The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-07-31

speak of George, who. a pessimfst III
/ face washes, is still q scientific believer
| in the final Wilderness of his race. his
theory being unconsciously founded
upon the Darwinian philosophy OF
natural selection"
Eyes, sir says the prophetic
| George, sin fifty years there won't
be no niggers -leastwise, if they are
Triggers, nobody won't know it. Don't
you see how its going on? Every
Niger man what wants to get mar
ried, picks out the lightest woman ne
can find and every niger woman
| finds the lightest man she can get TO
marry, so that the children is getting
whittier and whittier all the time and
| presently there'll be enough light nlS-
| gers to go round and, first thing you
know, they'll all be white as you and
straight haired as me"-and George
laughed as he shook his head so that
| his inch long curls quivered.
ooh, no sir. / didn't mean to say
that. OF course they won't be white
folks-theyll just be white niggers! !"
I have often wondered whether
Thomas Dixon, Jr., really got the idea
of the title of his book from the bibli-
cal quotation or from the negro man
who used to work on the Raleigh
street force who was known as
spotted Jim %
Apparently Jim, who was full
blood negro with dead black, thick
skin. had started to turn white--or,
rather, pink-and then thought bet
ter of it, his face, neck. arms and
hands being covered with splotcheS
of sickly red and white. The story
was that Jim had tried to get white
with acid and given up on account
of the pain, but the real cause was a
common skin disease. But, at any
rate. Jim worked steadily on his job
on the streets and got no whittier and
then-suddenly-h disappeared.
Some time after, a Raleigh gentle
man was strolling through the mid
way of Cumberland County's Fair
when he stopped before the platform
of a fakir whose barking was so
strenuous as to keep n continuous
crowd marching up with their dimes
to peer into an oblong box, whence
there came between the pauses of the
'fakir's' vociferation the groWlings
and mutterings of some strange and
desperate animal.
The fakir took off n dilapidated
plug hat, swept it in a comprehensive
circle over the gaping crowd, pointed
a quivering finger at the oblong box,
and shouted dramatically:
Can the Leopard Change his spots,
or the Ethiopian his skin? Walk in
and see, Ladies and Gentlemen! Walk
i'm and see! There he is, the wonder
of the age, the one living and ever
lasting answer to the question asked
in the Bible. 1t has taken more than
two thousand years to answer it--but
here he is Captured on the Island
white in spots-whiteF and whittier as
the days go blythe Almighty's an
swer to his own question-the Riddle
Solved-walk in ladies and Gentlemen
for the small sum of one dime! Right
this wayi"--and as the fallir reached
his hand for the coin, the groWls
from the box redoubled in volume.
The Raleigh gentleman paid his
dime and walked in. In the bottom
of the box was a strange sight. A
black figure, naked save for breech-
cloth, lay writhing on the floor, his
head surmounted by a growth of long
hair bristling like the quills OF a
lporcupine, and the dead black of his
| face, arms and body discolored with
, Iivid and Irregular whitish marks.
AS the Raleigh man peered over the
| edge of the box the Ethiopian half
rose. and, snarling like a dog, sprang
at the crowd with swapping teeth
and as he turned from his spring, the
Raleighfte looked into the eyes of
spotted JIM
why Jim.'' he said. "what are
you doing here?"
In a second. the ethiopian" had
ceased to rage and became, from a
"wild man of Borneo" a very respect
| full. if somewhat spotted, Carolina
darke.'
"Lawd. Nasal" he exclaimed as
he stood suddenly meek by the rail
| of his box, Don't give de poor mig
ger away-please Massa.'
Notwith STANDING the popu1ar
aphorism that the two surest things
| in life are death and taxes" it is
we'll known in practical political
economy that a new tax has to De-
come-not popular, for none are that
but familiar to the people before
the best results will follow. After a
tax has gotten it's annual dose of
blood for a decade or more, the
people come to bare their arms to 1T
when the time comes round as read
lily as they bow their heads with pious
resignation at the funerals of their
friends. But who would have thought
that q tax that doesn't have to be
paid until after death has come would
ever have become popular? Yet,
from the treasurer's returns, that is
what has happened in the case of the
"Inheritance Tax" which was passed
by the Legislature of 1901, under the
provisions of which the heirs to
estates of q certain amount ana over
must pay to the State Il tax that
grows larger in per cent as the in
heritance increases in value.
For instance in 1901, the year the
law was passed, the State Treasury
received from this source the sum of
$23707, in 1902. $4,240.69; in 1903,
$12,57S.82, while for the first half of
the present year the returns amount
to $10,941.44, making a total revenue
for Of
average, if the present income is
maintained of $4,000 year as
against less than $3.50 received for
the first twelve months after the law
went into operation.
The popularity of this tax might be
explained on the ground that. being
flushed with his inheritance, the heir
is willing to pay-but what about the