The Savannah morning news., 1904-05-12
DIVIDED on THE COLOR QUESTION.

! will have a pretty fair share Of The
trouble growing out Of the race PROB
lem. The proposition that was made III
the general conference OF the Northern
Methodist Church. now in session at
Los Angeles. Cal, the other day. to
! elect a negro as bishop of that
church, is being quite generally DIS
cussed by Methodists all over the
/ North. 1t was the chief topic at the
Methodist ministers meeting in Phil
/ adelphia on last Monday, and it is
worthy Of notice that it was produce
tive Of a good deal of feeling of an
! uhamiable kind.
The Rev. Dr.. Frank P. Parkin said
! that he was friend of the negro, but
that he didn't want a negro bishop IN
! the church with which he was connect
| cd. He said he didn't believe il would
| be advisable to bring about a condi-
/ ton of affairs that would make It pos.
| sible for a negro to preside over a ctn-
! ference composed of white ministers.
| In his opinion there was just as much
/ prejudice against the negro in the
! North as in the South. and he was
satisfied that there was no sincerity
! III the attempts which had been made
on previous occasions to elect a negro
bishop of the Northern Methodist
! Church. According to his view 1t would
be better for both the negroes and the
white people for the negroes in the
! Methodist Church to have heir own
church government.
With these very sensible views the
Rev. DR.. Thomas l.. Poulson agreed.
He was particularly emphatic in say
ing that the Methodist Church was not
sincere in dealing with the question of
electing negro bishop. He was
quoted in the Philadelphia Ledger as
follows: I'VE are not sincere. We
are demagogues. We want to appear
to be friends of the negroes and we
don't want a black bishop. 1t would
be better for the negroes to have no
bishops of their own in this country.
1t might be we'll for them to have one
in Africa. To elect negro bishop and
say he should not preside over white
conferences would make matters worse
than ever"
The Rev Thomas Kirkpatrick ar
gued in favor Of a negro bishop. ana
said he was ashamed ia have it atated
in a meeting of Methodist ministers
that the general conference of the
Methodist Church was not sincere IN
what it said and did in connection with
the question of electing a negro bishop,
but what he said did not seem to make.
much Of an impression.
All over the North now there is great
err frankness in discussing the race
problem. 1t is being quite freely ad-
mitted that there is as much prejudice
in that section against the negro as
there is in the South. AS a matter of
fact there is d great deal more, be-
cause. in the South. the opportunities
for the negro to earn living are much
greater. In fact. in the South. none
Of the avenues of employment are
| closed to him. That is not the case
in the North. Only day or two ago,
| in a Chicago paper, there was com
| munication from a negro of that city
in which it was pointed out that the
prejudice against the negro in the
North was greater than in the South,
| and that while he was granted some
privileges in the North that were de
MED him in the South, this libe:ality
was for the purpose of getting his
money. This Chicago negro was en-
phatic in his statement that the negro
had a much better chance for getting
ahead in the world in the South than
in the North.
OF course the Northern Methodist
Church isn't going to have "a negro
| bishop, notwithstanding the fact that
| 100000 of its members are negroes. Il
| couldn't hold its white membership #
it should choose its bishops from both
races The thing for it to do is to let
the negroes have their own church
government. as is the case here in the
| South Then there would be better
prospect of the Northern and Southern
Methodist Church getting together.