The Saint Paul globe., 1903-11-30

Colored Educator Says 1t Is the
Greatest Issue Now Before
the Nation.

t'How to make of the black people
Christian law-abiding, Industrious and
useful citizens is the real race prob
lem. The negroes are wrapped up in
the history of America and you can't
separate them from it," said j. Milton
Waldron yesterday afternoon in the
course of an address in the assembly
room of the Y. M C. A.
Mr.. Waldron, who is president of the
Bethel Industrial school at Jackson
vile, Fla, and pastor of the institu-
tional church, is, as he expresses it,
part negro, part Indian and part white,
but from his appearance might easily,
be mistaken for one of unmixed Cau-
casion blood He said yesterday that
he has been for more than twenty
years working among the black peo-
pie of the South, and studying not only
the black but also the white popula-
ton of the South and their relation to
one another.
His audience was made up largely of
the more Intelligent class of the Afro
American population Of the city, al
though there was no falling off of the
regular attendance Of these Sunday
afternoon meetings; and therefore the
room was we'll filled. In part Mr. Wal
| dron said:
The race problem concerns not only
the black people and not only the peo-
pie of the South; it concerns all who
are interested in the fatherhood of God
and the brotherhood of man. 1t is the
| greatest problem which has confronted
the American people of this age, and its
| influence and significance is much broader
| than its own bounds for if you oppress
| the black people and take from them
! their rights, others will soon be oppressed
| and their rights will be taken from, them.
| That condition would very soon be ap-
| piled to the weaker members of the
| stronger race.
But One Way to Settle 1t.
You may depend upon it, my friends,
| the race problem, the labor problem, nor
| any other Of the great problems of the
| day will ever be settled except upon the
| basis of justice, truth and righteous
ness.
From some we hear that the way to set
| tie the race problem is to teach the negro
how how to work My people have known Iyva
how to do ali honest work honorabIy.
| 1t is also suggested that the negro
the way to do that is to deprive him of
| his vote. That idea is contrary to the
fundamental principles of the United
| states government; and besides being an
|
ment to yourselves, for you can't injure
any man without injurIng yourself.
Other plans contemplate the removal of
| all the negroes from this country to one
| place or another-to any place to set
| them away from here. All such schemes
are manifestly impra cticable for many
| reasons. The negro feels that he is an
American citizen, and it would be impos-
| sible to convince him that it would be
| to his best interests to leave this coun
| try. where he was born, and go to some
tcfy. Low L.
tions he knows nothing. Then, too. the
| people of the South, much as they have
| abused the negro and imposed upon him,
1aa have e. BECOME e accustomed to him and and
! would not be willing to let him go. And
| beside all this, it would be a physical
1mpossibil1ty to remove the 10,OOO,OOO ne
| groes from America. 1t would keep the
| entire United States navy busy for
| long time transporting them.
| For a proper beginning in the solution
| of the cobwebs from the minds of the
| white people of the South. They do not
really know the negro They look upon
him as grinning, happy -go-lucky,- care
know or take into consideration that he
aspires, that he is capable of better
| things, and that he longs for them. On
/ the other hand the blacks of the South
do not understand the white people They
| must understand that God has made all
notions of one blood, and that all are
| God'S children.
Breach Is Widening Between Races.
| Since I have been in the North I have
| frequently been asked the question: 'Is
! the chasm between the blacks and the
| whites in the South widening?" I am
sorry to say that il. is. I am also asked:
rs the race prejudice intensifying?' To
my regret I must say yes. That is due
| not to the better class of the white peo
| pie of the South, but to the poor whites"
who are now the power in politics. Be
| fore the war the condition of these poor
| white people was scarcely less abject
| than that of the negroes, and they were
for the greater part just as ignorant.
They as well as the negroes, were emanci
| been but slow. The breach between the
white man and negro is widening because
of the labor question. Those of the
whites who are uneducated and are only
| brought into competition with the negroes
| object because they believe it is the ne
| groes that keep their wages down. In
| the professions of medicine, law and dent
I istry the white men object to dividing
| their practice with the few negroes who
have been able to qualify for those pro-
| fessions, and they do not want the ne
Practically throughout the Southern
states the negro is disfranchised: be-
| lieve in qualification of the ballot, and
| I consider it is right to deny a man the
| privilege of a vote because he cannot read
| his ballot, or because he is not a law
abiding citizen. I contend that it is not
| right or just to say to any man that he
| cannot vote merely because his skin is
| black. You can't have a race of serfs
| and a race of free men in the same coun-
| try. In the gulf states there still exists
| a slavery as vile and as vicious as that
| which was broken up in 1865.
| The social feature of the race problem,
| I believe, can take care of itself. We
| are not anxious to marry white women
| or to have white men marry our daugh-
| terS.