The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1903-06-16
The MulattO Factor in the Negro Problem.

IN the American race problem is the subject of a
suggestive article in the May Atlantic Monthly
by Mr.. Alfred ii. Stone, of Greenville, Miss, who
has studied the negro in the Yazoo-Mississippi
Delta. Mr.. Stone advances the thought that we
have greatly underestimate the Importance of
the mulatto in the race problem. In fact, he
thinks that were it not for the mulatto, there
would be no race problem. He thinks it a mat
ter of regret that the twelfth census did not
attempt to enumerate separately the mulatto ele-
ment. Mr.. Stone points out tina the people who
have argued hat the negro is capable of unlimited
development, proving it by the achievements of
individuals of his race, have really forgotten
that these individuals were mulattoes, "from
Murillo's faVOrite pupil down to Crispus Attacks,
Benjamin Banneker, Douglass, Bruce, Lynch, the
late Sir Conrad Reeves, Du Bots, Washington,
Chestnut, and others"
Mr.. Stcne contends that when free from white
or mulattO influence, the negro is of a contented,
happy disposition. He is docile, tractable, and
unambitious, with but few wants, and those easily
satisfied. "He inclines to idleness, and though
having a tendency to the commission of petty
crimes, is not malicious, and rarely cherishes
hatred. He cares nothing for the sacred right
of suffrage and when left to his own inclinations,
will disfranchise himself by the thousand rather
than pay an annual pol-tax. He infinitely pre-
fers the freedom and privileges of a car of his
OWL to the restraint of one in which he would
be compelled to mingle with white people" As
for the real negro,-the negro of the Masses
Mr.. Stone thinks he presents few, if any, serious
problems, and "none which he may not himself
work out if let alone and given time. But it will
be an individual rather than a race solution; the
industrious will as children acquire a common
school education, and as adults will own prop
erty; those capable of higher things will find for
themselves a field for the exercise of their talents,
just as they are doing to-day; the vicious and
shiftless will be as are the vicious and shiftless of
other races"
The complaints over "the lack of opportunities
under which the negro labors," and the "injus-
tice of race distinction" do not come, according
to Mr.. Stone, from the negro, but from the mu-
latto or white politician. Through the medium
of lace papers and magazines, the pulpit, indus
trial and political gatherings and associations, the
mulatto Yields a tremendous influence over the
negro. It is here that his Importance as a factor
in whatever problems may arise from the Negroes
presence in this country becomes manifest,-and
the working out of such problems may be ad-
vanced or retarded, just as he wisely or unwisely
plays the part which fate-or Providence-has
assigned him. The negro, like the white man,
responds more readily to bad influences than to
good, and the example and precepts of a hundred
men like Washington and Du Bots may be easily
counteracted by the advice and influence of some
of the very men of whom the mulattO type unfor-
~tunately furnishes too many examples.
Booker Washington may in all sincerity preach
the gospel of labor; he may teach his people, as a
fundamental lesson, the cultivation of the friend
ship and esteem of the white man; he may point
out the truth that for the negro the privilege OF
earning a dollar is of much greater Importance
than that of spending it at the white mans thea
H.. 80 bo+oI vo+ oil +boCn lessons muSt fail of