The new age. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1902-190?, 1902-06-27
The NEGRO PROBLEM
'".'uenee and Position in Ameri.
A Series of Weekly Articles.
BY Y.

eApanslon Of the American raprhI,o
~ nave mad many difficult problems
'aily aneeting our body polite To.
ray We are living in an age of nroh.
ieil' an era which presents 70 ne 90.
'neir solution some questions Of tho
eia'est Importance to the perno,,,
"S Vi our institutions and tho rro.
perlty OF our domain. We - -"
"uS' problem, the labor problem prob.
,eHns IN sociology. and manv Others
Nei' 10 us as an heritage of the s,or'
cry and secession problems we have
'ie race problem, which instead of a,
inininshing with the increase NJ ,ha
years since it first became st.,
upon the nation by the landing of the
nrsI cargo of slaves at Jamestown
'a'' In l61S-it has become moro a;
'ersined and complex in it's asnects
anu sraVer in its Importance. II has
Oeen proven in the last ten years nv
eminent authorities that the Neoro g.
multiplying in such vast numbers tho,
II Is only a question of a few veacs
oeiore ne will greatly outnumber tho
"niee men in the South. 1t has like.
wise peen proven that he is dying ont
anu 'nat together with the process of
amalgamation, gradually the race idor
tity VIII become extinct. Statistics
nave Deen produced showing that
relatively he is our greatest criminal
-conhicting statistics show him to be
proportionately our most law abiding
citlzen-his mental capacity. the in.
nuence of heridity upon successive
generations, in fact, every phase %
me- as applicable to the Negro. has
taken up a great part of the press and
platform of our country. bur tbese
minor questions are merely little rim.
pies upon the ocean of the great proh. |
lem itself.
The first slaves were brought to this
country in 1619-landed at James.
town, Va, and the first cargo con.
sisted of fourteen. So profitable did
they prove that Immediately after.
wards they were brought over in large
numbers. The Negro when first
brought to America. had to undergo
as complete a transition as ever fell
to the lot of man. They were brought
from the hottest equatorial climate
under the sun to a climate whose win.
tiers are oft times of almost Arctic Sc.
verify, to serve under alien task mas.
ters. They had to accustom them
selves to clothing, food and institu.
uons of which they had not the least
Rarely does history re.
cord a parallel case of so sudden a
complete transition of a race and one
that adapted themselves so readily
70 circumstances and environment. {
They titled the fields, worked in the
cotton gins, the sugar mills, on the
plantation and in the home. They be-
came the active and passive necessary /
Industrial and agricultural forces in s
he development of the Southland I
hey still today hold intrenched that
position. The progress |
If the South largely depends upon the {
progress of the Negro. {
Partly owing tothe eXigencies of c
var and partly because the immortal ]
lincoln was moved by the spirit of the S
Declaration of independence, he Off
tally sang the song of liberty to over {
100000 slaves. Today the Negro d
population of the country consists OF 4
bout 10000, ,00O-the large majority OF is
whom are still in the South. The Ne n
,ro problem specifically consists OF u
wo things. How to make this vast d
lumber of our civic body self reliant q
nd self supporting and intelligent. pi
nd to bring about a proper relation re
,etween them and the white citizens o
mong whom they live. a
In dealing or thinking of the Negro u
roblem two things should always be "
ept in mind One, that entirely un- ai
Ike the other inhabitants of America tr
@ did not come to this country yolun'
,rily TO avail himself OF liberality OF Oh
institutional government or religious Go
eedom. but was compelled to .elve pr
IS own native land and by sheer in
-utal physical force was compelled NJ
become an integral part OF this W
,untry. Second, that the Negro came Lo
ON a tropical country where nature Nj
xuriantly and abundantly provided an
r him and that the centuries Of the
ave svstem-when he was mercy
,attel property, when he was con >"
dered merely as an animal Of labor Ri
.erv view of him was from the stand On
,int of his utility under bis masters IN
hen every effort was made u stiae cr'
" thinking force which might be brr
berently latent, when Others thought cel
r him. that centuries Of a system oi lee
is Kind developed both by the power