The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1896-1929, 1902-05-08
THE SOUTH THROUGH NORTH
ERN GLASSES.

OF TIE COMMONWEALTH met soE.
very clever and intelligent gentlelne
from New York State, and meeting i
the Negro Building, our conve:sa 10
turned to the race question and tn
interests OF the South general,
These gentlemen told us that the
were free to admit that their views @
certain situations in the South ha
been greatly changed by the persona
observations they bad made in the e,
days they had been in Charleston en,
by what they had seen in their tr;,ys
through the South.
One OF these gentleman was MIR. II
ID. Harvey, editor OF the HillsdaIe Hal
hinger, of Hiilsdale, N. Y. here !
what he wrote for his paper on bis re
turn hcme, which will greatly interes
our readers:
"To attempt to give the status of b.
southern negro from only few day
acquaintance with him would be pre-
sumptuous and we intend to give OIL,
a few impressions received while there
1t Is only just to say that this shor
acquaintance has materially change
our ideas relative to the race problem
which has confronted the nation, ano
especially the southern people, since
the war Of the Rebellion.
THE Impression which We get frt III
seeing those who come north is yer.
erroneous, for it is only the mere III
teliigent and enterprising ones who d,
so the great masses Of them have not
the energy and meyer get money
enough ahead to do So.
"We embraced every opportunity to
concerse with intelligent representa-
tyes OF hewLites and blacks, and in
every case received practically the same
replies from representatives OF each
race. That the southern people under
staaa the negro better than We can,
must be admitted, and We saw no evil
dsnca OF repression OF the colored race
generally. Social equality never can
be. sny more than tho educated and
refined CT the north would receive tie
lover ard ignorant classes here on t.. e
plane 0! social equality.
There IS q prejudice among tie
southern people agains: any perso,
who has even the slightest faint @:
negro bleed in his veins, which is ev:,
den'iJ unjnst, bat generally speaking
they enjoy all the privileges accorded
to the iaboling classes OF the north.
There are three classes of tia
re5roaz first the old slaves, who :nal
1aithiui servants or when working liz
Themselves are industrious second is
the younger class who have some es.u-
Cation, and no matter how meager il
may be, they feel themselves ADORE
nanu"! labor and srend their time f.
Saloons. This is thu class which ar
causes most CT the friction,
between the whites and blacks and is
the reason why the southern people dc
not believe in educating the Negro. |
lie third class consists @! the younger |
porti-n who are not educated, th.
siea:cr number Of wEici, are india.
trious.
The ne gro appears 10 be born Will;
natural tendency to theft. One lad, /
in speaking OF her maid said she was
perfectly trust worthy except with th:-
sugar bowl she would steal loaf sugar
aud she allowed her to take all sh.
wan.sd. 4 man from Richmond, Va.
gave an instance Of the old SLAYER.
lays; he bad a trusted s1aye who ca,
lied the keys to the store rooms ard
1eaEt out the rations to the othe,
slaves on the plantation. One da>
this man was going through his corn
laid and aa he came to row which.
ed up TO his smokehouse he saw MAJ,
behind the building he went around
Ind came upon him suddenly and
ound bis trusted slave stealing lard
through an opening with wooden
paddle when he had the keys to the
In his pocket. When onee.
Toned about it he could make nc
eply.
THE above story sounds almost like
! caaard and we should have taken 1t
IS such had we not heard SO many
lm'lar ones from the people there.
nd they all agreed that 1T just seems
g though the niger can't help steal
n.y.
"On the other hand the negroes think
much abused and down
rOdden race. There arc many OF
hem who ale capable business men
nd women, but in such cases white
Hood nearly always pradominates III
beir veias. TIE negro exhibit at the
WHAT THIN FOLKS NEED