The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1903-03-26
THE NEGRO QUESTION.
AS Viewed by the Editor of the
Brooklyn Eagle.
Charlotte Observer.

AS fleWeo Oy the EoIIoE OF tHe
Brooklyn Eagle.
Charlotte Observer
The editor of the Brooklyn New
York; Eagle is Mr. st. Clair Nickel
way. One would be pretty apt to
infer from his name that he was a
man with q clear head and a we'll
balanced mind, a Scotchman of close
observation who will not put his pen
ell to paper until he knows thorough
ly the subject On which he wishes to
write That he is this kind of man
the following editorial from his paper
proves him to be. He writes on that
subject which just now is absorbing
SO much attention, north and south
the present and future position OF
the negro i'll the latter section. He
understands the negro and the south
ern situation thoroughly. 1t is re-
freshing to come across such views
and opinions from the editor of a
northern paper 1t shows that there
are some who are not blinded by
prejudice, or, which is almost as bad,
undertake to discuss the question and
give advice while totally ignorant as
to every phase of it.
The Eagle editorial is as follows:
''This government is now under no
more obligation to take care of
negroes than of the whites Whites
do not ask the government to take
care of them. They take care OF them
selves. And they engage to take care
OF the negroes through state govern
ments i'll the matter of education, and
to take care of them in the labor
world under the laws of employment
and the like. The negro of today as
the ward Or charge of the federal GOV
ernnent has no status and should
have none. He was freed forty years
cause or occasion of a great deal OF
trouble in the country, but only be-
cause he has been coddled, pampered
or privileged beyond his measure or
capacity or development by those
who do not understand him and
whose motives as partisans were, to
say the least, not philanthrOpic.
What the negro needs is abstension
from politics, abstensiOn from office
holding, educational facilities, on in
dustrial lines, which recognize his ap-
titudes and his limitations, and then
be let alone, to stand or fall, accord
ing to his deserts.
''It may be said that the constitu-
ton recognizes his political rights.
But the constitution in that part
does not recognize his human nature,
and human nature was before con-
stitutions, is stronger than they and
will conform them to it's Instincts and
mandates. This is a government of
states as we'll as a union. Suffrage
in state turns on state treatment OF
suffrage. And public opinion in states
touching the office-holding class, con-
sidered by races, will get the best of
political experimentation against it,
or at the expense of it. The white
race everywhere keeps the red man
under, keeps the yellow man under
and keeps the black man under The
latter problem is little harder here
than elsewhere, because the black
man is massed rather than diffused
here. But the policy and the instinct
of the white race will not be changed
on account OF that fact, any more
than it has been changed by consti-
tutions or laws..,which did not take
race instincts and race limitations
| into account.
"What can be and what should be
done to the negro will be discovered
and effected when what cannot be
and should not be attempted for him
is candidly recognized. Mr.. Root
recognizes it, Mr.. Roosevelt now
presumably does. Hard-sensed men
in both parties recognized it before
either of these statesmen admitted
that he did. Life is competition in
which the fittest last. Government
is an evolution of the needs and genius
OF men among whom the fittest DOM
mate. The fittest race in the world
is the Caucasian. Among the weak
est is the negro race. Neither poetry
nor proclamation nor constitutions
nor laws nor Oratory will change the
fact that it is best for the whites to
control and best for the blacks that
the whites should control For both
races should be educational and per
sonal and civic freedom. But for the
whites should be government and for
the blacks should be adequate educa-
tion and decent protection under
government by the whites.