The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-03-06
Governor Aycock States
True Sentiment.
CAUSE OF BITTERNESS
II there is More Bitterness in the
South it Grows Out OF Recon-
struction and Not the War Be.
tween the North and
South.

Tt the Editor: One great benefit ac-
cruing to the people of both sections
from the yearly migrations of Northern
people Southwark, is the better under
standing which each obtains OF the
other. Will you permit a New England
Yankee, who thinks enough of 1.-THE Old
North State to educate his son at your
Stete University, to offer some kjndl;
observations?
Cne thing that l have noticed is that
whatever of bitterness remains as a
result of the Civil War. is on the part
OF the Southern people. l have never
met a Northern veteran or Northern
person of any condition, who spoke
unkindly or unfriendly of the Southern
people. When all the Southern people
come to realize the honest desire which
exists on the part of the Northerners
to make friends 1 think that the last
friction between the sections will have
been eliminated.
l. goes without saying that the chief
bane of contention between Yankee and
Southron is the negro, and the treat
ment he is supposed to receive South
and North. On this important question,
l think that there is a mutual misunder-
standing. The Northern man living
Were the negro is a negligible qaantty,
and by reason of education and environ
ment, a lawabiding and useful person,
can have little just appreciation of the
COZ ditions obtaining in the BLACK Belt"
OF the South nor of the imminence of
the black peril.
On the other hand the Southron, whose
travels have been limited and whose
prejudices have been hardened by the
harsh fortunes of war, has l believe en-
tirely misjudged the Northern attitude
towards the negro. My observations
have taught me that the Northern man
has a far greater aversion to the negro
than you have in the South. We do
NOT care for him as a servant; we would
not think of walking with him on the
street; we are uneasy if he chances to
sit next us in street car. The idea
that the Northern people believe in the
social equality of the negro is entirely
a bugaboo, fostered by politicians for
political purposes. They believe in ne
such thing. l have lived all my life in
the North and by reason OF my profession
have had ample opportunity to observe
the customs of al grades of society, and
l never knew or heard of negro beng
received as an equal in any house, no
matter how humble.
Where the Northerner differs widely
from his Southern brother in his atti-
tude towards the black man is in the
fact, no matter how much he feels him
self the superior of the negro socially,
he is willing to accord him his rights
urder the law. So it happens in the
@hn yhn W
votes the Republican ticket. is treated ex-
aCtly the same as to the franchise as
the naturalized Irishman or Italian, who
generally votes the Democratic ticket
Wrile l never saw a black man on a
Jury. no white jury in the North would
ever think of deciding against black
man on account of his color. l am led to
these remarks by the following editorial
in the Charlotte Observer, which l sup
pose is a respectable and typical ex
ponent of Southern opinion:
1--WE mentioned, Tuesday. a case IN
Rowan Superior Court, in which
nigger was the plaintiff and the
Southern Railway Company defend
ant, in which the niger won.
Salisbury attorney writes that this
is a mistake-that it was case of
hung jury. This statement is much
easier of belief than the other, and
sustains our notion that in a suit
between the Southern and a black
man, the average jury is at its wits
end as to which to decide against.
ing able to decide against both, sur
rendered to its perplexity and just
laid down..
While there may be some excuse for
trying TO eliminate the negro from poll
tics. there certainly can be zone for
treating him unjustly in the courts, for
the sake OF justice / hope that the. Char
lotte Observer does not properly repre-
sent the opinion of the educated and
thinking people of the South.
Yours very truly,
WALTER B. FROST
Southern Pines, N. c., March 4, 1904.