The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1902-06-08

sist the black man was made during the
so-called reconstruction period, which
General Armstrong, of Hampton, de-
scribed as building a bridge of wood
across river OF fire.
One result of that cruel performance
was the sudden elevation of the ignor-
ant black, then wholly lacking the
'.new birth he is getting today, to places
as legislators and high officials above the
heads of the proudest and most sensitive
white race on earth. Does any one sup
pose that one blunder of 1879 is forgotten
in 1902. Is it unnatural that part of the
South should feel that we who were ca
pable of such humiliation of our fell
low countryEen have in twenty-four
years become incapable of further mis-
chief?
No. The truth is that there remain
here many ''unregenerates," as the. young
er men Of the South call them, and this
class. together with the humber clergy
of the Southland. have to be dealt with
automatically before the last obstacle
is out of the path of the great, just,
humane and revolutionizing movement
which we of Mr. Ogdens party believe
will figure in history as the strongest
and the qualification of America upon
an intelligent foundation. The humber
clergy who are setting their faces against
the diffusion of learning will not give
as much trouble to the cause as they
may wish they could. They will get out
of the way of the steam road roller or be
lost under its pressure.
But with the mistrustful men-and es
pecially with the doubling women-we
must be plain spoken, frank and explicit.
The fiery, melting enthusiasm of the
meetings we arc holding will not avail
while these forceful and obstinate people
hold aloof from the meetings, We must
land when I say "we' l mean the Ogden
parties as mere representatives of the
sentiments and agents of the generosity
of all Northern folks) tell them we want
to help blacks and whites alike for the
sake of the Union and that we do not
wish or hope to do this in any other
manner than through the work of South
ern- born, Southern feeling men and wo-
men.
We need to have it understood that
no negro accompanies the Ogden party
except IN the capacity of waiter or car
porter that no negro has been present
at any meal we have taken except in
the relation of waiter, that except
when we meet in negro school like
Hampton Institute or at Tuskegee, 70
negroes participate in our season of ora
tory or our deliberations in conference.
We do not call the negro brother or
cozen HIM with futile promise that he
is to be elevated up to or above the
social rank of any white man who holds
the Southerner's ingrained belief that he
is not Cat least, not yeti the white mans
equal.
l am not speaking by authority or by
request or with any right to voice any
other mans views. But l have long
known the South-all the whole South
and it is constantly said here in Dix
lie" that in my book upon the whole
South have written the truest, fair
est treatise upon this section which
has yet appeared. l say this with far
less of immodesty than of desire to
state what right l possess to speak as
am doing in this letter. And / state
this because ! hope this letter will be
widely copied in the Southland i'll order
that I may contribute needed mite
10 the advancement of truly sacred
cause.
Finally, have the support of no less
person than DR.. Alderman, of Tu-
lane University, in New Orleans, who
is one of the ablest of the Southern
men who lead in this union of Northern
and Southern forces for mlghtier
struggle than the North and South
fought in the days OF their disagree
ment.
DR.. Alderman has said to me that in
the end, as he sees it, the result of the
education of the blacks will be to render
them self-supporting as a class by them
selves, to equip them to live by and for
each other, supplying their needs out of
their common equipment, making them
better, more useful, more enlightened
neighbors of the white man. He said
nothing to me of any dream that the
white and black races should unite or
interlace or associate as partners even
in commercial life.
This I believe to be the candid state
mcnt Of the aspirations of those who
are at work to wipe out illiteracy in
the South, to train the poor white to
learn trades and assume an intelligent
part in the duties of citizenship, to lift
up the negro by teaching his hand and
his head to help him out of the slough
in which he has been since long before
his forbcars first saw America.
If I am correct the movement OF the
day is certain to succeed.
If I am wrong it is as sure to fall.
The obliteration of the poetic dream
OF white lion and black sheep lying
down together in social life in academic
Joys and perhaps in matrimony may
disappoint a few in the North who es-
poused the abolition movement with that
excess and extreme of enthusiasm which
were then essential in order that the
moderate degree of success might result
as the compromise that all would in the
end accept. 1t may breed a class of I'M
regenerates in the North, but that is
trif1e as compared with the conversion
of the Southern shellbacks who have mil
liens of negroes as their neighbors, and
in whose neighborhoods it is hoped to
help both black and white up to the
point where they can help themselves.
JULIAN RALPH MISINFORMED.
To the Editor of the Mail and Express:
Sir-In a recent article in your paper,
which was in the main a wise and truth
full statement of the movement for uni
i L