The leader., 1905-05-20
OF MISSISSIPPI

Northern men who move to the
South, or who frequently visit the
South, in a very short time stand
shoulder to shoulder with Southern
men on the race question. It is an
immense, an impossible folly to think
that the white man, North or South,
win not stand shoulder to shoulder as
white men, and as against the rest Of
the world.
That is all that Governor Varda-
man Of Mississippi has claimed or
ever will claim. Hence, for telling us
simple truth. which we ought to
be willing to admit. we deride him,
call him a mountebank and pre-
tender. He can afford the epithets.
1t is a concession to Northern lgnor-
ance to state that in making such
statements as the foregoing, the writ
er feels it necessary to say he is a
Northern man, a Republican and a
warm admirer of Theodore Roose-
velt. Were this not said. surely this
writing would be set down as the
fumings of discontented Southern
partisan. So much for ignorance.
Northern Ignorance on Race Question.
Where does Northern ignorance on
this race question have its founda-
ton? In geography, in transporta-
ton, and in politics. There is an
other strange basis, not so esaily dis
covered. The South understands the
North, but the North does not unuder-
stand the South. The great North
ern newspapers are read in the South,
but the great Southern newspapers
are almost unknown to the North.
We get little news from the South ex-
cept that of lynchings, hence, we sup
pose that lynching negroes is the ex-
elusive occupation in the Southern
States. Yet since, North and South,
We are savages-white savages, the
strongest savages the world ever saw
were we Northern men to live in
the South, under existing conditions
it is certainty that we would do
precisely as our Southern brethren
do. But what Northern newspaper
is catholic enough to admit this? No,
it is better to purchase press dis
patches covering incidents which are
as shocking to the South as to the
North. 1t is better to keep up the alb
surd and ruinous sectional line.
In the South there rises a strong
man who openly declares that the
negro is still savage, such a savage
as he was forty years ago, and that
it is useless and hopeless to try to
make an educated citizen of him, or
to try to make safe neighbor of
him. This man knows his subject
thoroughly and intimately, through
a lifetime of experiences. Lacking
in reverence-lacking in decorum, if
you like-he openly says he knows
more about this than any man, not
excepting the president of the United
States, who has not had that expe-
rience or made that study. Disclaim-
/ ing any wish to be lawless, he openly
declares that nothing will serve the
South except a sixteenth amendment
to the constitution. That amendment,
he has said, is sure to come and he
believes that it may come with a
rush at any time. This is the idea of
Vardaman of Mississippi.
Problem Is Great One.
A man with an idea as big as this,
with a sincere conviction as great as
this, is entitled at least to a respect
full hearing. The question involved
is tremendous one, far more so than
we of the North are disposed to be-
lieve, in our ignorance regarding it.
Today the white men of the South
are not free Americans. They are
slaves, and slaves to a condition. We
call the Southerners narrow, uncom-
promising. bitter They are all that,
and must be. So would we be if we
lived their lives. We would be
forced to take up their yoke, if we
lived in the South. We would stand
shoulder to shoulder. white man with
white man but slaves to an unjust
condition. and enforced vioiators of
the law.
When will the sixteenth amend
ment come, taking away that fran
chise which has proved a failure?
j Probably in the good time of the
American commercial world. The
question will have an industrial solu-
tion, which is to say, a scientific solu-
tion. The commercial interests of
America, pushing more and more rap
idly into the South. are discovering
that in the South there is an intol-
cradle Industrial waste This indus
trial waste is part Of the race ques-
tion. It will be solved in the way
most beneficial to the industrial pros
perity of America. The Vardaman
idea is not more than half a genera
tion, at best, ahead of the hour. He
himself may not live to see it ac-
cepted as wisdom, but he will die be-
lieving in its truth and Justice; for
II AAC 4co bCeAt hCu II Ii lit 4ANAAos III eAAS
hamlets and the cities of the South,
and has seen its truth demonstrated
under the windows of the State cap
itol in which he now sits as chief ex-
ecutiye The negro does not improve,
he reyerts; he does not become edu-
Gated, but remains savage. Educa
tion does not help him. but gives him
false ideas. Education teaches him
to believe that political equality
means social equality. which is i'm
possible. These are different state
ments Of the Yardaman idea few
years from now it will not seem SO
absurd to us III the North
James x vardaman hrst appeared
ID the political field as editor Of The
Commonwealth, newspaper Of
Greenwood Mississippi. natural
politician. ne was early in the legisla-
tnre, where he became speaker Of