The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1903-10-28


answer to that question as to all aues'
tions which occur TO the Evening Post In
connection with the South is tnnt inc
South is not treating the negro fairly. IL
says that the greatest wealth of any
state is its people. and II any large num-
Der of the inhabitants OF any state are
kept down, the progress of that staSe
will suffer accordingly.
we pause here to remark that by the
Posts own showing these States nave
| made wondrous progress since they were
devastated by war a few years ego, ana
the Post might have mentioned the m
teresting fact that the iron Industries
/ OF Alabama are rivalng those OF Penn
sylvania, while South Carolina Is now
manufacturing moro cotton than any
! state In the Union, save Massachusetts
and is running Massachusetts close
race. The Post also seems to assume
! that the South is dependent upon negro
! labor. Many people at the North max"
the same mistake, based, as Haprer
| Weekly recently pointed out, upon two
| assumptions, first. that. owing to cl lna'e
/
| compete with blacks as cnltivators oil
| the Souths staple product; and second
| lS If even such physical desirabilit'cs
did not exist, white immigrants could
not be induced to come to the SCUM
| from foreign countries or from other
parts of the United States, owing 10 their
unwillngness to compete with negroes
in the labor market But 1T appears 10
Harper's Weekly that neither OF these
assertions is well founded.
III there is any Southern staple It
says, (which white men have been sur
/ posed to be unfit to cultivate, 1t ls rice.
| yet 1t turns out that almost the whole
of this cereal that is raised In LOUISIANA
| is produced by white men. ~ large pro-
portion OF these rice growers have come
! from the Northern States. Accord ne %
! the Farm Magazine of Baltimore, up
| wards of 10o0 immigrants from me
| Norther and Western sections of the
! Union have settled during the last decade
| between New Orleans and the town OF
Corpus Christi III Texas. The same pc
rodical brings forward other interesting
1 data relating to the migration OF wh tc
| agriculturalists from the North to the
| South We read, for instance. OF twelve
| hundred white farmers, not Southern by
birth, that have during the last twelve
months been cultivating lands on the
| lines of a single railroad south of tie
Potomac and east Of the Mississippi. We
are further informed that nearly
straight line hundred miles In length
may be drawn through me so'calieo
black belt Of Virginia without crossing
an acre Of land owned by negro, ana
4 that large percentage of the farms thus
crossed are titled by white men who have
come from the North and Vest. Around
Petersburg. in Farmville, and IN the
Norfolk trucking section are to be found
many white men Of foreign birth or de-
/ scent"
But, to return to our New York con-
temporary It says that It IS easy for
one race of people to push down anoth-
err; that there are many ways of doing
it, but that there Is one way to reverse
the process, and In that, no one outside
of the race which Is strongly upward
can be much help, although 1t Is easy 20
hinder.
If whole race is to be elevated, it
goes on, there must be many weary work.
ers slowly and doggedly forcing their
/, way on Whether they VII attempt TO
depends upon whether. in their view, the
prizes which await them at the top are
worth the effort to get there Tho future
prospects of the South In great degree
depend upon its negro population. now
in large measure thriftless, immoral ana
unen,ghtened. but becoming Industrious,
virtuous and Intelligent. 1t Is going to
be very hard for these negroes so to ele-
vate themselves Can the South AFFORD
to say to them. "strlve as you choose,
succeed as you can; but. Whatever you
do, so long as there is discernihle droF
OF African blood in your veins, you shall
never be allowed to obtain many OF those
things which men of all races and In all
ages have most keenly longed for?'
1t has already been shown that the
South is not a. much dependent upon the
negro as the Post seems to think, and the
Post Is equally wrong in maintaining
that the South is holding the negro down
and discouraging him to LIT himself UP.
On the contrary, the South Is spending
enormous sums of money on negro
schools 1t gives the negro an opportun-
ity to accumulate property. and protects
him in all property rights. Moreover.
when he qualities himself and shows that
I he Is CAPABLE of exercising honestly and
,, lntelligently the right Of suffrage, 1t
nuts the ballot into his hands 1t Is Of
fering every inducement to the negro to
qualify and make of himself a good and
useful citizen. If outside capital Is de-
TERED by the negro element from seek.
c Ing investment In tho South, 1t Is not
! because the South is Keeping the negro
S down" The more probable reason Is that
g capitalists are shy of Investment in those
sections where the negro race even threat
, ems TO become n factor in politics.
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THE PEOPLE AND THE TRUSTS