The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1904-03-06
SUNDAY, MARCH 9. 1904.
The Race Problem,

3{5s5842 The Race FlOUAcA4' 9sg4jlS
wa commend to the thoughtful attcn-
t,on OF our rea ders q remarkable " ! 4
dress which President Eliot Of Harvard
gave fortnight ago at meeting IN
New York in the interest Of Hampton ~
stitutc. We wish that It may also DC
widely read in the North. NO calnler'
fajrer or wiser utterance OH the rhce
question from tho lips of Northern man
Mas ever fallen under our view than TINS
En,on o,,nc cement of the foremost citizen
Of New England. It seems to us the
hjgh.watcr mark of that disposition To- o.
wards cardor and honesty with our
southern people which for some years tho
4 hcst minds OF the North have been show
+ ing in many ways. {
The address Is in the main an analysis
4 a. Northern and Southern public opin-
Ion concerning tho negro Tho speakers
candor is made conspicuous at the start,
for he points out that on one all-iHpor-
5tant issue Northern and Southern opin-
Il, ion are identical, 1t Is. lie declares,
practically unanimous judgment that the
z two races ought to be kept pure. Admix-s
ture in any form will not be advocated
as a policy, or method By anybody worthy
Of consideration" Certain differences OF,
usage NAV seem to indicate the contrary
hut President Eliot clearly explains them
as due to the comparative fewness OF ne
groes in the North. Were they more
numerous there we should not see them
riding in the same cars nor their chill
dren attending the same schools with
tho whites. II on these points there Is
any real difference of sentiment between
the sections. it is this, that with re-
gard to comirg into personal contact
with negroes the adverse feeling of North
crn whites is stronger than that Of South
crn whites
On two points only does President
Eliot find that South and North are at
odds. Some Southerners seem to be still
opposed 10 the education Of negroes,
while all Northerners are in favor OF 1t;
and Northern people cannot understand
I why the South regards the Negroes active
participation In politics as IN any way
connected with the question Of social
equality 1t is in reference to this last
matter that President Eliot makes what
seems TO us his only serious error. The
Acknowledgement OF negroes was not due
chiefly to the feeling that the possession
Of the ballot tends towards social equal
ty. That is misrepresentation. 1t was
brought about by number of consider
atons operating OH different classes OF our
people, Counties nd towns where the
negroes were greatly IL majority saw in
this measure their only permanent security
against that. sort Of misgovernment they
had to enlure- In the time Of tho carpet
baggers. The white Counties. or the
other hand. had long resented the power
which in legislatures and party convcn-
tions tho black counties derived from an
announcement based on the notion that
the negroes were really exercising their
privileges as voters. Honest men every
where were tired OF the methods that
had to DO employed to keep the control
OF affairs In the hands OF the intell-
gent No doubt, mere craftsmanship may
hero and there have been controlling
motive. But the fear of social equality
had nothing TO do with It,
AS to- education for the negroes, we
feel sure that In Virginia. whatever may
be the cure In other States, the leaders
of public opinion are as heartily In favor
OF doing what can be done to make the
negroes better citizens and TO fit them
for Industrial effectiveness as are men
like President Eliot In the North. They
also believe in the superiority of the
Hampton method to the utterly unpractl
cal and uncandid methods which were
for while attempted by people who
would not look at the facts Of the negro
nature and the limitations Of his race
They appreciate the justice OF PresideE
EIiot's observation that the nation FOL
whose interest The Southern States Were
impoverished might well consider the eX
tent OF its responsibility. They echo il
their hearts, with fervor which evcl
this high-mlrdcd gentleman can scarcel!
feel, his eloquent, final sentence con
corning the Souths peculiar task in tn
development Of English civilization: II
is u task 10 be worked at by each sue
cessiyc generation, with the eager energ
OF nls1 who know that for them the RICH
cometh IN which no man can work, blu
with a patience Ike that of God, VIII
lives and rules forever
I, IS for the whites to do their dut
lntftpdness and Righteousness to III
weaker and dlsadvantaged race, and leay
the results 10 God. whose patience
never exhausted, and whose plans neve
fall.
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The Sunday Observance Law.