The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1906-04-28
Charles Francis Adams on the
i5g Negro,

}s Charles FlduCAS <auoi'io -
Negro.
Vi IN a remarkable article III the Century
hapaz,ne, Incorporating the fruits OF ms
III ohserya tions on q recent trip into interior
Africa, Mr.. Charles Francis Adams r.
cords how all his ideas regard'ne4 ''le
negro were suddenly metamorp''os'e''''
.rrhe scales" he writes fell from my
ewes. found myself most impressed
~ = realizing sense of the appalling
amount OF error and cant IN Which VIZ
Of The United States have lndulGea VI
this topic" The familiar statement tha'
ali the negro needs Is chance, ne no"
I'D rauards as '.the sheerest of decisions, que
affoE r,ure ignorance of rudimentary 1acts'
Vet we built upon 1t in Reconstruction
4 DAYS as upon foundation stone-a SELL
evident TRUTH
5 on,durman, the commercial capital OF
Il Black Africa, did much to help Mr'
Adams to this never UNDERSTANDING ~
.fE brought close home to him what those
1eople were and how they lived" Ills
III minds eye contrasted this metropolis or
. b &
q race with the large centers OF other
civilizations, with London, Paris, ne"
York, FOR races, he truly says, must
Ia measured by their visible output; and
as Omdurman is to London, SO IS me
& African to the Anglosaxon."
The thought was suggestive, leading
to other and more complex ones. me
whole experience he found "undlsputahiy
4 educational" Mr.. Adams, IN short, mad
met the African in his home, and he
thus dsposes of him.
TIe Is distinguished from the brute
creation only by the fact of nrticulate
& sr,eech. the use Of tools and weapons OF
the most primitive kind, and n knowledge
$si5 AZ the properties Of fire. In such matters
a < clothes, food or sanitation he is IN no
essential respects better than various
& kinds of animals. A savage. he admits
like nearly all known negro savages OF
ar initiative domestIcation.
If Africa is now to be opened up by
the white man
One thing seems clear: without being
reduced to servitude the inferior race
must be recognized as such, and. In some
way, so death with. Facts are facts,
and only confusion results when things
Is essentially not equal are dealt with on
1.-THE basis of natural equality.
Pondering further, in the light of these
4 new thoughts upon the negro problem
here in America, our author reverts to
the point that evidently impressed him
nost--the races apparent disqualification
for any real development Among the
soudanese. probably the finest type OF.
the whole African species. mot the
slightest inherent power OF development
has as yet come to the surface" And
he quotes with approval the significant
%dictum Of Baker. who lived with the
Africans for years. In no instance has
I lie evlnced other than retrogresslon'
when once freed from restraint" inc
situation In the United States Is adj
1nitedly intricate, Mr.. Adams does not
attempt to solve It. But
Meanwhile one thing is clear: the work
done by those who we're In political con-
4, frol at the close OF our Civil War was
q work done in utter ignorance OF
gethnolosic law and total disregard of
rnaltcrable fact. Starting the movement
wrong, it will be yet productive of In
calculable injury to us to quality
results not from law, but exists because
things are In essentials like.
We have contented ourselves, as Will
tc seen. merely with making few en-
tracts from Mr.. Adams's Illuminating
paper. Comment upon them is quite
superfluous. Simply set down here. they
Tell as plainly as language Is capable
OF doing how an ingrained New Eng
lander, satuated with the traditions and
sentiments of the North OF abolition days
has come TO see, after many years, that
tho Southern view OF the negro was, after
all. the true one. The pilful part OF
This Is, obviously, that the knowledge
now at last filtering to the North comes
forty years TOO late to help those States
upon whom, stricken helpless by the
+ rayages OF war, were unloaded the ter
z rtble injustices OF reconstruction,
Mr.. Adams long ago endeared hmse
IL, TO Virginia by the sympathy and under
standing with which he wrote of lober
u, zee and the rights of secession. Hi
q Century article may wen cement tii
kindly feeling, While no great credi
,s due man, perhaps, for merely seeinl
facts as they are and setting them dow
as he sees them, yet It is not unbecominl
10 cherish feeling OF gratitude for on
who has 30 gallantiy brought dis
,inguished name 10 the support o
il. a cause that lies so close t.
I out daily lives. II is not ever!
!, man who. discovering almost over
night that he and his whole generation
had been latorng steadily in blind error
would have the cnndor and courage t.
come forward and say So
8 w-----------------
Batavia and the Anti-Masons.
Batavia, the little New York tow