The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-04-16
The NEGRO OUTLOOK BRIGHT.
nth THE SOUTH TO MANAGE 1T
THE NEGRO WILL ADVANCE.
Under No other Plan Can the Question He
soIyed-An,thing That Even Remotely
suggests Social Equality Between
the Races Sets the Negro Back.

the Races Sets the Negro Back.
B,roN RoroE, La. April is.-with all
the hot discussion Of the negro question
that the events Of the past few months
have brought about, there are among tenn
nerate.minded. thoughtful men here a
bonefulness and cheerfulness on the
subject which are in strong contrast with
the violent explosions OF wrath which are
coming from the more excita BILE groups.
walter II. Page, editor OF the Worlds Work,
s,pressed this optimistic sentiment when,
in his address at Montclair recently. he
aid that the outlook for the negro In the
south was never brighter, never more
encouraging. than 1t lie now.
This is precisely the view held by repre-
sn,ative men in the Southern States.
The negros outlook is brighter and better,
these men hold, because the outlook Of the
whites is brighter and better; better
MT merely from a material standpoint,
but better because certain barriers to the
harmonious progress OF both races have
bsen removed. One man here In Louisiana
out /, this way the other day;
We have taken the matches away from
the negro and he can no longer set the
had his bonfire in the reconstruction days,
and We have waded out Of the blaokened
ruins and rebuilt again. We do not pro-
pose TO go in for another oonhagration.
and to that end take good care that the
colored brother does not carry the material
wherewth to start one. That is the first
step necessary to his salvation as we'll as
our own
with the ground thus cleared for white
civilization and white progress. the negro
will follow along in the white mans wake
and develop materially and morally within
the boundaries Of his natural limitations.
That has been his history from the begin
ming The only person who benefited by
the importation Of the negro to this country
was the negro. In the sum total the only
person injured was the white man. The
closer the contact OF the negro the worse
for the white man. and what Is the worse
for the white man is In the end the worse
for the negro.
As Mr.. watterson said in his speech in
Chicago last week. the place OF the negro
always has been and always will be in the
rear OF the procession. Put him up at the
front, and Senegambian barbarian at once
begins. Mix him up Unfortunately with
the marchers. and Haytien conditions with
a steady drift toward Senegambianism are
In the South the negro Is back once
more in the rear, where he belongs. In
spite OF theorists. in spite OF the whirling
iervishes OF fanaticism, there IL where he
will remain; but. remaining there he will
ave every opportunity offered him in
he way OF education and moral fortifca-
ion to advance himself, to win promotion
n the ranks OF his fellows and so to help
guide them and lead them to an apprecia-
ion OF responsibilities. 30 far as with their
limitations they can be 90 led.
Nov. that is the condition we have
RED to establish in the South. and. just 40
ar as we have established 1t, by just
% much 10 the outlook for the negro brighter
md more encouraging than IL has ever
oeen since the sad days when. a helpless,
ignorant child, he was turned loose with
the ballot in his hands-turned loose in a
house Of finder with his pockets stuffed
Tull OF matches.
But anything that approaches anything
hat even hints toward a basis OF social
quality between the whites and the blacks
5 a danger that must be at once elimi-
,ated. 1t Ia like the first trickling stream
u water through the levee that holds within
,ounds our now swollen Mississippi. Unless
instantly checked. It will 60 on increasing
Intil the barriers are swept away and there
; a great crevasse through which the
waters will pour and spread ruin and desc
alton.
Either the boundaries between the negro
nd the white man must be kept rigidly |
Irawn, and the two races-the tendencies |
4 one Of which are toward barbarism
nd OF the other toward civilization-must |
" kept distinctly apart. or there comes /
Inst the degeneracy OF the whites and |
hen the ultimate reduction to worthless
less OF the amalgamated whites and blacks.
This is not theory; 1t Ia fact demon
trated over and over again at our very
|oors in the West Indies.
Now, with that fact indelibly impressed |
pon their minds, and surrounded as they
ne with the dark sea OF negro population,
10 you wonder that the white people Of
he South resent with fury anything. any
ublic act, that by the slightest suggestion
oints toward the elimination Of race
arriers to the extent Of establishing a
asis Of social equality between the negro
nd the white man? Such things. such
cts, are the only cloud that hangs over
he negro's outlook In the South. So far
I the ultimate iss,,e Ia CONCERNED thsv |