The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1903-11-03
PROF. BASSETT SAYS THE
NEGRO WILL WIN EQUALITY

his place sum up the philosophy Of
many people in reference TO this intricate
and p%erplexing problem. But We ought
to remember that such an idea Is neither
scientific nor charitable. THE PLACE"
OF EVERY MAN IN OUR AMERICAN
LIFE IS SUCH a ONE AS HIS NIR-
TUES AND HIS CAPACITIES MAY
ENABLE HIM TO TAKE. NOT EVEN
A BLACK SKIN AND A FLAT NOSE
CAN JUSTIFY CASTE IN THIS COUN-
TRY.
The most a~ggraYating cause, however. Of
the present antipathy between the races
is the fact that the negro question Is In
politics. It has been in politics since
the day when the negro became the chief
factor in American labor. It was 50 IL
Georgia in the days Of the benevolent
Oglethorpe, when the chief political desire
of the people was the admission of negro
slaves. It appeared in the great consti-
tutional convention of 1887. when certain
Southern States spoke darkly of the flu
ture in case they should not be allowed to
import saves. 1t was a political question
in the two angry decades which preceded
the Civil War, when abolition fires burn
ed fercely on the one side and p~ro-slayery
fires on the other. It was still = politics
in 1850 and 1851, when eleven States Sc
ceded from the union rather thar run the
risk Of having the "black republicans"
abolish slavery. 1t was still a political
question in the days of constitutional
amendment and IN THE REACTION
AIRY DAYS OF 1875. 1t has become a
political, question in another form within
the last ten years. Whatever concerns
our secular life we undertake to regulate
by political action; and it is not strange
that we have so often brought law to
bear ON the question.
But the negro question has gone into
politics recently in a party, rather than IN
a truly political sense. 1t has been seized
upon by party leaders AS A MEANS OF
WINNING VOTES. THIS HAS BEEN
PARTICULARLY TRUE IN THE
SOUTH. Always since 1875 the Southern
democrat campaigners HAVE USED H
NEGRO ISSUE with good effect. A GER
tain brilliant party leader, who now holds
a large share of pubic attention, used IN
the early days Of his career, to make his
best appeal to the gaping audiences at the
country cross roads by asking all the men
| who wanted to vote the white mans ticket
to pass to one side of the road and all
| who would vote the black mans ticket
to stay where they were. When the crowd
began to move across the road it was hard
for a white man to stand in his tracks.
THAT WAS THE WORST MANIFES-
TATION OF THIS FORM OF THE IS
SUE TWENTY YEARS AGO.
Ten years ago the South was in the en-
brace Of the populist movement, designed
by it's leaders to organize the mass of far
mers into a political association. This
movement, if successful, would have
l-I 49, 49, I~-,o -or4I II ur1c
storing enough to make itself dreaded by
the party. To fght it down the leaders
of the old party were led to seek a strong
issue. THE NEGRO ISSUE WAS Sc
LECTED. It lent itse'f TO the exigency
because the populists, wherever
they triumphed, had been in alliance with
the republicans and had brought
a few negroes into office. These negroes
were usually quietly disposed, but
they were frequently unfit for office, and
the very fact that they were
negroes made it impossible for them t,
execute their offices on white men. They
were also sometimes unduly elated over
their success, being merely ignorant ne
groes. The result was various conflicts
This gave an opportunity to CRY Negro
domination" RAISING THE CRY BY
THE ONE SIDE PRODUCED IRRI-
TATON ON THE OTHER SIDE, AMI
THE VERY DENUNCIATION OF NE
GROES FOR "OUTRAGES" PRO
DUCED A CONTINUATION OF THE
"OUTRAGES." FROM THAT TIMF
TO THIS THE NEGRO ISSUE IN THE
SOUTH HAS TAKEN ON A NEW
PHASE.
IN ORDER TO ENSURE IT'S IS
TENDENCY the old party passed tn,
suffrage amendments. 1t promised til,
people that if they would by this mean
eliminate the negro vote the old condition
Of a solid white party would ~dlsappca
and that we should have no more cheatin
of negroes out of their votes. The sue
cess of these campaigns convinced tn
leaders that the issue was a popular one
Having won a complete success they ar
leath, in spite of their promise, 10 Civ
up the means by which they succeeded. /
is now good party tactics to keep the ne
gro question before the people. Rooke
T. Washington's dinner at the Whit
House WAS SEIZED ON for this pun
! pose. The watchful party leaders "a,
: in it an opportunity TO MAKE CAP
tai WITH THE MASS OF THE PIC
! PIE. Not long after this there occuTre
> III Washington what has been known sine
CQaC Cme as the 'Dl-raclal reception.
This. too, at once suggested itself as
popular means of appealing to the peopl,
r So successful were these two attempt
that some political editors HAV-
5 LEARNED TO LOOK FOR FAMILIA-
? OCCASIONS. At present very inconside
bre affairs are made to do service in tt
Z same way. An illustration of how tn
works is seen in Che following incident
< In the month of August, 1908, Booker
Washington and a party of prominent n
y groes, most of them northern men, WEI
. going North after the adjournment of
. negro business mems conference at Kno,
Z Vile, Tenn. He telegraphed to the pr;
prietors Of a certain dinner-house on tt
railroad to know if, on the arrival of IL
train, he and his party could be give
d breakfast. The reply was favorabl
I When the train arrived the regular boar
5 ers had been served. The party of negroe
A which numbered thirty-eight, were give
IL seats in the regular dining-room. The p1
+ %prietors understood that there were
w. ~ L.