The Savannah morning news., 1904-11-14
RACE PROBLEM
AND THE SOUTH
EMANCIPATION OF WHITES
ALONE WILL SOLVE PROBLEM OF
RACES, SAYS REV. WILLIAMS.

as an Individual and Not as
Race-No Danger of Negro DOME
nation in Equally Restricted Hal
lot.
From the subject When Shall the
Southern White Slave Be Emancipat-
ed?" Rev. A. M Williams. pastor
of Trinity Methodist Church, last night
discussed the conditions existing to-
day in the South and suggested rem
edy for many of them. The text was
taken from II Cor. xi:20: For We suf-
fer, if a man bring you into bondage.
In the course of the address DR.. Will
liams said: -
Nobody seems to think of the
Southern white slave. Yet the negro
situation has fastened on. him condi=
| lions which amount to slavery not
legal, but moral in its nature. Forty
years ago the black was emancipated.
Before then, and ever since, the white
has been bound.
Without discounting the benefits. of
the negro as a laborer it is question
If his presence has not retarded the
material development of the South.
Recognizing many good traits in his
people it is beyond dispute that much
of the evil has accompanied his trans
| fer to this land. African slavery and
freedom alike have held the South in
bondage in many directions. -.
"A false organization of its produce
tive elements hindered our wholesome
| Arfe n
sentiment concerning labor among the
whites was one of its results and bit
] ter experience of the present genera
ton its outcome. Waste in money,
life and character in the most destruc-
tive of modern wars gave a backset
to every progressive Southern inter-
est. Perhaps the most impressive ex-
hibition of public poverty the World
has ever seen was that of the South at
| the close of the war.
Results of the War.
Many countries had felt the terrors
of wars natural devastation. None
before or since had such destruction OF
it's economic foundation. Wealth is the
Joint product of land, labor and capital.
Each of these elements were seriously
affected by the conditions of war.
Our lands had been denuded of
much of their virgin capacity. Our
labor was demoralized by the radical
change from slavery to freedom ana
bewildered by unprecedented condi-
tions The employer was crude IN ms
notions as to how to handle IL under
new terms. The employe absolutely IN
experienced in the disposal of his serV-
ice. a..
But the most fearful feature in the
situation was the destruction OF cap
ital. Capital is we'll defined as stored-
UP labor. The stored-up labor Tor sew
eral centuries had been invested an
negro slaves. The pen that wrote the
emancipation proclamation destroyed
almost completely the savings of two
centuries of labor, enterprise and sac
rifice. Brought under the bondage OF
such poverty no wonder the South sur
fered.
"This did not emancipate the whites.
| For many years 1 cherished the dream
| that the SOS had wrought a double
| liberation. 1t was futile. The SOUTH
ern white still suffers bondage from
the negro.
"There is the bondage of fear. Life
| in many sections is very precarious.
The presence of british, uncontrolled
and unframed men is a constant me-
| mace.
'"rhere is the bondage of passion.
| The mere possibility of the deeds in
timated is palliation, if not justi1ca-
| ton, of the intense acerbity OF our
people. Many occasions OF friction
between the races fan these emotions
into a flame. People subject to such,
chronic affection can never achieve
| for themselves the purest life.
There is the bondage of prejudice.
Race and sectional prejudice arise out
| OF our condition. We almost become
| Ishnaelitish. We look at every issue,
national or international, through
black goggles.
There is bondage of morbidity. We
| cannot live real natural human lives.
| Childish imagination is disturbed by
the black monster. Boyhood's ideals
are disjointed by the colored prospect.
Manhoods ambition is discounted by
| African possibility. Old ages refiec-
ton is saddened by the failures and
disappointments in the negro problem.
There is the bondage of intolerance.
Freedom of opinion and action on even
remote questions is constantly liable
to the ban under the dread of some
form of negro agitation.
Consequences of Bondage.
1.-THE consequences of this bondage
are not pleasant to contemplate. On
nature forces material advancement.
Mental stagnation is the inevitable re-
suit when freedom of thought is re-
pressed. Intellectual development is
hampered when the scope of truth is
subjected to a tyrannical censorship.
Moral worthiness is deprecated when
truth must be suppressed, Justice at
tenuated, independence smothered, and
manliness maligned.
such conditions deteriorate progress
in all lines. immigration may not be
destroyed but the senile, less vigorous
type will be the kind secured. Gov
eminent will be liable to deteriorate as
the racial demagogue will prove the
popular applicant for franchise. South
ern influence in national affairs will
be brought into constantly narrowing
limits while people proclaims that
only one issue controls, and serves no
tice that the boycott will be applied to
all who refuse to subordinate every
interest to the popular dictum."
Statesmen Cannot he Grown.
How can statesmen be grown. in
such evil No encouragement is Civ
en- our men of brains to master the
science OF government. the truth Of
pending issues. the profound problems
of our age.
Independent conviction expressed on
them would be as pearls cast 20 the
swine I'm the presence of our negropho-
bfa. Our bondage to the black calls
not for genius for government. but the
ass than can bray I'm loudest notes our