The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1902-07-08
THE NEGRO QUESTION.
(From the Philadelphia Record.)

1t has been suggested that contribution the negro
question would interest readers Of the Record And yet no
has been widely discussed Everybody knows
all about and has remedy ready 1t is curious that such
question appeals those who have knaek of invents
remedies and it is The who never saw negro
cabin and who knows nothing whatever Of the existing con-
diton of things perfectly certain that he squirt forty
grains of ink into fountain pen and settle the whoie
the satisfaction of everybody and to the great gain OF inc
nation
twenty-five thirty years the question was burn
ing one warmth by the spirit Of
onasm which that time had all parts of the country by
the throat said then that there problem to be
solved and that this problem had in elements OF the great
danger remember very we'll that the Southern editors
who discussed the matter that time very proud OF
this problem though they pretended shiver over it. hy
proud because gave them something TO write about
The Northern editors equally proud because they could
the question by the tail and that the
Southern people savages and barbarians.
The writer has always claimed that there was no
problem speak Of and that existed only in the magna
ton of those who determined to take the most hopeless
view OF things Up date the problem still remains hid
den but the negro question poperhis progress his
prospects and possbes-wi for many years to come az
ford interesting subjects of discussion by theorists wen
as by those who take practical views of things
this was problem in the beginning ii has been sue
cessuly solved by time for the getting along
peaceaby than any had the right expect after the
monstrous efforts that were made IN the eouh 70 nn
against each other during the reconstruction
period Considering the ignorance of at that time
and the desparing condition of the whites is marvel that
troubles that famed here aud there not more
widespread As matter Of fact the are getting
along in the South they in the North all
impartial observers eoncede.
We hear good deal from time to time of the existence
of race prejudice in the South is violent at the
North where colored find very difficult to their
living in the various trades and occupations that open
white But prejudice is an affair that has nothing
do with color; to be instinct of the human
mind Men OF widely divergent will entertain preju-
against the other in spite of the cruel injustice 70
which this instinct sometimes gives rise 1t but one OF the
equipments of poor human and rests with
Christianity to eradicate and oblterae it But at the South
prejudice pure and simple is at its lowest ebb 1t has
been soened and toned down by centuries of contact with
the negro and in the last Of century has
made itself felt only intervals.
Improvement has taken place in the condition and
prospects of the negro II must be remembered that
they began to enjoy when their pros
perty zero degrees below. Consequently it
be insisted that the material Improvement which has
taken place almost transformation. This
men could he reuted by individual instances and
unhappy combination OF circumstances could be marshaed
against and yet it is than substantially This
transformation has been both mental and material The at
udc of the toward the only capable leader has
had proof of the and the books of the various
Southern States proof of the other
Only short years ago the preachers and poll
tcians the sfy opposed to the plans
which Booker Washington had announced as necessary to
the future welfare and we'll being of his This oppo-
sition carried length than the
public at large Of The preachers made stump
speeches against Washington from their pulps and thou
sands of pamphlets and articles printed and circulated
among the negroes from end of the South the other
fell to the lot OF the writer and properly
characterize this movement and since then nothing has been
heard from it.
What has frequently mistaken prejudice
the South simply the natural felt by the
Southern people the bullying attitude of the politicians
who during the reconstruction period carry things
their way and kept up until years ago Until
Booker Washington lifted the negro question OF politics
and begaS his campaign in behalf of sense, the
whole affair perverted and msepesented There
hopeless tangle This able leader his recently published
autobiographya book which should be read by every
thoughtful in the countrys wise enough declare
that the interference OF those who only
negro political factor has grievousy retarded and de
layed the progress of the negro race in the South