The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-05-14
EACH SECTION MUST SETTLE ITS
OWN PECULIAR PROBLEMS.

The most important utterance of The
past week in America was made by Mr.
Robert w De Forest, of New York, pres
dent of the National Conference of Chair
ties and Corrections in sessions at At
lanta. That conference is one OF the most
important annual meetings that is held III
this country. 1t is attended by men of the
! highest standing, widest knowledge. and
broadest sympathy. The addresses are
valuable from every point of view and IL
structive as we'll as interesting. The
president OF that conference, a New York
er-(by the way, New Workers seem to
be given to saying what they think more
than men in any other State in the
IUnion)-gave expression to some wise and
in every portion of the country. We
quote
The frank declaration repeated so of
ten by Northern men in the Southern Ed
ucational Conference just held at Rich
mond that the negro problem is essential
y a Southern problem and must be solved
by the Southern people simply recognizes
a truth of far wider application.
The white mans burden is different
in different environments, and not only
must those who do the lifting of the
weight be those who stand next to it, but
those who stand next to it must be the
ones to decide how to carry it. Their
neighbors, who usually have troubles Of
their own, though of different kind, can
best aid by manfully bearing that other
part of the common burden which is near
est to them.
Il come from New York, the city OF the
tenements, where people are so crowded
together that frequently twenty-four fami-
lies are living on a lot no larger than %
feet by 100; where there are men, women,
and children living in over $50, 900 dark
rooms which have no more light or venti-
lation than can sift into them through two
other rooms that separate them from the
outer
ITO meet such conditions is our part,
and one of our several parts, Of this white
mans burden When l look out OF the
windows OF the train that brings me to
Atlanta, that metropolis of the new in
dustrlaI South, and see, as I pass through
Southern States, the rows of neat sep
arate cottages in which the working peo-
pie OF your factories are to be housed. l
envy you your immunity from this spe-
cial problem.
'The conditions of tenement life in
Northern cities have quite as much claim
on your sympathIes as your negro condi-
tlons have on ours, and may call as loud
ly for friendly advice, and do concern you
as closely politically, but could YOU who
do not stand next to this weight and have
lad no experience in handling it, wisely
dictate to US how to lift it?
Just so our Pacific States have had
their racial problems. We OF the North
and South know II the Chnaman chiefly
as a patient lamdryman, and when we
sec him toihng increasingly, even in the
late hours of the night, when toll to 9TH
ers has ceased, we are apt to think OF
him only as a useful addition to our in
sufficient laboring class.
His proposed exclusion from the United
States came as distinct shock, not only
to our sentimental conception OF America
as a refuge for the weak and oppressed of
all nations, but to our practical desire u.
increase our resources OF labor But we
soon realized that the Chinese burden rest
ed on our Pacific slope, and we acquiesced
Loyalty in their method Of handling it.
Therefore, l am sure that / cannot
better voice the attitude of the Northern
members of this conference toward your
special burden-the negro problem-than
to quote the words uttered only a few
weeks ago in New York by our honored
President, Grover Cleveland
He quoted from the recent address OF
Mr. Cleveland on the negro question.