The Montgomery advertiser. [volume] (Montgomery, Ala.) 1885-1982, 1902-11-07
THE NEGRO NORTH AND SOUTH.

THE NEGRO NORTH AND SOUTH.
| The Chattanooga Times remarks that
| Bishop Potter, OF New York, invites
prominent colored men like Washington,
Fortune and Dupbar mot Dunlap. as The
| Times has it, to eat dinner with him, and
| that while he will dine with such col
| ored men as Dunlap. Washington, etc..
would not show favor to his negro bar
Der or butler, as would many a Southern
man Of high political or social rank"
The Times then says:
What constitutes recognition of social
equality? The answer will depend on the
point Of view, ard that Is modified by
environment and training. The Southern
man has no patience with the Northern
prejudice that excludes the negro from
all callings but those classed as mental.
Inc Northern man OF culture and breadth
cannot see why negro who is his equal
In Intellectual force and a man of good
morals. should not eat at his table, or
occupy a berth In the same sleeper.
Is not the fact that he invites negroes
to dine at his table an indication that he
recognizes the social equality of the
races to q certain extent? 1t would GER
tainly be 30 considered in the South, and
the person practicing It would as GER
tainly be made sensible OF his mistake
1t may Of course be contended that
man in New York or any other Northern
State has a right to invite whom he
pleases to dine with his family. and
this right might be conceded. but the
further fact as stated by The Times, that
even Bishop Potter would not show IA
vor to his negro barber or butler" is
against the Northern people. II they
had less censure for Southern people who
do not want negroes to eat or sleep with
them we could have more tolerance for
their intolerance. When the negro asks
for bread for his family, or for an OPP
portunity to honestly earn it, they refuse
1t, but hand him out a bouquet by in
viting an occasional exceptional member
of the race to dine. This does not in any |
degree better the condition of the negro, |
but is much more likely to make him |
dissatisfied with his condition.
1t seems difficult for our brethren OF |
the North to understand conditions or |
feelings down here. A man UP there |
that way, invite colored people to his |
house on equal terms with his own fam |
lily and perhaps no harm result from
it. but in the South any letting down of
the bars which separate the races would
be the beginning of a condition which |
would soon become intolerable and which |
could but end in race troubles horrible
to think of. That this would be the in |
evitable result Is plain to all who know |
anything of the South. The old fable of |
the camel who asked and obtained leave |
to put his nose in the tent OF his Arab |
master, and followed that permission by |
going bodily into the tent and driving |
the master out, Is typical of what would |
follow the slackening Of the social rules
in the South.
But there is another side to the ques-
ton. The negroes in the South number I
a large proportion of the population.
They are part of our inheritance and we
are almost as much bound to take care |
of them as we were when they were |
slaves. If they cannot have an oppor-
tunity to obtain living by honest labor |
they will obtain 1t dishonesty, and the
white race must bear the burden. AS it |
Is, many of them will not work. but live
off the whites or on the earnings of their /
industrious brethren.
The fact is beyond question that in
many sections of the North and West
the colored man is looked on as an in
terloper, an unwelcome intruder, whose
coming was not solicited and whose pres
ence is not desired. He is denied the
right to work, except in the most mental
while. if he can read he is
daily RECALLED with diatribes against the
Southern people because OF their alleged
racial intolerance. An honest negro who
has a family to support, and who is de-
MED the privilege of working for them,
can find little compensation in reading
that one of his race has been invited
to dine with Bishop or President. Fine
words butter no parsnips," and flne-spun
articles do not supply fool
and clothes. II the Northern people will
follow their inclinations and leave us to
10 the same it will be much better for
Ill parties. including the negro.