The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1903-04-14

ing the cause OF CIVILIZATION IN tActiicHt
service lately by discussing the Negro
problem in its editorial columns. These
editorials are calm and judicious IN their
tone. Tkey represent the thought and
the convictions OF our best people on
the subject which IS OF oyershadowing
Importance 10 the future OF this country
The Times-Dcmocrat recently reprinted
an article contributed b. Col Robert
bingham. OF North Carolina, TO the Eu-
ropean edition of Harpcr's Monthly for
July, 1900. In this article Col. Bingham
discusses the criminali;y or the negroes.
and the conclusions he reaches are simp-
" startling. These conclusions are clab-
~oratcly supported by statistics taken
from the United States census. And
these statistics are entirely free from
the suspicion Of race prejudice, for
they were collected by Professor Wilcox.
OF Cornell University, a native OF Niassa-
chusetts and Or. Winston. president OF
the North Carolina Agricultural and Me
chanical College. These are the conclu-
sions:
/. The negro clement is much the most
criminal IN our population.
>. The negro is much more criminal rs
a tree man than he was as a slave.
2. The negro IS increasing IN crlminality
with fearful rapldlty, being one-thlrd
more criminal ID 1890 than IN 1880.
4. The negroes who can read and write
are more criminal than the ilIterate,
which is true OF no other element OF our
population.
5. The negro is nearly three time sas
criminal in the Northeast, where he has
not been a slave for a hundred years, and
three and a half times as criminal IN the
81 1,lor1 y. bn- Ioxo- hnl, %
slave, than in the South, where he was a
Slave until 1865.
:. The negro is three times as criminal
as the native white, and once and a half
times as criminal as the foreign white,
consisting, in many cases, OF the scum
of Europe.
z. More than seyen-lenths of the negro
criminals are under thirty years of age.
The editor of the m Democrat
says: These conclusions are sustained
by an article by Prof. j. r. STATIONS
printed in the North American Review
for June, 1900. Professor Stratton points
out that, according to the census of 1890,
the minimum illiteracy Of the negro is
found in New England, where it is 217-10
per cent; and the maximum illiteracy
Of the negro is found in the sO-callcd
black belt of South Carolina, Mississippi
and Alabama, where it is 657-10 per cent.
And yet the negro is four and half times
more criminal in New England, hundred
for hundred of the population, han he
is in the black belt
The editor of the Times-Dcmocrat calls
these conclusions little less than start
ling" He is right. Mark you, these are
not deductions of Southern prejudice
against the negro, but the sober results
oF nffo;o1 ctofictioo oh+oipo1 NV IN, ~ rtiaI
! students of our social and chronological
problems. They force upon US certain
other conclusions.
! /. In the light of these conclusions
| the North is wrong in trying to deal
! with the negro as a white man. l say
the North, because since 1868, for nearly
forty years now, the North has been man
\ aging the case, and tLe negro we nave
now is the product of the policy adopted
by the North. The North has made the
present negro. These statistics show
what he is. There is a physical and NOR
al inferiority in the negro to the white
man that renders him incapable of the
same treatment. Mr.. Lincoln saw this,
and frankly stated it. He said: 4 am
not, nor ever have been, in favor OF
bringing about in any way the social md
political equality Of the white and black
races. L all not, uOT ever nave Dcfl, III
favor of making voters or jurors of the
negroes, nor Of qualifying them to hold
office, nor to intcrmarry with white poo
pie. There is a physical difference be-
tween the white and black races which
will forever forbid the two races living
together on terms Of political or social
equality. InaSmuCh as they cannot so
live. while they do remain together there
must be the position of superior and in
ferior; and /, as much as any other man,
amin favor of having the superior posi-
ton assigned to the white race" These
are the words of a statesman and an
honest man, looking at the question from
the standpoint of government. Equally
strong are the words of another great Alb
olitionist. Oliver Wendell Holmes said:
abstract principle of benevolence
can reverse the great family instinct
that settles the question for US. The
Creator has hung out the colors that
form the two ~rallying points SO that they
shall be unmistakable, eternal Nay.
there is hardly a single sense that does
not bear witness to the ineffaccable dis
~tinction of blood. The white man must
be the master in effect, whatever he is
in name
The trouble with the race problem is
chiefly due 10 the attempt of the NortI
to contradict nature, and treat the ne
gro as a white man. He is not capable
Of such treatment. These statistics
prove It. | have just read a quotation
from the New York Independent in tn.
Manufacturers Record, in which the In
dependent, referring to the selection of
successor to DIR. Curry, late agent Of tn.
Slater Fund, said: "As far as the Slate
Fund is concerned, it should be under
stood that there is not one kind Of edu
cation to be provided for the white an
another for the black, but that the sam,
, cfancc IS to be given to each, and it i
rot to be assumed that either is to b
, permanently q subject or dependent race.
, Those words express the doctrine Of tn,
? North, and that doctrine is wrong
heresy responsible for the sad results tn
! census indicates.
VI ,. These conclusions prove that III
] kind of education the negro is receiving
IS leading him to destruction. The South
ern States have spent something lTk
$I2o, GOO, 600 on the education of the negr
since the war. The generous policy q