The Columbus weekly dispatch. (Columbus, Miss.) 1902-1905, 1905-06-01

~ 4OilN years III CA pCEANANNt anu NAhN
expenditure in the Southern States
of nearly three hundred millions Of
dol ars 1t was natural, and quite
reasonable. Immediately after the
civil war, especially by those who
had made but a superficial study OF
the negro. to expect that freedom,
equal educational facilities and the
example of the white man, would
have the effect of improving his NOR
ais, and make a better man of him
generally. But il has not, ! am sorry
10 say. AS a race he is deteriorating
moral y every day Time has dem
onstrated that he is more criminal as
a free man than as a slave, and that
he is increasing in criminality with
fearful rapidity. You can
scarcely pick up a newspaper whose
pages are not blackened with the ac-
count of an uncomfortable crime
committed by a negro brute, and this
crime, / want to impress upon you.
is but the manifestation of the ne
groes' aspiration for social equality.
encouraged largely by the character
of the free education in vogue, which
the State is levying tribute upon the
white man to maintain.
What shall be done about it7
Surely something must be done. The
white Poop of Mississippi canot sit
idly by without making an effort at
least to arrest this destructive ten
dency The State for many years. at
great expense to the taxpayers, has
maintained a system of negro educa-
ton, which has produced disappoint-
ing results, and / am opposed to the
perpetuation of that system. My
own idea is that the character of the
education for the negro ought to be
changed. If after forty years OF
earnest effort. and the expenditure
of fabulous sums of money to edu-
cate his head We have only succeed
ed in making a criminal of him, and
impairing his usefulness and efficien-
cy as laborer. wisdom would sug
gest that we make another expert
ment, and see if we cannot improve
him by educating his hand and his
heart.
There must be a moral substratum
upon which to lid, OF you cannot
make a desirable citizen. The negro
race is devoid of that element.
Slavery is the only process by which
he has ever been even partially civ
ilized God Almighty created the ne
gro for q menial-he is essentially
servant In every age of the worlds
history it has been shown that his
civilization will last only so long as
he is under control of the superior
race that inculcated it. When left
TO himself he has universally gone
back to the barba~ism of his native
jungles. While a few mixed breeds
and freaks of the race may possess
qualities which justify them to aspire
above that station the fact still re
mains that the race is fit for that and
nothing more. At any rate that is
all he will ever accomplish in Mis-
sissippi and as it is in Mississippi so
will it be in all of the States ulti
mately.
The white mn will not and
should not share sovereignty and do
minion with him"
Those are pointed words, are they
not? You call them the words of a
negro hater? How much keener are
they than those of Abraham Lincoln
himself. who, even more than Theo-
dore Roosevelt, is accepted as the
friend of the black man in America!
In his speech of September 10, 1858,
Abraham Lincoln spoke as follows:
Il am not. nor ever have been. in
favor of bringing about in any way
the social and political equality of
the white and black races; ! am not.
ing voters or jurors of negroes, nor
Of qualifying them to hold office, nor
to intermarry with the white people:
and / will say in addition to this. that
there is a physical difference between
the white and the black races which
believe will force r forbid the two
races living toget. r on terms of so
cial and political equality. And. in
asmuch as they &C mot SO live, while
they do remain t, ether there must
be the position OF superior and in
ferior, and l, as much as any other
man, am in favor of having the SUI
perior position assigned to the white
race"
Did you know that Abraham Lin
coin ever said those words? II Lin
coin were a i've today, with his great.
kind heart, his great, fair brain. what
would be his attitude on the race
question of today? How far would
he be from touching shoulders with
the so-called negro hater, Vardaman.
of Mississippi? How far would he be
today from recommending a sixteenth
amendment, taking away franchise
which has proved worse than a mock
cry. which has proved to be a ma
tional menace2 Is it absolutely sure |
that we good Northern folk have been |
entirely fair either to Nardaman OF |
Mississippi or to Lincoln of Illinois? |
He May Go TO the Senate.
It is quite probable that James K |
Vardaman, softened and tempered by /
years in Office in his own State, will |
in time be seen on the floor of the |
Senate of the United States. He will |
then be. perhaps, better understood /
than he is today. He will then pre- /
sent upon the floor of the American |
Congress the same idea which he has /
the courage openly to advocate 10 /
day. What will he do then? He will /
40 what no Southern representative /
has yet done. He will tell the TRUTH /
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