The gold leaf., 1906-04-19
The Negro North and South.
Richmond Times-Dispatch

Commenting On some recent re-
marks OF ours in regard to the atti
tude Of Massachusetts toward the
jamestown Exposition, the Roanoke
Times goes on to observe:
We believe if Massachusetts will come
to Virginia and see that the colored
people here have all they want, that she
will change her views on this subject.
| t is true we have separate cars for the
whites and cOlored people, but there is
hardly less demand from one race than
the other for this separation. There is
no congeniality and they do not care to
mingle with each other indiscriminately.
y few days ago we had occasion to
call attention to the change of senti-
ment that has lately taken place in
the North in regard to Southern
affairs and Southern conditions.
One OF the principal ways in which
this newer and milder Judgment eX-
hibits itself is in connection with the
negro. The bitter eXtravagd with
which our Northern friends once as
sailed our treatment OF the African
has yielded with time to something
fur kindlier and more reasonable.
The beginning of this change coin
cided with the beginning of a closer
acquaintance between the Yankee
and the negro. Hard d-headed, in
telligent business men came down
from the North seeking investments,
and they met the colored brother on
his native heath. Other hard-headed
and intelligent NOrtherners stayed
at home and the negro came to
them, seeking employment. SO the
two races gradually got acquainted,
taking stock of each other the while.
And as that acquaintance ripened
toward intimacy, the Northern COM
ments upon the Southern attitude
began slowly to change their com
pleXion.
Today it is an unassailable fact
that Northern men who come to the
South and stay here long enough to
become familiar with conditions, as
the are in everyday life rather than
in the dreams Of tire idealists, express
surprise, not at the in Justice and in
humanity, but at the kindliness and
gOod-humOred tolerance, with which
versely, we believe it is true that ne
groes who have gone to the North
are pretty we'll agreed that their po-
sition in the South is on the whole to
be preferred.
In this part of the country negro
knows exactly what to expect, pre-
cisely where he stands. His position
is defined to dot. 1t is very differ
ent in the North. The ''equality"
ideas which he seems to find floating
in the air tempt him naturally
enough to overstep the familiar
bounds. A rebuff is very likely to
follow. Many theories are construct
ed for long distance use only and
will not work at short range The
negro, who is not aware of this eco
nOmic truth, becomes puzzled, uncer-
tain: and uncertainty about ones
place i'll the body social is not one of
the things that is easy to bear. Not
long ago a well-infOrmed Petersburg
negro, a leader among his people,
who had been to the North and come
back, emphasized these very points
in u sensible address. From his own
experience, he assured his colored
friends that the Southerner was, after
all and beyond doubt, the best friend
that they had.
We think that our Roanoke neigh
Dor was quite correct in asserting
that the two races 'do not care to
mingle with each other indiscrimi-
natelv." The negro does not wish it
any more than the white man. His
position has been defined for him, he
has fully accepted it, and he neither
feels that he is being treated harshly
and unjustly, nor has any grounds
for feeling so.