The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-01-25
THr nUTY Or THE RACES.

The Advertiser prints this morning a wall written and in some respects pa thetic letter from colored correspond- ent of Brewton. His reflections and com ments are in the main correct. and he IS thoroughly so when he refers to The Ad- vertiser as the friend of the colored peo- pie. It is their friend because it con stantly, in season and out of season. counsels them to adopt and pursue a course of life which will be best for them, and to put behind them dreams or position and power which can never be realized in Alabama. We advise them for their own good, their own peace. and their own happiness.
 The white people of the South are in the main the best friends the coiored people have ever had or ever will have. sThe Southern white man understands the ne- gro better than any one else does and will do him justice in most cases. There are white men in the South who will oppress and prey on the negro just as the strong have preyed on the weak since the world began. and it will always be so. The breed of human vultures Is not confined to section or country, and the fable of mythic An dromeda Is re-enacted in this day of Christian civilization as it was in the dark days of heathenism.
 But 1t is none the less wrong, Might does not make right. though 1t often usurps rights place. In many respects the negro is helpless and dependent. Dreams of political ascendancy or social equality can never be anything but dreams and the sooner the colored people emancipate themselves from such visions the better for them and for all> others. But the very fact that we have taken from the progeny of Canaan most of his political rights, and that We have shown him that there is a social plane which he can never reach, and to which he should never aspire-this fact makes 1t the solemn duty of the white people 10 n tect the colored man and to see that fe has full justice under the aw. Fhe cid Latin proverb, Fiat justtia, ruat coe- lam-"Let justice be done tLoIgh the heavens fall" is not pad H.otto for guided by. Robbing and swin'liiag col ored people under the form of law, talk | ing advantage of their ignorance ard helplessness, lynchlng them fol Ieal or alleged crimes-this IS not justice, er right. or humanity or Christianity Such practices are as degrading ito the white race as they are ruinous to the blacks As a general proposition we of the South who know tho negroes best have the kindliest feeling for them. We re- member their years of faithful servitude | their devotion. to mc ster and mistress ir the darkest era of the South's history ! and we must rot forget that they have | in the main beer patient under grea provocatcn. For these things all tru' | Southern white men retain the most kind | ly feeligs for theil late slaves and would gladly see then a prosperous and con tea;pd people.
 | Bu; the duties and obligations are nc altogether on the white man, for tn | negro himself must be largely instru He cannot sit in the seat of the whit man, either socially or politically, am must forever dismiss the idea from hi
 mind. The better class of negroes mus teach the evil ones that obedience to laV
 is one of the highest duties of citizenship
 and that their only safety as a race de
 bends on their respect for the law an l obedience to It's mandates. Wheneone O the race commits a crime the other
 should stand ready to assist in bringin
 him to punishment and not as is too fire
 quently the case, shield him because l.
 is a negro and look on the officers of tn
 law as prosecutors of the colored race.
 The negroes are here to stay. They ar
 a part of our body polite and in our -opii,
 ion will always be here. We must loo
 on them as permanent citizens, teac
 them the grand lessons of honesty, n
 dustry and obedience to law, and at tn
 same time we who are in some respect
 their guardians and protectors must in
 sist that they have that equal and exlc
 justice which is one of the boasts an
 glories of free government We ar
 the strongest and we cannot afford to b
 unjust. The negro Is weakest and h
 cannot afford to defy justice And so tn
 white and the black have duties whic
 are paramount and exacting and if bot
 are true to themselves and to the rigl
 there will be no want of harmony bt
 tween the races.