Daily Kennebec journal., 1904-01-28
Schurz on the Negro Problem.

OCUbI< vi ss0 sSSS'S ~S'S''s
There are very few subjects upon
which Carl Schurz can say anything of
interest to the public. and the negro
problem is one Of them. His article in
the January McClure's is one of the
cIearest statements of race conditions
and issues that has appeared in many
years. In 1865 he was sent by Presi-
dent Johnson to study Southern condi-
tions, and especially the status Of the
negro. He ably fulfilled his mission,
and made a report which mainly led to
the adoption Of the fourteenth and
fifteenth amendments to our constitu-
ton. In the forty years that have
passed since that time Mr.. Schurz has
changed his political affiliations, but he
has IN no way changed his opinion that
the conditions which then obtained in
the South still endure.
The South while accepting the 18th
amendment. hoped to neutralize its
effects by state and municipal action.
This expectation embarrassed and
impedcd the efforts made for the edu-
cation of the freedmen with few
honorable expectations. Mr.. Schurz
found the prejudice against negro
education almost as bitter as it had
been before the abolition Of slavery.
Negro education will be the ruin Of
the South" "the elevation of the
blacks will be the degradation of the
whites" were common sayings. Most
of the states that come into the union
under the plans of Johnson, who had
prved traitor to his party, enacted
laws of peculiar severity against the
negroes. The ballot was given him by
our government not in spirit of
hatred CT viudictivcness toward the
South, but as a protection against the
abuses of the Southern whites. So
great a revolution could not be effected
without trouble. The imposing of SO
great mass of ignorance on the body
polite proved an evil, but necessary
one.
MIR. Schurz describes at length the
reign of terror that followed the influx
of many Northern adventures the re-
suits of disfranchising confederate
soldiers while all negroes had the
ballot, the outrages of the Klu-klux
clans and other disastrous conditions
of the reconstruction era. He tells us
how in 1877 President Hayes called
Southern leaders into his counsels, how
as a result of this action the Northern
soldiers were withdrawn and the
carpet bag government ceased. But
the years and the negroes were
practically disfranchised. Dema-
gogues of the Tillman and Governor
Vartlman order are still warning
against negro education. and there are
widespread attempts to reduce the
blacks to serfdom.
Mr. Sohurz warns the South against
this reactionary spirit. He em-
phasizes the impossiblity of negro
transportation. and of re-enslaving a
race that has once been free. He re-
minds the South that the Colcred
people were brought here by force and
are here to stay: that with all their
disabilities they have accumulated
since the civil war property amounting
to $500. 100000. He admits that gradual
emancipation and a gradual comforting
of the franchise would have been
better. but the inevitable results of the
Civil War must be accepted. He sees
in negro education. in the treatment of
the negro as a man and citizen, the
only solution Of the race problem. and
advises the South to Join hands with
the North in settling this vital ques-
ton. which If long left unsettled will
result in the direst consequences both
to whites and blacks.