-
trolled. The South has endeavored
to reverse the conditions and put the
top of society at the head Of govern
ment and the bottom of society under
| government. l do not justify the
violence and the frauds by which that
has been attempted; do not justify
the process. But in its supre eme
desire to have the intellect, the con-
science, the education. rule, the South
is right and deserves our sympathy
and our support. What we have =
right to demand of the South is this
that the line shall not be a color
line or q race line, but a line Of char
acter; that an educated and cultivated
Booker +. Washington shall not be
turned from the polls because his
face is black, while an ignorant, in
competent, drunken white man is
permitted to cast his vote because his
face is white. Our problem in the
North is not to Withstand the South
and be reluctantly forced back. little
! by little, to acquiesce in q system
which gives the power Of governing
to those who are competent to govern.
but to offer the open hand Of cordial
fellowship to Southern reformers. and
say to them, We will help you in
securing for your States government
that will protect person and property
and reputation and family and liberty.
True, we have right to demand that
this shall be done for the negro a. for
the white man; and, on the whole, it
is done. The person and property,
the life and liberty, the family and
reputation, of the negro are in the
main protected in the Southern
States. II they were not, the results
could not have been secured which
are secured. Says Marion l.. Dawson
in the article already referred to:
"In the South all trades are open
to them (the negroes), and they re-
ceive every encouragement to become
proficient in the industrial arts. A
large number OF negroes have eagerly
taken advantage Of these opportuni-
ties. and have made unprecedented
progress in bettering their condition
in every way. They have amassed in
one State property the assessed value
of which is ne.rly thirty millions OF
| ID hot fhay
own, all told, about three hundred
million dollars worth Of personal and
real estate. They have their own
doctors, lawyers, and preachers; they
have colleges and universities. and
they have their own military com
panies."
A community in which it is pos
sible for q race to accumulate, from
Il condition OF absolute poverty,
three hundred millions OF dollars OF
personal and real property is not 3
community which has signally failed
in protecting the rights Of person and
property. l know the tragic story OF
lynch law. Who has not been horri-
fled by this recrudescence OF barbar-
ism2 But let US be just; it is not dis
tinctly Southern. When negroes are
mo obbed in Ohio and in Kansas, when
lynch law is executed in Indiana, in
Colorado, and in Montana, as well a
in Mississippi and Alabama and Ken
tucky; when even the women becoms
lynchers. destroying saloons in Kan,
sas with some sort OF excuse, and
drug stores in Chicago without any
excuse at all, let US recognize the fact
that lynch law is not distinctly
Southern. We may not have As large
beam in our eve AS our neighbor
but it will be well TO remember tina,
we need. As we'll as he, to submit to q
surgical operation.
1t is true that the Southerner does
not grant to the negro what we call
social equality. He does not invite
him into his parlor. ask him to sit at
his table, introduce him as a friend
to his wife and children, or even
allow the children Of the two races to
attend the same school. How much
of this is due to un just and unreason-
able prejudice. how mucE OF it is
Natures own protection against q too
intimate intermingling OF the races,
it is not necessary here TO discuss:
because it is no, the function OF gov
ernment to protect social privileges.
The function OF government is full
filled when the rights Of person, OF
property. Of reputation. and OF the
family. and the liberty which results
thereirom, are maintained. And in
that liberty is the right Of each in
dividual man to choose his own social
companions as he plssses for himself
and for his children. Whatever there
may be OF race prejudice in the South
i. to be removed, il removed at all,
by the gradual. pervasive influence ol
teaching, not by the power OF govern
ment. 1t presents = moral. not 9
political. problem.