Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1902-09-01
VISION GETTING CLEARER.

Some weeks ago Mr. James Bryce, MEM
Der Of parliament, delivered very nota-
BILE lecture at oxford university, England.
His subject was 1.-The Relations Of the
Advanced and the Backward Races Of
Mankind"
Harper's Weekly speaks in highest
terms Of The orator and his address.
''Adr. Bryce's intellectual and moral quail
tiles are so SUPERIOR and have so COM
| mended him to Briton's and Americans
that anything he may say on any subject
is deemed worthy of consideration. He
has as lofty ethical ideas as any living
method OF the trained historian. He has
! travelled far and near, and studied social
| phenomena with results fiattering to his
own fameS and Illuminating to humanity.
The resident Of the northern half Of the
United States will not find In Mr.. Bryce's
conclusions. anything calculated to but
tress up those views which the north
held theoretically for a decade or two af-
ter the civil war. Nor will Senator Hoar
and other men of his generation Cor their
sons) especially identified with the ideal
istic mode of dealing with the negro
during the reconstruction period, and now
identified with the idealistic, doctrinalre
method of dealing with the Filipinos, find
any support In Mr.. Bryce's argument. Mr.
Bryce recognizes, for instance. as a fact
and on the whole q wholesome fact, the in
nate race repulslon of the Caucasian for
the negro. He condemns miscegenation.
He says that there are cases in which the
exclusion of the backward race from con-
tact with the higher race Is justified in
the interests of humanity at large, by the
consideration that to admit II would in
volve more loss to the higher race than
gain to the lower race
1.-THE future of mankind demands that
some races should be maintained at the
highest level OF efficiency" said Mr.
Bryce. also. legally the backward race
should receive all such private civil rights
as II can use for its own benefit. but po-
! litically the backward race may be really
unfit to exercise political power"
We have copied the Endorsement of Har-
per's Weekly, but we have not forgotten
the bitter and incorporating warfare
this journal made against the south in
the days of reconstruction and later
Their vison is getting clearer.
What is Mr.. Bryce's verdict? Harper's
F, Weekly sums II up In the following words
THAT the negroes were not fit for suf-
frage when it was given to them"
Dispassionate Americans, studying the
facts now admit that the granting of suf-
/ frage to them was a mistake. OF course
this is what the southern white man bas
always said. and what the northern press
and politicians are now reluctantly ad-
hitting.
The south has reason for congratulate
| ing itself for standing firm for the right
In the course Of a quarter of a century
Harpers Weekly has thus reverted its
| own judgment and honestly recorded its
| change of mind. Its spectacles are i'm
] proved. 1t sees clearer. Had the south been
allowed a hearing when the northern
press. and politicians were pressing a cup
Of bitter dregs to our lips. the history Of
these commemorative would have been
different. This confession on the part of
one of the most influential journals in the
/ United States means a great deal. 1t in
! dicates a wholesome resolve to speak the
truth I'm honesty and fair dealing.
To be just TO the negro he did not clam
or for the ballot. It was forced upon him.
| He was used as an instrument to punish
the southern rebels" Madness ruled the
hour. The FilipinOs are not to be given
the ballot. The north appreciates the
blunder they made in the sixties when