Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1903-04-16
OUTSIDE POINT OF VIEW
The American NEGRO Of TODAY

senator Tillmans uttarances on the
-IEesro question are as Brutality frank as
! We expect from such Il source. The
Louisiana senator gives us the same
sentiments with a little more polish.
| the democratic press Of the south
/ unanimously, and the democratic press
of the north generally, unite with Till
man OH the question of negro suprem-
acy. The fiat has gone forth and is
lplainly stated. That neither politically
NOR socially shall the black man be OF
II par with the white man. This from Il
southern standpoint. this from a demo-
lciatic standpoint. 1t may be worth our
while to inquire how much the real
northern sentiment and the real repub-
lican actions differ from the southern
and democratic. Certain It is that from
some cause public opinion, this to in
c!ude all political and ell religious cir
| cles, has changed very much since the
good old abolition days of Wendell
| Phillips aud John Brown. Theoreti-
lcally these men preached and their fol-
lowers proclaimed that the black man
is just as good as the white man" Fur
thermore. the emancipation proclama-
ton of Lincoln seemed to strengthen
the statement. Again giving them sivil
rights by legal enactment was to settle
once and for all the whole negro quss-
ton. All this apparently was the Goa
|lescing of sentiment into law, and to
recognize a new condition of affairs.
But now, forty years after. the ne
gro question is before us again with all
of the former and more of the new per-
picking additions. Wendell Phillips de-
manded freedom from slavery of every
black man in the United States. Well.
the black man Is free, but-and here we
stop. It's all he has gained. On the
contrary. he has lost much and
many things necessary to his happiness
and comfort. AS race, as a whole,
few students of the racial question dare
claim any material or noticeable adj
vance in his mental, physical or politi-
cal condition. Individual instances
there are, many of them, but Booker T.
Washington is only one. Friends (real,
not politicaD of the negro In the south
are forced to admit that the negro as a
class has no more advanced ideas o.
honesty, truthfulness, morality, of self
0r general government, of the sacred.
ness of the marriage relation. of the me-
cessity of education for his children and
his race, in a word, of the requirements
of civilization. than his forefathers held
as slaves. Forty years is a short time
in one sense. but it has brought into
public gaze two more generations of
black men and black women. Even
here in the north, in our cities in Iowa,
where they most do coagregate, what
is the unbiased opinion CT their condi- |
ton in all of the requirements by which
we measure other nationalities?
Some writer the other day said this
in its future treatment of the |
l'ilipinos would not repeat the mistake |
we as a nation made in regard to the
negroes of the south. What an admis-
sion to pass unchallegned. Whether
the writer or reader agrees with the
statement or not, the fact stands out
that our actions. north and south. belle
our theories. This occurred to the wri-
ter when he read of the refusal of the
Council of Women to admit colored
women to their reception. 1t strikes
he most forcbly when he knows that
wen in our churches in the north the
.olor line is drawn. To be sure there
> ilo kiaeaiu iiuils az lii't uooI eIitTdnce,
No Colored People Wanted Here" but
hsre is an unwritten. well understood
lotice that the colored people observe
They must flock by themselves" to wor-
hip the same God, to Learn of the Saw
or that died for all men, black and
white. All this everybod. knows. Even
'ur children are taught it at the moth
RS knee. And all this is no attempt at
learned treatise to settle the negro
question. 1t is a short recital of condi-
ions that exist 1t is no apology for
he burning of negroes at the stake.
But 1t is suggestion that when some
f us are so eloquent in condemning the
ctions of the southern white people as
whole, in their treatment of the me-
roes as a class, we should first look